History of ALEVS 

The Association of Land Economy and Valuation Surveyors (ALEVS) came into being in 1974 and has been actively engaging professionals who are referred to as Estate Managers, Land Administrators, Land Economy Surveyors, Valuation Surveyors or General Practice Surveyors.

 

From as early as 1971, qualified Valuation Surveyors attached to the Land Valuation Department wanted to establish a local link with the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), the organization which embraces the three main segments of the Surveying Profession- Land Surveying and Mapping, Quantity Surveying and Land Economy Surveying. At that time, other professional bodies such as the Land Surveyors Association and the Jamaican Society of Quantity Surveyors were already affiliates of CASLE. Much planning and discussions with the Jamaica Association of Real Estate Brokers and Appraisers (now the Jamaica Realtors Association), the Jamaican Society of Quantity Surveyors Association took place to look at possible ways of merging. Finally, it was decided that such alliances were not workable as no compromise could be struck on the demarcation of practice, so a decision was made to form the Association of Land Economy and Valuation Surveyors as one area of distinct practice.

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A constitution was prepared and the administrative structure of the Association was developed comprising a general council shared chaired by the presidents and committees with specific responsibilities for membership and disciplinary matters, publicity, special projects, finance and education matters. With this structure on December 9, 1974 fourteen (14) trained Valuation Surveyors became the founding members of ALEVS inclusive of Messrs. Lucien Rattray, President; Owen Pitter, Vice-President; Carl Francis, Secretary and Lascelles Patterson, Treasurer. Council members were Messrs. Easton Douglas (former Minister of Environment and Housing), Alvin Rattray and Edwin Tulloch-Reid.

The constitution was amended in 1984 to include licentiate membership in order to accommodate graduates of the Diploma in Land Economy and Valuations Surveying (LEVS) from the University of Technology, Jamaica or its equivalent, who were pursuing the programme of practical training or attachment established by the association.