The Global Rise of the Quantity Surveying/Cost Engineering Profession

This paper examines the global development of the Quantity Surveying/Cost Engineering profession. Whilst Quantity Surveying has long been recognised in many countries around the world (particularly Commonwealth countries) it has traditionally not been recognised in regions such as Europe, China, India and South America where project cost management has been simply considered as a subset of the broader project management and engineering fields. Cost Engineering developed in the United States and Canada and is now a widely recognized professional discipline in these countries. The Cost Engineering profession has developed significantly in recent years being embraced by China in particular and many other parts of the world. However, in Europe (apart from the UK) the profession still struggles to establish a professional identity that is widely recognized by industry and government. The European project management profession has a major influence over cost management practices. Nevertheless the region is recognizing the need for specialized and expert project cost management services and many initiatives are in place to address this. The methodology for this paper comprises a literature review and the collection/analysis of data on professional cost management associations. The study identified the rise and recognition of the profession beyond traditional strongholds particularly in regions such as China, India and the Middle-East. However, the profession continues to face developmental issues in regions such as Europe, Scandinavia and South America