About Us

History of the AAQS

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

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. Dr P C (Piet) Botha accepted the task to chair a committee to take the matter further

Len Harris

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 and the first council of the AAQS was elected with Mr Len Harris from South Africa the first president

From left to right:

David Gaitho (Kenya), Rob Pearl (Prof) (South Africa), Michael Frimpong (Ghana), Dan Kimoro (Kenya), Segun Ajanlekoko (Nigeria) and Corné de Leeuw (Dr) (South Africa)

Over the years the following Council and General Assembly meetings were held:

Year Location General Assembly Council President
2 June 1999 Sun City, South Africa 1st 1st L A (Len) Harris
21 November 2000 Midrand, South Africa – 2nd L A (Len) Harris
4 October 2001 Nairobi, Kenya – 3rd L A (Len) Harris
1 May 2002 Johannesburg, South Africa 2nd 4th Dr C P (Corné) de Leeuw
7 July 2003 Accra, Ghana – 5th Dr C P (Corné) de Leeuw
19 April 2004 Cape Town, South Africa – 6th Dr C P (Corné) de Leeuw
27 April 2005 Abuja, Nigeria 3rd 7th J O (Segun) Ajanlekoko
19 August 2006 Nairobi, Kenya – 8th J O (Segun) Ajanlekoko
18 October 2007 Durban, South Africa – 9th J O (Segun Ajanlekoko)
20 August 2008 Accra, Ghana 4th 10th DN (Dan) Kimoro
26 June 2009 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – 11th D N (Dan) Kimoro
29 October 2010 Cape Town, South Africa – 12th D N (Dan) Kimoro
26 August 2011 Mombasa, Kenya 5th 13th M K (Michael) Frimpong
23 June 2012 Durban, South Africa – 14th M K (Michael) Frimpong
2 December 2013 Johannesburg, South Africa – 15th M K (Michael) Frimpong
21 September 2014 Pretoria, South Africa 6th 16th Prof R G (Rob) Pearl
20 November 2015 Lagos, Nigeria – 17th Prof R G (Rob) Pearl
19 August 2016 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – 18th Prof R G (Rob) Pearl
2 November 2017 Kampala, Uganda  7th 19th D M (David) Gaitho
3 August 2018 Johannesburg, South Africa – 20th D M (David) Gaitho
16 August 2019  Mombasa, Kenya – 21st D M (David) Gaitho
21 October 2020  Virtual Meeting 8th – O O (Obafemi) Onashile

Achievements to date

In spite of the constraints of limited resources, the AAQS has nevertheless achieved the setting up of the following :

  • A constitution with by-laws (revised in 2014)
  • A mission statement
  • A code of conduct
  • An active web page (www.aaqs.org)
  • Model documentation for use in Africa:
    • Guide to elemental cost estimating & analysis for building works 2016
    • Publication of pricing data for the various countries where the AAQS has Institution Members (an ongoing process)
    • The PROCSA generic client / consultant professional services agreement (prepared in collaboration with other bodies)
    • The AAQS has adopted the SAPOA method for measuring floor areas in buildings, but only in respect of the definition of rental and sales areas
    • Eamples of present items of financial viability reports (Acknowledgement: Viable Computing)
    • Standard method of measuring buiding work for Africa (2015)
    • Model tender/contract document for FIDIC red book 1999
    • Model preliminaries bill for FIDIC red book 1999
    • Agreement on the use of FIDIC conditions of contract or the various local building agreements
    • Document entitled: Organising an AAQS meeting and associated seminar/congress
  • Recognition by quantity surveyors throughout the member countries of AAQS
  • In recent years AAQS meetings and associated seminars / congresses have been held in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban (South Africa), Abuja and Calabar, Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi and Mombasa (Kenya), Windhoek (Namibia), Mauritius, Accra (Ghana), Maputo (Mozambique), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Kampala (Uganda), Gaborone (Botswana), Mangochi (Malawi), Mbabane (Swaziland), Banjul (The Gambia), Livingstone and Lusaka (Zambia), Maseru (Lesotho) and Kigali (Rwanda)
  • A regular newsletter
  • Institution Membership as well as Practice Membership

Founding Institution Members

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  • 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
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Prime Objective

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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

Further Objectives

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  • To foster and maintain professional contacts, mutual support and assistance amongst members and to maintain contact with other international associations with similar objectives and functions
  • To promote the recognition of the quantity surveyor’s role in society in Africa and to maintain public confidence in the integrity and the competence of quantity surveyors by encouraging members of the AAQS to maintain the highest professional standards
  • To promote and encourage development and education in quantity surveying in Africa
  • To promote research and technical advancement in the built environment in Africa
  • To promote free movement of quantity surveyors amongst member countries of the AAQS
  • To provide all possible support to the creation of bodies of quantity surveyors throughout the African continent
  • To promote the development and use of model documentation in Africa

Function

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  • 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 objectives

Council

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The council of the AAQS comprises the President, the Vice Presidents (one from each region), the Secretary-General, the Honorary Treasurer, one representative from each Institution Member, the chairmen of the boards, two representatives from each of the regions, the Immediate Past President, the Outgoing Immediate Past President and a maximum of two persons co-opted in terms of the constitution of the AAQS. The council of the AAQS shall meet at least annually

Executive Committee

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The executive committee of the AAQS comprises the President, the Immediate Past President, the Outgoing Immediate Past President, the Vice Presidents (one from each region), the Secretary General, the Honorary Treasurer, the chairmen of the boards and a maximum of two persons co-opted in terms of the constitution of the AAQS

Boards

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There are five Boards, namely:

  1. Education, Research and Training Board
  2. Membership Board
  3. Ethics and Conduct Board
  4. Services and Model Documentation Board
  5. Strategy and Marketing Board

General Assembly

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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 and the first council of the AAQS was elected with Mr Len Harris from South Africa the first president

The supreme body of the AAQS is the general assembly which meets triennially. The general assembly comprises the council of the AAQS together with delegates representing the Institution Members (quantity surveying organisations within each member country) as follows:

Practice members may each send a representative as observer to the general assembly of the AAQS. The council may grant ad hoc observer status to other bodies or individuals for all or part of a general assembly meeting

Only delegates and Institution Members of the council present at the general assembly meeting may vote. The president, secretary general and treasurer and the observers may not vote but the president shall have a casting vote in the event of an equal number of votes being cast