Meet Rikin

Q Rikin, what made you decide to become a Quantity Surveyor?

It all goes way back to a very young tender age of around 15 or 16 when I had to make a decision on what subjects to decide when planning my career path and thinking forward to the future. I didn’t want to be like those who were older than me but were always saying I don’t know what I want to do, “I’ll just choose anything and deal with it after” is what I heard a lot of and I wanted to be different, I wanted to be prepared and planned hence I thought thoroughly and hard and explored many options including retail and also medicine, but that wasn’t possible and that’s a story for another time, but with construction in the blood it meant I was swinging one way only. So, I selected my subjects for my GCSEs with construction as the main goal.

It was decided that construction is the industry but which area? Did I want to be on site or in the office or did I want be on tools. So, I began my journey at the age of 15 to explore the different roles within construction I even did ample online research and spoke to a few coaches who I knew who also guided me and ultimately decided I wanted to be a Quantity Survey a QS. Why? because being at desk all the time isn’t for me and being on site all the time isn’t for me, but being in the midst of all of that was where I felt I fitted best and I have never looked back. Why? because every construction project has a different challenge but cost is always paramount to any decision and being able to be part of the process of helping someone achieve their goal by helping build what the client wants with cost at the forefront then this is the challenge and adrenaline I wanted in me to drive me daily and guess what it still does , because every project is never same even though we categorise projects into industry sectors but they all have their own challenges and that’s why I decided to become a QS.

Q. What is the most unexpected discovery you’ve made on a site visit?

Working on a new build project in central London and as the ground works were being dug and albeit an archaeology report being done, we discovered some remains of World War 1 and 2 and some secret passages used by army and royal family back then during the times of the war. The hidden underground passages used for safe travels for those who knew about it. That was not expected at all and it made the headlines in the papers around 12 odd years ago.

Q. What has been your proudest surveying job or project to date?

There’s a few but I’ll name two and talk about one, the other is a story for another time! Firstly Aquatics (London Olympics) and secondly Belstaff Fashion Store which I’ll talk about and in few lines and explain why. 

Belstaff Fashion store where we worked hard to work within the US branded store to bring presence for them in central London and also has the chance to help fit out the top floor of that store where a private celebrity used it for her own personal fashion brand, I won’t mention the name but that’s for everyone to find out. However, it was her who funded most of the project and to work alongside a celebrity to deliver her dream alongside her brand being back in country she was born was the proudest job to date because it helped achieve a milestone for her brand and for the US brand as well, breaking into UK soil for first time. 

Q. What is your favourite building in the world? 

There’s many but if I had to pick one then it would be The Hawa Mahal in Jaipur India it leaves me in awe every time I see it with its ancient architecture.

Q. What types of quantity surveying work do you enjoy the most?

Any work of QS is enjoyable always but the ones where we help clients achieve what they thought was unachievable and where they didn’t think they could save more money as they have been through everything and then the ‘ah ha’ moment when we help save more money by getting involved in the technical side of things and diving deep into the design is the best thing. The ones who are technical and visualise buildings in 3D from 2D are the ones who will know a building back to front and top to bottom and it’s helping clients achieve their cost goal on a project is what I enjoy doing most. 

Q. Describe EK in 5 words!

1. Contemporary
2. Exponential
3. Determined
4. Unconventional 
5. Universal 

To get in touch with Rikin, send him an email or call the London office on 020 3667 1510.