More than 600,000 new homes will need to be built over the next twenty years to accommodate new Londoners and changes in household composition. There are more than 19,000 buildings in London listed, as of architectural or historic interest, and large areas of the city are protected by conservation measures. The real estate, rental and business services sector is the capital's largest employer, with 22.4% of the workforce compared with the UK share of 14.2%. In addition, within the Greater London boundary, there are more than 13,000 hectares of agricultural land. More than one third of London's land is non-built up and a large proportion of this is protected from development by planning regulations. One fifth of London's land is covered by gardens. The London region has the highest concentration of Chartered Surveyors at approximately 20,000, almost a quarter of the RICS national membership.

Source: RICS website 2004

In the South East, there is some of the country's most vital business and industrial areas and their accompanying pressure on land and other resources. About 17,000 chartered surveyors work in the region.

Source: RICS website 2004

Over 9000 Chartered Surveyors are based in the North West, which currently has five Local Associations: Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Isle of Man and Merseyside and Cheshire.

Source: RICS website 2004

There are about 5000 Chartered Surveyors practising in the East Midlands region.

Source: RICS website 2004

In the East of England region, there are almost 8000 Chartered Surveyors practising.

Source: RICS website 2004

RICS works very closely in Yorkshire within the professional and business community throughout the region.

Source: RICS website 2004

There are 8,000 chartered surveyors who live and work in the region.

Source: RICS website 2004

There are over 3,000 Chartered Surveyors in Wales, with the majority in South Wales.

Source: RICS website 2004

RICS in Northern Ireland has a working relationship with the University of Ulster, especially the School of the Built Environment that offers surveying courses accredited by the RICS University Partnership. In total, there are about 2,000 Chartered Surveyors in Northern Ireland, which includes qualified chartered surveyors, technical surveyors, probationers (trainees) and students.

Source: RICS Northern Ireland website 2004

In Scotland, there are over 9000 Chartered Surveyors.

Source: RICS Scotland website 2004

    For more LMI specific to Scotland go to the Careers Scotland website.

There is a connection between recruitment problems experienced in Town Planning areas of high living costs and the location of planning schools. Attracting junior planners to work in rural locations appears to be more significant than living costs. However, it may also be the case that the supply of labour is partly linked to the location of planning schools.

Source: Mawson and Pendlebury 2003

Recruitment difficulties for town planners by region and type of area, 2003

Source: Mawson and Pendlebury 2003, table 15. Based on the results of a large scale employers survey.

For information on the regional need for junior planners see Data and charts.

Source: PHCFMS 2003, table 22. Data derived from the autumn 2002 Labour Force Survey.