100+ organisations publish first International Ethics Standards (IES)

Today, a coalition of more than 100 property professional bodies worldwide which make up the IES Coalition, publish the first set of ethics principles for professionals working in land, property, construction, infrastructure and related professions. 

The IES Coalition believes that creating a universally applicable set of ethics values will help assert the role of ethics and help ensure greater professionalism.

Globally, real estate assets reached a value of $217 trillion in 2015 which compares with global GDP of about $80 trillion and it is vital that organisations in these sectors continue to collaborate and bring greater recognition to the role that ethical values play in contributing to efficient property markets.

Peter Bolton King, Chair of the International Ethics Standard Coalition, said: “Ethical values act as an anchor to appropriate behaviours and research tells us that investment in real estate markets by pension funds and sovereign wealth funds is predicted to double over the next decade. Therefore, publishing one set of International Ethics Standards helps to underpin existing codes of ethics and create an opportunity to strengthen the role these values play in the property industry.”

Other professions have long-established global ethics standards including accountancy, law,  auditing and medicine and the IES Trustees felt that it was time for real estate and related professions, which are among the largest industries in the world, to produce one set of global ethics standards.

Paul Nash, President of the Chartered Institute of Building, said: “Ethics is central to being a professional. Construction is a challenging environment and that will only increase as national players and agendas mix together on the international stage.

“By creating one over-arching set of ethical principles brings improved clarity and transparency, helping to de-risk markets and ensure greater standardisation of professionalism across the globe.”

The IES standards can be downloaded from: www.ies-coalition.org/standards. A copy of the CIOB's own report into the value of professionals and professional bodies can be found by clicking here.