The UK's geospatial surveying profession has launched a new collective lobbying initiative called The Geospatial Accord, taking the case for stronger standards, better procurement and earlier professional involvement to government, procurement teams and industry stakeholders. The campaign is led by the Geospatial Survey Association (GSA, formerly The Survey Association), which championed a stakeholder event earlier this year at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, bringing together more than 100 leaders from surveying, construction, infrastructure, government, education and the technology supply chain.
Participants at the Twickenham event identified a "race to the bottom" as one of the sector's biggest challenges, citing a skills shortage, inconsistent standards, late involvement in projects and continued pressure to compete on price rather than value. The Geospatial Accord has since established a dedicated taskforce, supported by marketing and communications agency O.agency, to lead the next phase of activity, including a central government briefing that connects geospatial surveying to national priorities such as infrastructure, housing and planning, transport, utilities, environmental resilience and digital twins.
"Geospatial surveying is often invisible because, when it is done well, everyone else can rely on it. The sector now wants that value recognized earlier, specified better and supported by stronger standards," said Rachel Tyrrell, CEO of the Geospatial Survey Association. "If you want better decisions, better risk management and better construction outcomes, the quality of the information at the beginning matters. And if we want the expertise to deliver that information in ten or twenty years' time, we have to tackle the skills challenge now."
GSA says the campaign is not a new regulator or professional body, but a commitment by organizations across the sector to work together on issues no single organization can solve alone. It builds on existing standards work such as GSA's PUMA PAS128 Accreditation Scheme, PAS 128:2022 and the National Underground Asset Register. The wider campaign will be promoted under the platform "If Geospatial Surveyors Stopped Tomorrow…", and organizations across geospatial surveying and the built environment are being invited to join The Geospatial Accord, with businesses able to become "Founding Champions" through financial or resource commitments during the campaign's formative stages.