Program Overview

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BSc (Honours) Building Surveying

Course summary

Learn how to refurbish existing buildings and develop new ones as an environmentally minded building surveying professional on our highly respected, practice-focused course.

How you learn

As one of the longest-running Building Surveying courses in the UK, our tutors are highly regarded throughout the industry. Not only are they experts in their field, but they also have strong connections within the profession, giving you a headstart in your career. At every level of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with professionals and diverse buildings, places and communities – both locally and globally.

You learn through:

• Lectures and seminars
• Technical workshops
• Industry visits
• Field trips
• Independent study
• Practice-based learning
• Group work
• Work placements

Key themes

You’ll learn the fundamental skills of how to inspect, appraise, propose, negotiate, problem solve, innovate and plan in relation to the full life-cycle of buildings and places – from their creation and use, through to their replacement.

Core modules cover surveying skills and techniques, building technology, building pathology, conservation and heritage, dilapidations, law, sustainability and resilience, economics, property development and climate action.

In your final year, you’ll research a topic of your choice, enabling you to master the investigation, data analysis and reporting skills you’ll need in professional practice.

This combination of practice-focused learning and contemporary industry issues will make you stand out to employers, preparing you to leave us a confident graduate, ready for your next challenge.

Course support

At every level of study, students are given the opportunity to thrive, culturally, personally and professionally. Throughout your learning journey, you’ll experience a range of dedicated support, such as:

• Access to specialist support services to help with your personal, academic and career development
• Access to our Skills Centre with one-to-ones, webinars and online resources, where you can get help with planning and structuring your assignments
• Free access to office and studio space, expert workshops, freelance opportunities and a vast business network ready for you to tap into

Applied learning

Your course has been designed to embrace real-world challenges and provide you with the practical skills and knowledge to be successful.

Work placements

You’ll have the opportunity to arrange a year-long work placement before your final year. This gives you valuable work experience to prepare you for your future career and allows you to graduate with an Applied Professional Diploma to add to your CV.

We put a big focus on applied learning, and you’ll get lots of real-world experience on this course, which in turn will heighten your employability when you graduate.

Live projects

This course boasts some great hands-on, practical experience. In each year of study, you’ll work on real projects, responding to briefs set by employers, and interacting with building surveying professionals. This could include investigating and profiling an employer, or working with students from other courses to creatively address environmental issues.

You’ll also have the chance to work with our estate partners on campus development projects. Not only could you help us meet our environmental targets, but you can also have a direct impact on how our University will look.

Field trips

In the first year of the course, you’ll take a field trip to a UK town or city (at no additional cost). Previous destinations have included Durham, Newcastle, Edale and Matlock Bath.

In your second year, there will be an optional overseas field trip to a European city (for which additional cost contributions may be required). Previous destinations have included Lisbon and Berlin.

Networking opportunities

Property is all about people. We’ll help you build a network of professional contacts by hosting networking events with employers. You’ll also be introduced to high-profile industry leaders through guest lecturers and masterclasses.

We have a range of notable Built Environment alumni to take inspiration from – including Louise Brook-Smith OBE, the first female president of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Competitions

Our graduates are often nominated and win the RICS Young Surveyor of the Year award, such as Josh Weston who is our most recent winner.

Each year we select and mentor a female student to participate in The Association of Women in Property’s Student Award. Our course nominees compete against participants from a wide range of universities and disciplines from across the UK and often qualify for the regional and national finals.

Modules

Year 1

• Introduction To The Built Environment (20 credits)
  • Module Aim: This module will give you the skills and knowledge that you need to get the best out of your studies at university level and it will inspire and empower you to aim for a great career in the built environment in your chosen discipline through engagement with employers and the world of work, including though an employer-brief based Applied Project.
• Sustainability, Law And Economics (40 credits)
  • Module Aim: Built environment professionals need to understand how the projects that they are involved in are shaped by the interaction of social, legal, economic and environmental factors. This module will introduce you to the core concepts of sustainability, law and economics, by exploring them in the specific context of an area of contemporary challenge within the built environment, such as how to increase the number of new homes being constructed.
• Fundamentals Of Buildings & Materials (40 credits)
  • Module Aims: This module will enable you to correctly apply suitable knowledge and techniques to assess, record and present information in respect to the properties and performance of construction materials. The module will also provide you with broad underpinning knowledge and understanding of the variety of building technology (construction methods and techniques) along with the main influencing factors to enable them to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles of the construction of buildings.
• Practical Surveying Skills (20 credits)
  • Module Aim: The principle aim of this module is to introduce you to what it means to be a Building Surveyor and how this role links with the other professions within the Built Environment.

Year 2

• Construction Technology And Safety (40 credits)
  • Module Aims: To provide you with the ability to evaluate in depth construction technology (construction methods and techniques) applying the main influencing factors to enable them to apply knowledge and understanding to the design and construction of buildings. To equip you the knowledge and understanding of the importance of health, safety and welfare within the UK construction industry.
• Property Inspection And Remediation (40 credits)
  • Module Aim: To provide you with a holistic approach to the understanding of the most common types of building failure. To develop your ability to critically assess and evaluate the performance of a range of commercial building types both UK and internationally.

Year 3

• Contract Administration (20 credits)
  • Module Aim: This module enables you to critically evaluate and analyse various contractual procedures and roles relating to procurement strategies, tendering procedures and standard forms of contract. You will study and apply the fundamental legal concepts and areas of law applicable to the contract and its administration to facilitate the successful management of construction projects.
• Research Methods (20 credits)
  • Module Aim: This module will give you the skills that you need in order to plan and implement an individual research study related to a built environment topic of your choice with a particular emphasis on the types of research questions, research methods and data sources that you will encounter in professional practice.
• Research Project (20 credits)
  • Module Aim: In this module you will carry out an individual research study related to a built environment topic of your choice, and report and reflect upon the outcome of that study, with a particular emphasis on the types of research questions, research methods and data sources that you will encounter in professional practice.
• Resilient Built Environments In Professional Practice (20 credits)
  • Module Aim: In this module you will put into practice the sustainability principle of ‘think global, act local’ by collaborating face-to-face with students from across the Department of the Natural and Built Environment and potentially online with students at other universities around the world, in order to work upon an Applied Project related to the resilience of built environments.

Year 4

• Building Surveying Professional Practice (40 credits)
  • Module Aims: To provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve professional membership. To enable you to understand how the Building Regulations should be interpreted and applied.
• Heritage Conservation & Climate Action Retrofit Project (40 credits)
  • Module Aims: Heritage Conservation: To equip the student with an understanding of both the underlying principles of building conservation and related practical knowledge of the statutory requirements, materials, repair methods and survey techniques. Climate Action Retrofit Project: to enable you through working collaboratively in an immersive, work integrated learning environment, to address an employers’ brief use your disciplinary knowledge and given professional identity to identify, formulate and advance feasible retrofit proposals to address energy and environmental challenges posed to existing buildings by the climate emergency.

Future careers

This course prepares you for a career in:

• Commercial building surveying
• Residential surveying
• Project management
• Building control
• Fire engineering
• Property development
• Heritage and conservation
• Loss adjusting
• Sustainability
• Other built environment professions

Equipment and facilities

We’ve invested over £100m in new facilities to help you study how and when you want. This means 24-hour libraries and study spaces designed by our students.

You will have access to a variety of learning spaces for both independent study and collaboration, plus industry-standard equipment and software to enable you to learn the tools and techniques you’ll use in the world of work.

On this course you may work with:

• Kykloud, AutoCAD and Autodesk Revit
• IT labs and our Adsetts Learning Centre
• 42 Howard Street, a Georgian terraced house on campus used for interactive teaching

Where will I study?

You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.

Entry requirements

• UCAS points: 112-120
• GCSE: English Language or English Literature at grade C or 4, Mathematics at grade C or 4
• Access: at least 45 credits at level 3 and 15 credits at level 2 from a relevant Open College Network accredited course
• Foundation degree: advanced entry - for direct entry to year two you must have a Foundation degree in a related subject, with an average score of 60% across the highest level modules.
• Advanced entry: for direct entry to year two you must have a minimum of all merits on all H2 level units in a construction related HND/HNC, not including key or common skills. Compensation for a pass in one H2 unit with a distinction in another H2 unit is permitted.
• English language requirements: IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in all skills, or equivalent.

Fees and funding

• Home students: £4,770 per year for years 1 and 2, £6,360 per year for years 3, 4 and 5
• International students: £8,580 per year for years 1 and 2, £11,440 per year for years 3, 4 and 5

Additional course costs

The links below allow you to view estimated general course additional costs, as well as costs associated with key activities on specific courses. These are estimates and are intended only as an indication of potential additional expenses. Actual costs can vary greatly depending on the choices you make during your course.

• General course additional costs
• Additional costs for School of Engineering and Built Environment (PDF, 142.7KB)