More about Chris Thorne
Chris is a senior valuation professional with many years' experience, primarily in the UK commercial real estate market but including significant engagement with specialists in other asset classes and institutions with an interest in valuation from around the world and knowledge of different national and international standards and regulations. He is a Fellow of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS).
Career History
2010 – 2015: Technical Director of International Valuation Standards Council.
1999 – 2010: Senior Director, BNP Paribas Real Estate, Technical Head of Valuation for UK firm.
1981-1998: Henry Butcher & Co, a medium size UK wide practice specialising in the valuation of commercial real estate, machinery and equipment. Chris was appointed partner in 1989, head of professional services for the firm in 1994 and a member of Executive Board of the Partnership in 1995.
1972-1981: Small Bristol based practice acting for clients throughout England and Wales.
Voluntary and Pro Bono roles
RICS
Chris was a member of the RICS Valuation Standards Board (VSB) from its formation in 1995 until 2010. During this period he was a member of various specialist sub groups of the VSB. These were the Monitoring Group, which investigated allegations of non compliance with the Red Book, the Secured Lending Working Party, and the Valuation for Financial Statements Group.
Between 2000 and 2003 he was the inaugural Vice Chairman of the RICS Valuation Faculty Board, and remained a member of the Board until 2010.
Between 2001 and 2008 he was chairman of the RICS Red Book Editorial Board, a sub group of the VSB. The Red Book contains mandatory practice statements and guidance for chartered surveyors undertaking valuation work.
In 2003 Chris was appointed the RICS’s representative to the International Valuation Standards Committee. In 2008 the restructured organisation was renamed the International Valuation Standards Council and Chris was appointed as the first Chairman of the new Standards Board, a position he had to vacate after being appointed Technical Director two years later.
In 2022 Chris resumed his involvement with RICS when he was invited to become a member of the new "Global Valuation Standards Expert Working Group" (GVSEWG), which has been formed to advise the Standards and Regulation Board on changes to the RICS Standards.
Other
Between 2007 and 2010 he was a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Valuation Resource Group in the USA.
In 1995 Chris was a founder member and Director of the Non Administrative Receivers Association, and was chairman of its Best Practice committee until 2000.
Skills and Experience
Chris’s professional activity has involved providing valuation and other related advice in respect to a wide range of industrial and commercial companies in respect of their real property holdings. He has also advised financial sector businesses on the regular revaluations of their property investments, or investments in property funds they manage, including a number of major UK funds and fund managers.
Chris also has had significant experience as an expert witness in valuation disputes before the UK courts and tribunals. For more than twenty years he also received regular appointments from the RICS President to act as an arbitrator in valuation disputes.
As Technical Head of Valuation at BNP Paribas Real Estate he was responsible for designing valuation products and procedures to meet the parent bank's risk management criteria and external regulatory requirements and for training valuation teams on their implementation.
His roles as both a volunteer Board member and then Technical Director of the IVSC have given Chris considerable insight into valuation across different types of asset and different markets. He also has examined and advised on the impact of cross border regulation such as European Union Regulations and Directives and IOSCO policies and standards. He also has considerable engagement with national and international accounting standard setters on the use of valuations in financial reporting.
Chris has been invited to speak on valuation topics in more than twenty countries across six continents. He has contributed many articles on valuation issues to professional and trade publications. He was also a contributing reviewer to the 5th Edition of “The Cost of Capital” by Pratt and Grabowski, published in 2014.