Sava go Online with their new Certificate in Residential Valuation

Residential valuations in the UK are required for mortgage lending, as well as for probate, investment decisions, tax, and matrimonial disputes and of course private clients. Until now there has been no vocational qualification available for existing surveyors and others who have deep understanding of residential building construction and pathology but have limited valuation skills.

Sava have launched the Certificate in Residential Valuation which allows existing RICS members who qualified via a different pathway to upskill and offer residential valuations. Members of other professions with rights of direct entry to RICS may also be interested (e.g. CIOB, CABE etc.).

This certificate is a mix of both training and assessment delivered entirely online through a new Virtual Online Learning Environment – Sava Learn. Candidates carry out valuations on a variety of real properties employing a range of valuation techniques to demonstrate that as well as having the requisite valuation knowledge, they can consistently apply that knowledge. In this way, the Certification in Valuation is different from just doing CPD in valuation.

The qualification is designed to help bring the existing residential surveying profession right up to speed in terms of providing and delivering residential valuation services. It has been certificated by ABBE (Awarding Body for the Built Environment) in partnership with Birmingham City University and the training delivery is also mapped against the RICS Valuation Registration Scheme (VRS). This ensures that any individual attending the course can be assured that it meets all the pre-requisite elements of the RICS.

Andy Flook, Business Development Director said “Talking to industry and listening to our customers always sits at the forefront of how we continually develop our organisation to ensure we are constantly improving the products and services we provide to the Surveying sector and we are very proud of what we are able to offer the Residential Surveying Industry. The Certificate in Valuation is a milestone for us, as it’s the first qualification we have created as a completely online and app-based learning experience using our newly developed educational platform ‘Sava Learn’. Modern learning culture is changing dramatically, and we feel that starting to utilise technology to not only enhance the overall learning experience but to also enable complete freedom of movement when it comes to when or where people choose to consume their learning time is going to be vital to any busy professional so we are delighted to be looking at how more of our training offerings can be delivered this way in the future, but in the meantime, the Certificate in Residential Valuation makes for a great start”.

Early uptake for the qualification has been very high and has consisted mainly of existing RICS surveyors whom may already have a good level of knowledge in and around Building pathology and construction and are looking to extend their existing repertoire of services to incorporate valuation activity. Early indications show that the fact that the course is delivered online has proven to be hugely beneficial to Surveyors whom often struggle to perhaps attend regular fixed classroom days but are able to slot in time around busy schedules to get back into the learning environment.