What skills do you need as a Graduate Building Surveyor?

As a Graduate Building Surveyor, you’ll pick up a variety of skills in your day to day.

With the construction market growing across certain sectors, it makes 2025 and beyond an excellent time to kickstart your Building Surveyor career. At AtkinsRéalis, we offer the perfect environment for you to do just that.

As of August 2024, the construction market in the UK was estimated to have increased by 0.4%. At a sector level, five out of nine sectors grew in August according to the ONS, with the main contributors being private housing, new work, and private commercial new work. 

All of our Graduate Schemes offer the opportunity to join a team that asks questions and dares to see things differently, a team set on engineering a better future for our planet and its people.

As a Graduate Building Surveyor, you'll enjoy variety in your day to day. By working on both large and small projects, we guarantee you'll have the opportunity to explore different career pathways in consulting and design.

In our Graduate Building Surveyor jobs, you can join either our Infrastructure or Project & Programme Services team:

Infrastructure Team

Working within our Infrastructure Team will see you working closely with fantastic minds who are helping us reimagine our places and spaces. From transport hubs to university campuses, we touch every aspect of social and economic environments.

You might find yourself creating specialist civil drawings or working closely with our clients on some of the industry's most complex civil engineering projects.

Project & Programme Services Team

If delivering project and programme management consultancy across the world sounds appealing then you've come to the right place.

Our professionals in this team build strong relationships with our clients and help them transform their vision into a reality. You might find yourself working on prestigious infrastructure projects or focusing on building projects that range from school extensions to medieval fortresses!

Our training will help you solve real-life problems from day one and develop industry skills that are highly sought after.

Our 3-year flexible graduate scheme gives you the support you need to develop your technical, commercial and consultancy skills. Here you'll discover unrivalled support by your assigned supervisor and buddy during APC workshops, monthly Q&A, training and mocks.  

Professional development is discussed throughout GDP, supporting you in becoming a well-rounded consultant and encouraging you to obtain your APC by offering you a wide variety of work and projects to gain the experience required to achieve this. We also offer core learning modules to develop your softer skills such as technical writing and presentation skills to enable to you complete your day-to-day role. 

Now that we've covered the teams you could be working with, we'll dive into the skills you'll need and develop on our Building Surveyor Graduate Scheme. 

We already covered the skills you need in our Quantity Surveying scheme, so don't forget to check that out too, but to recap on those skills, they are:

• Communication
• Numerical literacy
• Curiosity
• Problem-solving
• Time management
• Commercial awareness

Of course, there will be some overlap in the skills you need and refine in both schemes, but here are three more that will set you up for success as a Building Surveyor. 

Building surveyor graduate skills and competencies 

1. Analytical skills & critical thinking

When you work in building surveying, you have to be skilled in identifying, diagnosing, and analyzing building defects while identifying areas for opportunity and improvement. 

Analytical skills and critical thinking will really help you flourish in this role. This kind of expertise is vital for assessing building health, planning projects, and advising on construction strategies and timelines.

2. Project management and coordination skills

As a Graduate Building Surveyor, you might be taking a lead role or assisting with:

• Managing and delivering building surveying services 
• Providing studies and reports for your clients
• Supporting on building repair, maintenance, or restoration and low carbon Net Zero schemes
• Assisting the building surveying team with a range of surveys
• Drafting documentation

And much, much more…

When these are your day-to-day responsibilities, being skilled in project management not only helps with a seamless workflow but also facilitates clear communication and meeting stakeholder needs.

3. Technical knowledge of building regulations and standards

Immersing yourself in a Building Surveyor career path will enable you to gain a deep understanding of building codes, regulations, and standards.

During your graduate scheme, you'll refine a keen eye for health, safety, and compliance while always staying current with legal and sustainability requirements in the construction projects you contribute your expertise to.

Bring your Graduate Building Surveyor career to AtkinsRéalis

At AtkinsRéalis, no matter what we're working on, our pride and passion are in offering intelligent and sustainable solutions. 

We've designed our Graduate Building Surveyor programme to provide you with unique experiences where you will play your part in all kinds of projects. 

We understand the climate agenda and its challenges, and we're leading the response to this – we're looking for people who want to do the same. 

Apply to our Building Surveying Graduate Scheme today, or browse our blogs for more early career insights.