Professional accreditation is an important way for quantity surveyors to demonstrate capability, credibility and commitment to industry best practice. Locally, the New Zealand Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NZIQS) provides recognition, while the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) offers internationally recognised chartered accreditation.
Until recently though, eligible NZIQS members needed 10 years’ relevant post-membership experience to follow the RICS recognition pathway, compared with just five years through the comparable Australian pathway.
Having now gone through the that process himself, that’s the discrepancy is something Prendos Associate and Lead Quantity Surveyor, Asela Premaratne, felt was worth questioning.
“I looked at the Australian pathway and then I looked at New Zealand, and I thought, why is there a difference?” Asela says.
Asela raised the issue with RICS and NZIQS. His advocacy helped bring attention to the imbalance, contributing to a revised five-year pathway for eligible NZIQS professionals, giving them a faster route to MRICS recognition. This places eligible New Zealand quantity surveyors on a more even footing with their Australian counterparts.
For Asela, who gained MRICS designation earlier this year, the most meaningful part is not the letters after his own name. It’s the opportunity it creates for other quantity surveyors pursuing a globally recognised professional accreditation.
Underpinning Asela’s own professional accreditations is a diverse international career. Before moving to New Zealand, he gained extensive quantity surveying experience in Sri Lanka, working across construction, infrastructure, hospitality, healthcare and residential projects. One of his early career highlights was his involvement in major cricket stadium developments ahead of ICC Cricket World Cup events – high-pressure projects where cost control, documentation, payment processes and delivery timeframes were all critical.
“The ICC inspection team told us we had achieved a miracle,” he recalls, having successfully met the tight deadlines imposed by the organisation. “Those projects taught me a lot about working under pressure.”
He moved to New Zealand in 2016, and soon found his skills were in high demand. Within weeks of arriving, he had been offered two QS roles – and chose Prendos.
The firm’s multidisciplinary model was part of the appeal, but so too was the impression he formed of the people. From the outset, Asela says he sensed a team that valued professionalism and integrity.
A decade on, Asela now heads up Prendos’ nationwide QS team, offering expertise in cost planning, procurement, contract administration, payment claims, bank finance reporting and forensic quantity surveying. He has also completed a Master’s in Construction Law, strengthening his ability to support clients where cost, contract and construction issues intersect.
He is particularly sought after for expert witness and dispute-related work, which draws on more than just his technical QS knowledge. It demands independence, clear communication, sound judgement and an understanding of the legal process.
Having seen where disputes can arise means Asela is also well placed to help clients identify risks early, understand their options and make commercially sound decisions.
“Sometimes the best advice is to show the numbers clearly and help the client decide whether a dispute is worth pursuing,” he says.
That practical, measured approach reflects the way Asela has developed his career – continually building his expertise, while looking for opportunities to strengthen the profession as a whole.
For Prendos, Asela’s MRICS designation reflects a culture that supports both individual and industry development. For Asela, the real significance lies in what the revised NZIQS to RICS pathway now makes possible for others.
By helping to redress the imbalance between the New Zealand and Australian recognition pathways, Asela has helped open the door for more New Zealand quantity surveyors to pursue internationally recognised accreditation.
His hope is that more junior and mid-career QS professionals will see that pathway as achievable and worth pursuing, and that they will continue to raise the standards, profile and confidence of the profession in New Zealand.
At Prendos, adding value to your assets is our number one priority. If you’d like to speak with our Quantity Surveyors about how they can help you maximise the value of your investments, call us on 0800 PRENDOS, email prendos@prendos.co.nz, or fill in the form below and we’ll call you back.
