At a built environment congress in 1995 in Harare, Zimbabwe some of the quantity surveying delegates expressed interest in establishing an association for quantity surveyors practicing in Africa. This would be the beginning of the union for quantity surveyors in Africa, a move that envisioned the following:
‘To unite national bodies of quantity surveyors on the African continent on a democratic basis and to foster co-operative, intellectual, cultural, educational and scientific ties among such bodies’
In 1997 at a congress in Bloemfontein, arranged by the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors, a formal declaration of intent was made to establish an association for quantity surveyors to which the various national institutes, institutions, associations or societies for quantity surveyors in Africa could subscribe.
Governance Structures :
It was important to set the governance structures that assured integrity of this organization. And in 1999 at Sun City in South Africa the first General Assembly of the Africa Association of Quantity Surveyors ratified a constitution with by-laws.
Under the Constitution, AAQS would be lead by a president supported by Vice Presidents in various regions who would report to the Council. So in this meeting, the first council of the AAQS was elected with Mr Len Harris from South Africa the first president.
The following associations were the founding institutions setting the pace of the AAQS mandate :
- Association of South African Quantity Surveyors
- Ghana Institution of Surveyors
- Institute of Namibian Quantity Surveyors
- Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya
- Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors
- Quantity Surveyor Chapter of the Architectural Association of Kenya
- Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in Botswana (no longer a member)
- Tanzania Institute of Quantity Surveyors
Current Member States
Twenty years on , several other associations have joined in as follows:
- ANGOLA
- BOTSWANA
- GHANA
- KENYA
- LESOTHO
- MALAWI
- MAURITIUS
- MOZAMBIQUE
- NAMIBIA
- NIGERIA
- RWANDA
- SOUTH AFRICA
- SWAZILAND
- TANZANIA
- UGANDA
- ZAMBIA
- ZIMBABWE
To this end, the role of AAQS remains as following:
- To initiate, define and assist in the implementation of joint programmes and co-operation in quantity surveying education, practice, research and development throughout Africa
- To collect and disseminate information on a regional and world-wide basis relevant to the activities of the AAQS
- To prepare and publish periodically updated directories of Institution Members and various aspects of quantity surveying research and development, journals, newsletters and magazines of the AAQS
- To identify the needs of Africa which might be met by the quantity surveying profession
- To assist in generating training opportunities for quantity surveyors and students and organising staff and student exchanges amongst Institution Members
- To organise study tours, seminars, workshops and other meetings on general and selected aspects of quantity surveying, education, research and development in Africa
- To carry out any other activities as the AAQS considers conducive to the attainment of its objective.
