The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland Employment, Remuneration and Workplace Report 2023

crisis and achieving our targets with regard to the Climate Action Plan and the National Development Plan will require sufficient numbers of qualified graduates coming into the surveying profession.

‘Eight out of ten respondents to this survey confirmed inflation is a barrier to employment growth and that is very concerning.

‘We know the construction sector is facing shortages of skilled workers, but this survey puts numbers on the scale of those shortages from a surveying perspective.

Revision

‘It is very likely that the Housing for

All targets will undergo significant upward revision in the coming weeks (at time of writing), and this is going to increase the demand for all types of surveyors. Given that this research was conducted at a time of market uncertainty it is likely that the estimates of future employment demand are conservative.’

Mr James was speaking ahead of the SCSI’s annual dinner which took place at the Clayton Burlington Hotel, due to be attended by over 1,300 chartered surveyors and guests.

In his speech, Mr James suggested there may be opportunities for people previously employed in the tech sector to transition to new careers in property, land, or construction.

Prioritise

‘The construction sector needs to prioritise digital adoption to keep pace with client demands and I believe this is just one area where people previously employed in the tech sector have a great deal to offer.

‘For its part, as this survey shows, a career in surveying is hugely rewarding, not only for its financial rewards but also in terms of the diverse nature of the work and the variety of opportunities available.

Key points

be created across the profession between 2023 and 2026 if economy grows by 4% per annum a shortfall of almost 1,100 surveyors over that timeframe pressure on the country’s ability to address the housing crisis

‘That’s an important message which we need to reinforce to our young people – and their parents!’

Salary

The report examined salary levels across the three main areas surveyors work in and found the highest median salary was in construction at €85,000, followed by property on €70,000 and land on €64,000.

It also found a considerable difference existed between salary levels in Dublin and the rest of the country.

The median salary in Dublin is €80,000, 15% more than the median for the rest of the country, which is €68,925.

Females make up 25% of the SCSI’s 6,000 overall membership but have a higher representation in property 34% as opposed to 16% in land and 10% in construction.

While the median salary for female is €70,000, 14% less than the median male salary of €80,000, the report’s author Dr Roisin Murphy, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at TU Dublin, says it should not be construed that female respondents generally earn less than males.

Important

‘It’s important to remember that the lower number of female SCSI members compared to males, will have a distortive effect on the sample size. In addition, there are proportionately more female members within the property designation, which has a lower median salary overall.

‘While considerable progress has been made in addressing gender imbalance across the built environment sector nationally, there remains work to be done to address the ongoing lack of diversity. Trends in relation to salary provision across gender should be monitored on an ongoing basis,’ Dr Murphy concluded.

The full report is available at www. scsi.ie

New research from Chadwicks Group reveals that a lack of female representation and role models in construction is the key barrier to entry for young women in Ireland.

Attitudes

The research, which was conducted ahead of International Women’s Day, examines the attitudes of 350 women aged 18-24 towards a career in construction.

The results reveal that 44% feel there’s a lack of female representation in the industry and a resounding 93% believe more should be done to promote the industry to women.

As well as the issue of representation, the Chadwicks Group survey finds that 10% say there’s a lack of understanding around the types of careers open to women in the sector and 9% say they felt pressure by their teachers or parents to pursue third level education over an apprenticeship.

Promote

A total of 88% say that more should be done to promote apprenticeships and tradebased careers at school and 60% would consider a career in construction if they knew more about it.

While barriers to entry were acknowledged, 45% say they had considered a career in the industry with architecture (26%) engineering (16%) and project management (11%) the top three choices.

Indicating that more needs to be done to promote apprenticeship and trades to women, only 5% of those polled say they have considered becoming a carpenter or electrician while only 3% have thought about becoming a plumber.

Encourage

Commenting on the findings Patrick Atkinson, CEO Chadwicks Group said: ‘The research clearly shows more needs to be done to encourage women into the industry.

‘While it is positive to see 45% of women had considered a career in construction, it is disappointing to see a career in a trade was still very low.

‘We are currently facing a drastic shortage of tradespeople in Ireland and more needs to be done to showcase the opportunities and benefits of a career in the trades – particularly to women.

‘To address the findings of this research, more needs to be done by everyone to highlight women in construction roles.

Opportunity

‘Respondents are calling out to learn from women working in construction. We need to grasp this opportunity and tell those stories.

‘At Chadwicks Group, we’re on our own journey to encourage more women join the business.

‘We are committed to proactively challenging ourselves to achieve this and have a number of initiatives in place to drive higher female representation.

‘This includes our trainee merchanting programme which launched in 2019 and investing in enhanced family leave policies including maternity, fertility, adoptive and carers leave.’

Branch manager Diane McDonald who was recently named Chadwicks branch nanager of the year said:

‘I have been worked with Chadwicks for over fifteen years and over the years have worked my way up to branch manager of Bray, one of our largest branches in the country.

‘Over the years I have seen more women join the business and it’s fantastic to see this trend going in the right direction.

‘I would encourage more women to consider a career in construction; whether that’s in a trade or indeed going into the building materials side of things.

‘It’s a fascinating sector and I absolutely love what I do every day.’

Celebrate

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Chadwicks Group was launching Season 3 of its award-winning podcast Under Construction with an episode dedicated to women in construction.

Donncha O’Callaghan was joined by Crane Driver Kate Fahey who shared her journey on how she became Ireland’s youngest ever female tower crane driver at 18 and Amy O’Toole – who did her apprenticeship as an electrician. And she is now a successful project manager.

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