Build a solid understanding of how the construction industry works, with a focus on the financial and managerial side of projects. You’ll look at key stages of construction, from project initiation to the principles of structural design and materials. You’ll also explore important topics such as contract law, commercial management, project relationships and the JCT suite of contracts.
As you progress, you’ll develop your knowledge of cost planning and cost management, and learn how data and new technologies are shaping modern construction projects. Teaching is delivered by an inspiring team of research-active experts.
Compulsory modules
Professional Skills
The aim of this module is for the student to explore and reflect on the academic, professional and personal skills required for their learning development and future employability.
Principles of Law and Economics for the Built Environment
The aim of this module is to provide the student with a foundation of law and economics as they impact the built environment. The principles of English public and private law and economic theory will be introduced including: tort, contract, planning, supply and demand, elasticity, market structures and the macroeconomy.
Construction Technology 1
The aims of this module are for students to understand the technological aspects of simple and framed buildings including their elements and components, their functional and performance requirements and options available for onsite and offsite construction.
Professional Practice 1
This module aims:
- To introduce students to the shape, form, and role of the construction industry in society and in the UK economy.
- To introduce students to the main construction professions and their roles in construction projects.
- To explain the role and responsibilities of the client's quantity surveyor and the contractor's commercial manager across the construction project lifespan.
- To help students appreciate the competencies and capabilities required of the modern quantity surveyor and commercial manager, centred around an appreciation of the nature of commercial risk.
This module also provides an opportunity for students to acquire practical and transferrable skills in the use of Microsoft Excel and in the production of written reports. The module further aims to, through a week-long collaborative project, introduce students to an initial simulation of their future role in the industry and the interdependency of their future profession with others in the sector. This project also introduces the students to the need for sustainable development of the built environment.
Measurement and Site Surveying
The aim of this module is for the student to:
- To introduce students to the basic principles of measurement under the NRM2 method of measurement.
- For students to acquire appropriate skills and knowledge of land surveying for application to building and civil engineering works.
Project Initialisation
The aims of this module are:
- To help students understand how construction projects are instigated, organised, and procured from the construction supply network via a tendering process.
- To help students appreciate the wide variety of information types that define construction projects, where they come from, how they relate to each other, where they are used, and why they must be carefully managed long after the project has finished.
- To introduce students to standard construction project procurement routes; to introduce students to the strategies, rules and procedures of project tendering (from the perspective of the procuring client).
- To help students understand the importance of precise and defined Contract Documents; to explain the need for revision and document control when accommodating change during project progression.
- To help students recognise and understand the role of contract law and statute law in creating the need for project information to be retained long after the conclusion of construction activity.
Materials and Structures
The aims of this module are:
- To help students understand the principles of structural design and to appreciate how they are related to architectural form and construction materials.
- To help students develop knowledge and understanding of the materials commonly used in construction.
- To help students appreciate the conditions these materials are expected to accommodate and their consequences for the sustainability of the built environment.
Compulsory modules
Construction Technology 2
The aim of this module is to provide the students with:
- An understanding of the practical technologies involved in civil engineering and infrastructure construction processes.
- An understanding of typical ground engineering problems and solutions that can be applied to civil engineering works.
Planning, Estimating and Cost Management
The aim of this module is to develop students' understanding of planning and estimating techniques and how and when these techniques are applied within a typical construction project lifecycle. The module will also develop students' understanding of commercial management, cost management and decision-making to support bidding for construction projects. The module also aims to introduce students to collaborative practices and professional perspectives in solving project planning and construction risk for the built environment and to allow students to work in cross disciplinary teams to plan and deliver a project.
Measurement of Complex Structures
The aim of this module is to provide the student with:
- Working knowledge of methods of measurement and quantification of framed buildings and structures.
- Working knowledge of the New Rules of Measurement 2 (NRM2) for framed buildings, and the Civil Engineering Standard Method of Measurement, 4th edition (CESMM4).
- An understanding of the role of Building Information Modelling from a QS perspective (5D).
Construction Finance and Risk
The aim of this module is to enable the student to develop essential knowledge and understanding in the fundamentals of accounting, financial and risk management, and use them to support management decisions at project and company level in construction.
Building Services Technology
The aim of this module is for the student to understand the function, technology, design and operation of selected building services systems typically deployed in medium to large (i.e. high-rise) commercial, non-domestic buildings. They are also to understand the principles considered in the development of environmental management strategies, sustainability considerations in the design and operation of selected services systems, and the provisions required in building design to accommodate those systems.
Professional Practice 2
This module aims to introduce students to principles of contract law relevant to the procedures typically enacted in standard forms of construction contract; introduce students to the use of different forms of contract within a contract suite to assemble construction project relationships. Focusing on the JCT SBC/Q standard form of contract as an example and approaching it from the perspective of the client's consultant quantity surveyor, the module also aims to: introduce the central tenets of effective contract administration focused on the management of cost, time, and change; and to make students familiar with the methods by which the client's quantity surveyor prepares financial reports and cashflow forecasts, interim valuations, and final accounts.
Estimating Practice
This module aims to:
- Introduce students to the estimating function of construction contracting organisations.
- Develop student knowledge and understanding of the principles and practices of the estimating function within construction contracting organisations.
- Develop student ability to quantify the work to derive rates for typical construction projects.
Project Commercial Management
This module aims to introduce students to:
- The role of the main contractor during the pre-contract phase, including methods of integrating contractor and supply network expertise into the project solution.
- Standards-compliant value engineering.
- Methods of work organisation and supply network mobilisation; cashflow optimisation.
- The ongoing commercial management of projects to ensure contractor solvency, including cost-value reconciliations.
- Contractual mechanisms available to the contractor (in specific situations) to claim extensions of time and payment of loss and expense as typified by the JCT SBC/Q standard form of construction contract.
- Conflict avoidance.
- Escalating methods of dispute resolution.
Compulsory modules
Strategic Commercial Management
The aim of this module is to develop students' knowledge and understanding of the strategic commercial management of construction businesses.
Research Dissertation
The aims of this module are to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the role of research to overcome knowledge gaps.
- Synthesise information from a number of sources in order to gain a coherent understanding of a complex problem.
- Undertake the process and methodology of research by defining and studying (on an individual basis) a complex problem in a specialised area relating to their degree.
- Present rational arguments and to draw independent conclusions based on a rigorous approach to collecting and analysing data.
Integrative Project
The aim of this module is to integrate the knowledge and skills building from the programme of the study into the application of real-live project scenario. This module will combine individual and group work across disciplines to tackle tasks relating to the project scenario.
Construction Law and Contract
The aim of this module is for the student to develop knowledge and understanding of the substantive and administrative provisions of the NEC4 ECC standard form of construction contract in the context of English common law, case law and statute.
Teamwork and Leadership
The aim of this module is to provide the student with an opportunity to develop and deepen their knowledge of, and connections between: management theories, practice and competencies.
The module is a unique combination of developing and deepening students understanding of their own management competencies, theoretical grasp of theory (leadership, teamwork, motivation, power and communication) and a fantastic opportunity to engage in experiential learning over three very challenging, problem solving days within an outdoor environment. Developing and then combining knowledge of management competencies, theory and practice with the opportunity to experience and self-reflect upon their connections is unique within this module.
Cost Planning and Management
The aims of this module are: to help students understand the concept of cost estimating and planning as pre-contract activities, and as defined by NRM1 and other relevant standards; to help students appreciate the principles, practices and resulting actions informed by whole life costing, including life cycle costing, all as defined by NRM3 and other relevant standards; and to help standard appreciate the interplay of construction costs, renewal costs, operating costs, maintenance costs, and end of life costs, including the balancing actions that may be required between these cost centres in built asset design, operating and disposal strategies.
Carbon Modelling and Management
The aim of this module is to introduce students to: the concepts of embodied and operational carbon; the modelling of embodied carbon in projects; the visualisation of embodied carbon in design proposals; and business models for embodied and operational carbon management.
Advanced Professional Practice and Emerging Technologies
This module aims to explore the increasing need to extract commercial value from data in construction. It introduces key data analysis techniques, including data mining, regression analysis, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, and their applications in construction.
Students will examine the role of digitalisation, automation, and innovation in modern project delivery, including industrialised manufacturing, standardisation, and modern methods of construction (MMC) such as offsite and modular construction. The module also covers the management and technological aspects of large-scale projects and evaluates the benefits, risks, and future advancements shaping the industry.
The information above is intended as an example only, featuring module details for the current year of study. Modules are reviewed on an annual basis and may be subject to future changes – revised details will be published through Programme Specifications ahead of each academic year. Please also see Terms and Conditions of Study for more information.