Polish Properties Boost Qualifications!
Polish Properties celebrated what it claims "a coming of age" last month with its key consultants Marta Jurek-Maciak and Ewa Targowska becoming members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Earlier this year both Marta and Ewa obtained a master of science degree in Valuation and Property Management from Sheffield Hallam University. This enabled them to then
undergo and pass an "assessment of professional competence" required by the RICS.
Polish Properties now boasts three RICS members, including Managing Director, Chris Grzesik who set up the firm nearly 3 years ago.
The firm comprising a team of 10 professionals and staff has built up its reputation predominantly on valuation work. Its clients include banks, investment funds, developers, and major Polish and foreign companies.
As explained by Chris Grzesik "We are pleased to have become an established player on the Polish real estate market. Our philosophy is very simple. We deliver only that at which we are able to excel, namely valuation, due diligence, development feasibility studies and property investment advice. We do not act as brokers and that also helps us avoid conflicts of interest".
So far this year, Polish Properties has valued properties with a total market value of over 700 million Euro.
Both Marta Jurek Maciak and Ewa Targowska admit to having made enormous sacrifices over the last 2 years in studying for their Sheffield Hallam master's degree and preparing for the RICS assessment of professional competence.
Marta Jurek-Maciak in expressing her pride and satisfaction in her achievement said "for 2 years its been 15 hours every day trying to do my day job (often extending to late evening) and then finding the energy to study. However the effort has been well worth it in the end".
Her colleague Ewa concurred "yes, the RICS qualification in Poland is now essential for anyone with the ambition to secure a proper long term career in real estate consultancy".
To the concern of her boss she added "The letters MRICS, which I can now use after my name, are also a passport to working in property anywhere in the world".
In recent years the RICS has been seeking to shake off its Anglo-Saxon image whilst becoming an international organisation of top property professionals. In mainland Europe outside of the UK and Ireland it now has over 2100 qualified members belonging to 17 national associations. RICS Polska has nearly 80 members, mainly valuers, agents and building economists.
To become an RICS member, a candidate needs to obtain an accredited RICS property related degree followed by 2 years of structured training and a successful showing at an interview (assessment of professional competence). There is also a "senior professional route" for those with a relevant non-accredited degree and 10 years property experience.
According to Chris Grzesik, "the RICS qualification is now top of the head hunter's list of must have real estate qualifications. Indeed many of the top senior property positions in Poland are already filled by chartered surveyors"
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