Peter Goodacre has been inaugurated RICS President for the 2008/2009 session. Taking up his position at the RICS Annual General Meeting on 7 July, Mr Goodacre is a Former Principal of the College of Estate Management.

Born in 1945, Peter studied at the College of Estate Management, qualifying in 1968. He worked as a Quantity Surveyor in a private practice before spending a year at the University of Loughborough where he took an MSc in Construction. He joined the teaching staff at the College of Estate Management in 1970, where he stayed for the next 37 years, becoming Vice Principal in 1984 and Principal in 1992.  During his time there he saw the college move into distance learning.  At the time of his departure its international work had developed to include 100 permanent staff, 350 part time tutors, operations in 80 countries and around 4000 students.

Speaking at the inauguration Mr Goodacre said:

“I am honoured to take up the post and I hope to build on the achievements of David Tuffin and the executive team.  The current economic climate is fairly uncomfortable. However, I strongly believe that property professionals are well placed to help deal with the bigger issues of the moment.

“The breadth and depth of skills, and knowledge that we have in our profession, means that we can play a significant part in society.  In particular we are well placed to meet the twin challenges of population pressure and the effect that this has on infrastructure and the need for a sustainable built environment.

“Coming from an academic background I see provision of long term skills as a priority. A key interest therefore is ensuring that a sufficient number of people are qualifying with the relevant degrees and passing their assessment of professional competence (APC’s) that will meet the demands of our profession in the future.”

Mr Goodacre initially became involved in research committees at RICS which led to him being elected to the QS divisional council. In 1998 he was president of the QS division and has been a member of Governing Council since 1986.

Elected alongside Mr Goodacre as Senior Vice-President is Max Crofts, a senior partner at international property consultants King Sturge.  Based in the West of England he will work closely with the incoming President, over the coming year, before assuming the presidency next July. A specialist in corporate real estate advice and an arbitrator of property disputes, Mr Crofts joined J P Sturge & Sons in 1970 as its first graduate trainee. In 1974 he opened the firm’s Bath office which he ran for 17 years before returning to Bristol in 1992 at the time of the firm’s merger with London-based King & Co.

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