PMBLDSUR - MSc Building Surveying

This course is specifically designed for postgraduate students whose first degree is not related to Building Surveying, yet who are either currently working in the industry or aspiring to pursue a career as Building Surveyors. It offers a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental aspects of construction technology and the principles of the Built Environment while encouraging students to apply the critical thinking and transferable skills they acquired during their undergraduate studies to advanced, master’s-level thinking.

Students will engage in authentic, work-related learning and assessments that reflect real-world scenarios, thereby enhancing their employability prospects. For example, students will conduct inspections of existing buildings, work with drawings and specifications provided by industry partners, and take on the role of a Building Surveyor in advising clients.

The course’s assessment strategy is designed to ensure student success, regardless of their prior academic background, by offering a diverse range of assessment types that provide flexibility and choice. Classroom teaching will combine traditional lectures, seminars, and tutorials, with a strong emphasis on student-centred learning. This approach encourages independent exploration and critical thinking, rather than relying solely on didactic instruction. Formative feedback plays a vital role in student development, enabling students to identify knowledge gaps, address misunderstandings, and refine their skills. Numerous opportunities for formative feedback throughout the course will help foster student confidence and self-efficacy.

A blended-learning approach is adopted, combining the advantages of traditional classroom teaching with the flexibility offered by web-based technology and resources. These technologies allow students to engage with course materials, academics, and peers in flexible ways. The University’s Virtual Learning Environment (WebLearn) offers access to course materials, including lecture notes, recordings, and additional resources. Additionally, the Library provides students with access to e-books, journals, and industry databases.

London Metropolitan University is deeply committed to social justice and the transformative power of education. This commitment is reflected in the learning and teaching approach of this course, which encourages all students to engage with and realise their full potential. The course has been designed to remove arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to learning, ensuring that it is accessible to all students, regardless of their background or circumstances. The student experience aims to raise aspirations and support achievement for individuals from diverse backgrounds, with each student contributing to and benefiting from the vibrant community of learners at the University.

The aim of the course is to develop forward-thinking professionals equipped with the skills to add value to the Building Surveying profession. As a non-cognate course, it is specifically designed for individuals whose undergraduate degree is not related to Building Surveying, providing them with the opportunity to transition into the profession. The course takes into account their diverse academic backgrounds, ensuring that they are equipped with the essential knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the Building Surveying field.

Building Surveying graduates will play a crucial role in ensuring the safety, sustainability, social value, and functionality of Built Environment projects by assessing, maintaining, and improving structures. They will contribute to urban development, property management, and construction projects, helping communities thrive through their expertise in building design, regulation, and maintenance. This aim will be achieved by providing exposure to the latest initiatives, bodies of knowledge, and best practices, both academically and through professional practice.

At the School of the Built Environment at London Metropolitan University, we will utilise our strong links with property and construction industry employers, immersing students in authentic industry scenarios and using the latest technology and data collection tools. Students will have opportunities to visit live construction projects, UK and global organisations, to experience first-hand the challenges in the property and construction sectors. This will create a dynamic learning experience, ensuring that London Met’s postgraduates possess the relevant skills and practical knowledge to excel, setting them apart in the competitive marketplace.

On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

University Learning Outcome
1. Demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition, and creativity, and act as inclusive, collaborative, and socially responsible practitioners/professionals in their discipline.

Knowledge and Understanding
2. Apply the principles of design, construction, refurbishment, and adaptation that underpin the profession of Building Surveying.
3. Evaluate the physical, technical, legal, and economic factors that influence the work of Building Surveying professionals and the advice they give.
4. Identify the requirements for sustainability and inclusivity in the built environment, and the processes that deliver these.
5. Evaluate the professional and ethical frameworks that influence the work of Building Surveying professionals.

Cognitive/Intellectual Skills
6. Identify and critically evaluate evidence to produce solutions to complex challenges in the Building Surveying realm.
7. Critically evaluate incomplete information and manage uncertainty to reach justified conclusions.

Subject-specific Practical Skills
8. Competently use technology to support the resolution of complex issues and challenges within Building Surveying.
9. Proficiency in retrieving and analysing data from appropriate sources to use in providing solutions to Building Surveying problems.

Key Transferrable Skills
10. Adopt methods of communication suitable for the intended audience to convey complex information in an efficient and appropriate manner.

Subject Benchmark Statement: Land, Construction, Real Estate and Surveying. April 2024.

Assessments will be inclusive, accessible, and promote decolonisation and diversification to aid critical thinking and awareness of how different perspectives on issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture, and nationality can impact the work of a Building Surveyor. This will be achieved in two ways. Firstly, by using case studies from across the globe to bring students' attention to the challenges facing Building Surveyors when working in different countries and cultures. Secondly, project choice will be available to students, allowing them to choose where in the world they locate their projects, which will encourage contributions from students with diverse backgrounds, giving them opportunities to draw upon, express, and see the value in their different and varied personal experiences.

Placing an emphasis on real-world and authentic assessment means that throughout the course, students will be asked to demonstrate critical thinking and awareness of how different perspectives on issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture, and nationality can impact the Building Surveyor. The course uses a variety of assessment methods and modules are generally assessed using more than one type of assessment. Some modules will include assessment choice, whereby students can agree with the module team on the format of the presentation, which, for example, could be live in-person, a recorded talking head video, or a recorded PowerPoint presentation with commentary. If recorded, there will be a scheduled opportunity for Q&A.

The course assessments will allow students to evidence their knowledge of the core learning materials, their intellectual and problem-solving abilities, their awareness of the impact of issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture, and nationality on the Building Surveyor, and the skills they have gained during the course. Each module will provide an opportunity for formative assessment, which will be provided ahead of any summative submissions to enable students to learn and benefit from this feedback, improving their overall performance. The delivery of formative assessment will differ across modules and may sometimes form part of a timetabled seminar or class session. In modules where enquiry-based learning is used, industry-inspired scenarios will form the basis of the assessment, sometimes using a live project as the vehicle for the assessment.

Assessment types will include:
• Debates: Group debates will be conducted around a particular topic or subject area. A proposition will be offered and defended within the group context. These are often used as the vehicle for formative feedback sessions and occur during scheduled workshops.
• Reports: A focused piece of writing in which the student is required to inform or persuade through argument, explanation, narrative, or description.
• Portfolios: Typically, a portfolio brings together several related pieces of work, which together form the basis of a response to a set problem.
• Projects: These will be based on a scenario that relates directly to the Construction industry and will require an objective solution to the problem that has been set.
• Presentations: These may be live (face-to-face or online) or recorded and could include video. Whether the presentations are synchronous or asynchronous, there will be an opportunity for live Q&A scheduled into the assessment timetable.

For the Applied Research Project module, the assessment is based on a substantial, individual piece of research conducted by the student. Throughout the project, formative feedback and guidance will be available to all students through their work with their supervisors, including opportunities for 1:1 supervision meetings.

In broad terms, the assessment strategies adopted on the course will require students to provide evidence of the following:
• Analysis – Have key Building Surveying concepts been understood and the relationship between them articulated?
• Integration of theory and practice – Has evidence from both academic research and professional practice been effectively related to each other, and have theoretical concepts been appropriately applied to practical situations?
• Critical thinking – Has information been used in a critical way rather than simply reproduced and accepted as fact?

All assessment briefs will provide students with a clear and unambiguous guide to the assessment requirements and the applied marking criteria. Assessments will be spread across the whole academic year to minimise assessment bunching and any feedback issued will be done so in a timely manner, which, where applicable, will help inform subsequent submissions.

All students are required to submit assignments via relevant WebLearn sites through Turnitin. These are marked and made available to second markers and external examiners in all cases, and all students are informed of these procedures through module discussions as well as during induction undertaken by the Course Leader.

Standard Academic University Regulations apply. All modules pass on aggregate.

Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits): must include CO7008 Design and Technology and SU7003 Building Surveying Practice.

Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits): all modules except CO7P00 or (CO7P00S + CO7P00A) Applied Research Project module.

As with many academic disciplines, it is essential for students to acquire a solid understanding of fundamental concepts and terminology. For students without a prior background in Construction or Surveying, this foundational knowledge will be gained primarily through course materials, including online resources, and supplemented by independent research. However, simply acquiring this basic knowledge is not sufficient to cultivate the high-level intellectual skills expected of a master’s-level course. Therefore, the course will place a significant emphasis on enquiry-based learning, where students are presented with open-ended scenarios that allow for a range of responses or solutions.

In modules such as the SU7002 Building Adaptation and Refurbishment and SU7003 Building Surveying Practice, students will determine the lines of enquiry and the methods they employ, drawing on their existing knowledge and identifying any gaps in their learning. Tutors serve as facilitators, offering guidance, feedback, and encouragement, while empowering students to make critical decisions, reflect on feedback, and seek practical solutions to complex problems. This method is particularly valuable for non-cognate students, as it encourages the development of problem-solving skills that are essential to the building surveying profession, while accommodating their diverse academic backgrounds.

Working collaboratively, students will use the extensive resources available to them to research the issues presented in the scenarios. Through both class-based activities and module assessments, students will receive regular feedback, both real-time and asynchronous, and be asked to reflect on and learn from this feedback. This student-centred approach ensures that learners take ownership of their educational journey, progressively building their expertise in Building Surveying. The scenarios are deliberately designed so that no single correct answer exists, mirroring the real-world complexities that Building Surveyors face, where multiple solutions may be equally valid.

By engaging in this dynamic learning process, non-cognate students gain a much deeper understanding of the material. They develop their knowledge through practical experience while also enhancing their social, cultural, and employability skills, ensuring they are well-prepared to contribute to the Building Surveying profession.

Building Surveying is one of the widest areas of Surveying practice. Chartered Building Surveyors are involved in all aspects of property and construction, from supervising large mixed-use developments to planning domestic extensions. This varied workload can include everything from the conservation and restoration of historic buildings to contemporary new developments.

Building Surveyors work in most real-estate markets, including Residential, Commercial, Retail, Industrial, Leisure, Education, and Health. Consequently, there are a wide variety of opportunities for Chartered Building Surveyors to work in the Commercial, Private, and Public sectors. Many Chartered Building Surveyors work for property consultancies, public sector organisations, real estate-owning clients, contractors, and in a number of specialist niche areas, such as Insurance, Rights to Light, and Party Wall matters.

If you've already studied your undergraduate degree with us, as a graduate of London Met, you'll be entitled to a 20% discount on any further study with us. You may even extend your time with London Met after completing your Building Surveying MSc by studying towards a relevant PhD.

As a Building Surveying MSc graduate, you’ll have the skills required to work in large multi-disciplinary surveying and design practices, including local, national and international organisations in both public and private sector working within the UK and abroad. Many Building Surveyors become can specialise in the conservation of historic buildings, working for organisations such as the National Trust and Historic England, or as in house conservation experts in surveying firms.

In addition to the university's standard entry requirements, you'll be required to have:

A minimum of lower second-class honours degree (2:2) in any subject