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A part-time head of digital for RICS-regulated surveying firms.

For surveying firms of roughly 10 to 200 people in the UK and Cyprus. RICS’s standard on responsible AI use has applied since 9 March 2026. We set up the written records it asks for with you, and we look after the systems and data behind them.

Book a 20-minute callWhat the standard asks for

When to get in touch.

  • AI plays a material part in some of your surveying work, and the records the RICS standard has required since 9 March 2026 aren’t written yet.
  • Staff use AI tools, and nobody has written down which ones, what for, or what client data goes in.
  • A client’s due-diligence questionnaire has an AI section and a deadline.
  • Nobody at the firm owns the client data, the website, Microsoft 365 or the IT suppliers.

What the RICS standard asks for.

Standard
Responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice
Status
RICS professional standard, global, 1st edition, September 2025
In effect from
9 March 2026
Applies to
RICS members and RICS-regulated firms in every country, the UK and Cyprus included
Read the standard (PDF, rics.org)

The standard's “must” requirements are mandatory, and RICS takes it into account in regulatory and disciplinary proceedings.

When it applies

The standard applies where AI has a material impact on the surveying service. It sets no size threshold, so a 10-person regulated practice is covered in the same way as a large one. RICS says whether a use is caught is often a matter of judgement. Where you decide a use of AI does have a material impact, you must record that decision and the reasons for it.

What a regulated firm must have in writing

If AI plays a material part in your surveying work, the firm needs, among other things:

  • a register of the AI systems that materially affect the service;
  • a written assessment of why AI is the right tool, before you rely on it;
  • written policies on buying and using AI;
  • safeguards for client data;
  • a risk register;
  • written due diligence on AI suppliers.

This summary was checked against the standard and rics.org on 28 September 2026. It is not legal advice.

What we do, and what stays with your firm.

We set up the records with you. Decisions on whether an AI output is reliable enough to use, and the quarterly risk-register review, stay with your firm.

Start here

AI Evidence Pack

£1,500 fixed

Remote. Five working days, then a 30-minute walkthrough.

The pack covers part of what the standard asks for. It contains:

  • AI use register
  • A one-page AI policy
  • Supervision protocol
  • Written answers for the AI sections of client questionnaires and, if yours has them, PI proposal forms
  • Staff briefing and training record
  • One-page verdict

It is not certification, an audit, or legal advice.

What the pack doesn't cover, and your firm still needs to do

  • a written assessment of why AI is the right tool for each job you rely on it for;
  • first-use and next-review dates for each AI system in the register;
  • a risk register with each risk rated red, amber or green (or by a similar method), reviewed at least quarterly by the people who decide on the firm’s AI use;
  • written due-diligence requests to AI suppliers, with the answers recorded;
  • written reliability decisions, made or supervised by a named surveyor, plus random dip-sampling of high-volume output;
  • AI wording in your terms of engagement;
  • staff training at least once a year (the pack includes one briefing and its record);
  • the client data safeguards the standard requires, such as limited access and written consent before confidential data goes into an AI tool (the register shows what data goes in, but doesn’t put those controls in place);
  • a record of each material-impact decision and the reasons for it.

RICS publishes a free sample risk register you can start from.

About the AI Evidence Pack

Embedded Head of Digital

From £4,000 a month

Ongoing. Three-month minimum. A written update every week.

As your part-time Head of Digital, we look after the website, Microsoft 365, IT suppliers and client data. For an RICS-regulated firm, we also:

  • set up the AI register, the policies and the supplier due-diligence letters with you, and keep them current;
  • draft AI wording for your terms of engagement, for your own advisers to approve;
  • prepare and minute the quarterly risk-register review, and keep the record of reliability decisions.
About the Embedded Head of Digital

Builds

From £7,500

Fixed price. We agree in writing what it must do before work starts.

For a specific system: a CRM, a client portal, reporting, or automation between the tools you already use.

About Builds

Prices exclude VAT, which is added where applicable.

Where we stop.

We don't give legal advice. Our ISO certificates cover how Wolsten Studios works. They don't make your firm compliant with anything, the RICS standard included.

See the certificate records

Talk through the RICS standard with us.

A free 20-minute call. Tell us which AI tools the firm uses, or what keeps going wrong, and you'll leave knowing whether one of the three offers fits or whether you don't need us.

Book a 20-minute call