Program Overview

---

BSc (Hons) Building Surveying

Why study this course with LJMU?

• LJMU ranked 16th in the UK for construction, surveying and planning courses (The Guardian University Guide 2025)
• LJMU ranked 8th university in the UK for building degrees (The Times UK University Rankings 2025)
• Fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE)
• Opportunity to undertake a year's industrial placement or study abroad
• Opportunity to participate in an exciting international experience studying a building surveying subject abroad
• 6 million investment in developing state-of-the-art teaching facilities
• Stepping stone to a varied career with UK and overseas employment opportunities

About your course

Completing the BSc (Hons) Building Surveying at Liverpool John Moores University will enable you to graduate as a fully accredited professional with relevant industry experience and excellent earning potential.

Traditionally, a building surveyor's main area of expertise has been in property refurbishment and conservation, but nowadays they are also involved in building design, management, maintenance, and surveys the whole lifecycle of a building, in fact.

As such, they work with a range of people, from building owners and occupiers to builders, planners, lawyers and service engineers, so not only do they need to be technically competent but practical as well, and capable of giving advice on subjects as diverse as repair diagnosis to building design to legal representation in court.

The course is built around the following four themes together with work experience and project tasks that simulate real working practices, giving you the knowledge and practical skills to launch your career as a building surveyor:

• Technical knowledge, such as building construction, building defects, science and materials
• Design practice, which covers cad, refurbishment projects, sustainability projects, building conservation
• Management practice, including construction site management, facilities and maintenance management business management
• Law, including construction law, property law, health and safety law

The course also offers a sandwich route which involves a paid placement where you can apply what you have learnt at LJMU out in the workplace. Such experience will enhance both your professional skills development and your CV, boosting your employment prospects after graduation.

Students not undertaking a placement year are registered on the non-Sandwich version of the programme and will have the opportunity of an additional study year abroad following Level 5, providing students with an additional year of study at an approved overseas partner that will complement their programme at LJMU.

Course modules

Year 1

• Principles of Economics and Management (20 credits)
  • This module aims to provide students with an introduction to economic and management theories and principles with reference to the built environment, property, and society in general.
• Construction Technology 1 (20 credits)
  • This module introduces you to the building process and construction technology associated with domestic dwellings. It will enable you to develop an understanding of the performance of buildings and the influence of alternative methods and materials for sustainable construction.
• Introduction to Law (20 credits)
  • This module will provide the students with a working knowledge of the English legal system and an introduction to the principles of the law including contract, tort and property law.
• Passive Design and Specification (20 credits)
  • This module introduce fundamental concepts concerning passive building design with particular reference to dwellings. To introduce students to specification of materials for building projects.
• Property Surveys (20 credits)
  • This module provides students with a practical introduction to building surveying including residential property surveys. To enable students to develop academic and digital literacy skills to perform effectively on the building surveying degree programme.
• Science and Materials (20 credits)
  • This module aims to enable students to apply appropriate scientific and analytical methods to investigate the performance and behaviour of common building materials. We aim to provide students with an appreciation of the common scientific principles associated with environmental conditions inside buildings.

Year 2

• Asset Management (20 credits)
  • This module aims to examine the process of acquiring property, and the effective management and maintenance of individual property holdings.
• Pathology and Inspection (20 credits)
  • In this module students undertake a commercial building inspection through the systematic appraisal of building defects causing decay and deterioration, in order to propose remediation solutions.
• Procurement and Contracts (20 credits)
  • This module provides an comprehensive understanding of contract management, administration and the influence of procuring suppliers and specialists to optimise contract performance.
• Sustainable Buildings Project (20 credits)
  • This module aims to enable students to work on a group project that enables the integration and development of a range of professional skills in the context of sustainable building design, maintenance and management.
• Property Law for Surveyors (20 credits)
  • The module aims to provide students with knowledge and understanding of the fundamental legal principles and statutory rules relating to Landlord and Tenant law and Dilapidations.
• Construction Technology 2 (20 credits)
  • This module explains and analyses the construction techniques of framed multi-storey buildings. Students are enabled to evaluate the relative merits of the various construction forms in any given situation You will be introduced to current and future building services technologies for commercial and industrial buildings.

Year 3

• Building Surveying Professional Practice (20 credits)
  • This module aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of professional practice through appreciating individual and organisational needs in the context of the internal and external environment. To understand the role of the professional body, and professional body membership.
• Building Surveying Professional Project (20 credits)
  • This module brings together topics studied across the Building Surveying programme and integrates their application within a live project scenario. The project also aims to develop professional skills required to make effective decisions in an inclusive working environment.
• Productive Workplaces (20 credits)
  • In this module students will learn to demonstrate a critical appreciation for the interaction between people, organisations and buildings in order to optimise health, inclusivity, sustainability and productivity.
• Research Project (40 credits)
  • In this module students will complete a substantial piece of individual work and build on their expertise in a selected area of study related to the disciplines of Real Estate or Building Surveying.
• Real Estate and Asset Strategy (20 credits)
  • In this module students understand how a property portfolio can be improved through strategic planning and management, including the impact of climate change, change management and leadership, financial management and performance and lifecycle costing.

Professional accreditation

This degree has a very high standing both professionally and academically. It is fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE).

If you complete relevant work experience within two years of obtaining your degree, you will qualify for the professional qualification of Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).

Furthermore, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) placed it amongst the top 15% of building surveying courses in the country.

Your Learning Experience

Teaching Support Assessment

Excellent facilities and learning resources

We adopt an active blended learning approach, meaning you will experience a combination of face-to-face and online learning during your time at LJMU. This enables you to experience a rich and diverse learning experience and engage fully with your studies. Our approach ensures that you can easily access support from your personal tutor, either by meeting them on-campus or via a video call to suit your needs.

You can expect to spend on average 14-16 hours in the classroom which may be in the form of lectures, tutorials and workshops, combined with your own research using our library and the web. You should spend around 35 hours per week in private study.

Work-related Learning

The best way to experience working in the building surveying industry is to undertake a year's professional work placement, either in the UK or overseas, so you can put into practice what you have learnt in your first two years at LJMU. Taking the sandwich option will greatly improve your career prospects and could even lead to a permanent position with your placement employer.

The placement is fully paid and is an invaluable opportunity to learn new skills and gain hands-on experience that will add real value to your CV and impress future employers. The direct work experience could also count towards a professional qualification. It can even count towards the professional MRICS qualification.

Dedicated personal tutor, plus study skills support

Throughout the course you will have the support of a personal tutor who can provide one-to-one guidance and advice on course-related issues.

If you decide to take up a third year work placement, there is plenty of support available from the Faculty placement team, both in finding and securing the placement, and during the year when one of your tutors will visit you in your workplace to check on your progress.

Assessment varies depending on the modules you choose, but will usually include a combination of exams and coursework.

All students perform differently depending on the type of assessment they are asked to do, and so a variety of assessment methods are used. These include exams (open and closed book), coursework (projects, technical reports, reviews, etc), and presentations (individual and group).

Your tutors will give prompt and constructive feedback via Canvas (our virtual learning environment), face-to-face or in writing.

This will help you to identify your strengths as well as the areas where you may need to put in more work.

Career paths

Do you want a varied professional career with many challenges and good employment prospects? If so then becoming a Chartered Building Surveyor may be the career for you.

The most likely route to go down once you graduate is to become a building surveyor in commercial building management or housing and social building provision. Some of our graduates go on to run their own practices or become partners in established building surveying practices once they become professionally qualified.

Building Surveying is a varied profession operating in both the public and private sectors covering both residential and commercial clients. Chartered Building Surveyors offer expert advice on all aspects of land, property and construction for both private and public companies, including:

• inspecting and surveying existing buildings, proposing and managing refurbishment projects, appraising buildings for new uses, conserving listed buildings
• providing advice on building defects and failures, diagnosis of defects and specification of remedial work
• property legislation advice – party wall issues, building regulations and planning permission issues
• project management services, working with clients, preparing outline designs and specifications, refurbishment work carrying out building surveys and measured survey

Tuition fees and funding

Home

• Full-time per year: £9,535
• Placement year: £1,905

International

• Full-time per year: £18,250
• Placement year: £3,910

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements

• GCSEs and equivalents: Grade 4 or grade C or above in English Language and Mathematics/Numeracy
• A levels: BBC
• BTECs: Extended Diploma: DMM
• Access awards: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• International Baccalaureate: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• OCR Cambridge Technical: Extended Diploma: DMM
• Irish awards: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• T levels: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications

English language requirements

• IELTS: 6.0 overall with no component below 5.5, taken within two years of the course start date

Additional requirements

• DBS, Occupational Health requirements
• Reduced offer scheme

How to apply

UCAS is the official application route for our full-time undergraduate courses. Further information on the UCAS application process can be found here.