UDBLDSRY - BSc (Hons) Building Surveying

Building Surveying qualifications are highly regarded, and there is a strong demand for Building Surveyors, particularly in the UK. At the School of the Built Environment at London Metropolitan University, we have designed a course that will produce highly-skilled-and-valued Building Surveyors.

As a student on our course, you will have the opportunity to engage in authentic learning and assessment on real-world projects, working with established national and international organisations operating within the Construction, Engineering, and Real Estate sectors. You will have opportunities to visit live and completed projects to experience firsthand the challenges, excitement, and opportunities a career in Building Surveying can offer.

Placing an emphasis on real-world and authentic assessment means that throughout the course, students will showcase their achievements to industry and employers and contribute to solving challenges posed by authentic assessments. In some modules, such as Level 6 Sustainable Built Environments, project choice will be available, allowing you to choose where in the world you locate your projects, which will help you discuss different perspectives within and outside the UK. This will aid your critical thinking and awareness of how different perspectives on issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture, and nationality can impact the move towards more sustainable built environments.

Assessment types will be varied and modules such as Level 6 Inclusive Teamwork and Leadership and Level 5 Building Pathology and Refurbishment will include assessment choice, whereby you can agree with the module team on the format of the presentation. This could, for example, be live in-person, a recorded talking head video, or a recorded PowerPoint presentation with commentary.

The programme places significant importance on robust technical knowledge and the ability to provide strategic advice. Several modules require you to fulfil a complex brief, taking many factors into account and formulating this into advice that would be suitable for a client or contractor. The curriculum emphasises the science of construction, material specification, and construction details, enabling you to comprehend your part in the Built Environment sector. The programme equips you with the necessary skills to interact with all professionals who impact the contemporary built environment.

Formative assessment is key to your progression as it provides the opportunity for impactful feedback that will directly benefit your future submissions. Formative assessments will be embedded in all modules, sometimes taking the form of a scheduled event, as well as through group and individual discussions with peers and the module team.

The course will adopt a blended learning approach, which will combine the benefits of a traditional classroom-taught course with the flexibility afforded by delivery enhanced through embracing web-based technology and resources. These web-based technologies allow you flexible ways of engaging with the course material, academics, and your peers. The University’s Virtual Learning Environment will provide you with access to the course materials, including lecture notes, recordings, and supporting resources. Through the Library, you will have access to e-books, journals, and construction industry databases.

Several of the 30-credit modules have been proposed as semester-long, and these include Level 4 Construction Technology and Building Services, Level 4 Materials Science and Structural Principles, Level 5 Advanced Construction Technology and Structures, and Level 5 Environmental Science and Sustainability. The rationale behind this intensive delivery mode for these modules is that it allows for meaningful student engagement with laboratory-based activities, such as materials testing, model making, structural frame and component testing, and sufficient time to participate in external visits to construction projects (new builds and under adaptive reuse).

London Metropolitan University’s commitment to social justice and using the power of education to change lives is central to the learning and teaching on this course, encouraging all students to engage and fulfil their potential. The course has been designed with the objective of removing arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to learning by facilitating a learning experience accessible for all, irrespective of the group or groups to which you belong. The student experience will raise aspirations and support achievement for people with diverse requirements, entitlements, and backgrounds. All our students belong and contribute to our community of learners, engaging with the opportunities the course, School, and University offer.

The aim of the course is to develop forward-thinking professionals equipped with the skills to enable them to add value to the Building Surveying profession. London Met’s 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.

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 projects as well as national and global organisations to experience firsthand the challenges in property and construction and create a learning experience that will ensure London Met’s postgraduates stand out in the marketplace.

By completion of the course students will be able to:

1. demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition, and creativity and will act as inclusive, collaborative, and socially responsible practitioners/professionals in their discipline.
2. evaluate the contributions of stakeholders towards achieving and maintaining a sustainable built environment.
3. critique the technology and innovations underpinning the design, construction, and performance of the built environment.
4. appraise the contributions of design, materials, construction technology, innovation and engineering elements, processes, and practices towards a sustainable built environment.
5. propose appropriate solutions to complex problems relating to the built environment, accounting for regulatory, legal, social, risk management, environmental, and professional body frameworks.
6. formulate proposals using data collected from activities including laboratory experiments, design activities, site surveying, case studies, site visits, and research including primary and secondary sources.
7. develop proposals for sustainable practice in the built environment.
8. demonstrate the ability to communicate complex information in an appropriate manner.
9. generate effective solutions to unfamiliar and/or complex problems.
10. discuss Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity, Health and Safety, and Wellbeing in the built environment and identify examples of the implementation of ethical and inclusive change and practice to create an inclusive built environment.
11. evaluate personal self-development and practice and create plans for personal and professional development.
12. competently use technology to support the resolution of complex issues and challenges within Building Surveying.
13. critically evaluate and apply the theory to produce solutions that facilitate successful Building-Surveying-specific activities.
14. use appropriate Building Surveying methodologies to assess the feasibility of projects, justify your advice, and specify the work required.
15. formulate a response to a complex problem in an area specific to Building Surveying.

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 highlight the challenges faced by 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, encouraging contributions from students with diverse backgrounds and offering opportunities for them to draw upon, express, and appreciate the value of their 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 could, for example, be live in-person, a recorded talking-head video, or a recorded PowerPoint presentation with commentary. If recorded, there will still be a scheduled opportunity for Q&A.

The course assessments will allow students to evidence their knowledge of the core course learning materials, their intellectual and problem-solving abilities, their awareness of the impact of issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture, and nationality of the Building Surveyor, and the skills they have gained during the course. Each module will provide an opportunity for formative assessment ahead of any summative submissions, enabling students to learn and benefit from this feedback, improving their overall performance. The delivery of formative assessment will vary 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.

Essays: 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 problem set.

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 one-to-one supervision meetings.

In broad terms, the assessment strategies adopted on the course will require students to provide evidence of the following:

• Analysis – Have key concepts been understood, and has the relationship between them been 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 Turnitin links through the relevant WebLearn sites. 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.

A 15-credit work-based learning module is available as an option at Level 6. The work-placement activity needs to take place during the period between Week 1 of your Level 5 Summer Semester and Week 4 of your Level 6 Spring Semester. This is to give you sufficient time to prepare your coursework submissions once your work-placement is completed. Exact dates will be issued to you in advance. Students who wish to take the module will receive advice from the course team as to the support available to them to secure an opportunity before the end of Semester 2 ahead of the Summer from when they are able to undertake the placement. The module will require the student to produce a piece of reflective work based on their placement experience and further details can be found in the module descriptor.

Standard Academic University Regulations apply. All modules pass on aggregate

Part-time Structure

Part time starts (day release)
September start, 6 years

Year 1 L4 Autumn semester core modules; Built Environment Principles; Design, Procurement and Management
Year 1 L4 Spring Semester core modules; Built Environment Principles; Construction Site Engineering and Infrastructure
Year 2 L4 Autumn Semester core modules; Construction Technology and Services
Year 2 L4 Spring semester core modules; Materials Science and Structural Principles
Year 3 L5 Autumn semester core module; Advanced Construction Technology and Structures
Year 3 L5 Spring semester core module; Environmental Science and Sustainability
Year 4 L5 Autumn semester core modules; Project Management and Contract Administration; Building Pathology and Refurbishment
Year 4 L5 Spring semester core modules; Project Management and Contract Administration; Building Surveying Principles

Year 5 L6 Autumn semester core modules: Building Surveying Practice, Sustainable Built Environments
Year 5 L6 Spring semester core modules: Building Surveying Practice, Option Module (Choose 1)
Year 5 L6 Autumn semester core modules: Applied Research Project; Project Management and Contract Practice
Year 6 L6 Spring semester core modules: Applied Research Project; Advanced Fire Safety

Certificate of Higher Education in Building Surveying (CertHE) [120 credits at Level 4]

Diploma of Higher Education in Building Surveying (DipHE) [240 credits, min 120 at Level 5]

BSc (Ord) 300 credits: 120 credits at L4, 120 credits at L5, 60 credits at L6.

As with many academic disciplines, it is accepted that knowledge of fundamental concepts and vocabulary must be acquired by students, and this basic knowledge will be obtained primarily through the course material, including online resources, supplemented by their own personal research. However, the acquisition of that knowledge alone will not be sufficient to develop the high-level intellectual skills appropriate to a degree-level course; hence, the course will make extensive use of problem-based learning.

In the problem-based learning approach, students are presented with scenarios that are complex, with more than one right answer, allowing a variety of responses or solutions. Students determine the lines of enquiry, and the methods employed, and the enquiry requires students to draw on existing knowledge and identify their required learning needs. Staff will act as facilitators throughout the activities. Tasks will be performed through group and independent study to develop critical thinking skills in analysis, evaluation, and synthesis within Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management. Students work collaboratively and use the extensive resources available to them to research the problems presented in the scenario.

Thus, the learning process is highly student-centred, with students effectively taking responsibility for planning their own research, formulating solutions, and communicating their findings, with an emphasis on project-based, interdisciplinary learning. The scenarios are carefully designed so that there is no single correct answer; indeed, many alternative responses may be available to them, as is the case in the real-world of the Building Surveyor. Students gain a much deeper understanding of the material through these interactions and feedback channels, acquiring knowledge by experience, alongside developing their social, cultural, and employability skills.

Through both their regular class-based activities and module assessments, students will be provided with feedback and encouraged to reflect on and learn from this. Opportunities will be provided for students to engage with feedback both synchronously and asynchronously. At each level of study, students will be required to produce and update a weekly Professional Development Journal (PDJ) in the form of a reflective journal. The journal will form part of an assessment in a module at each level. The PDJ will allow students to reflect on what they have learned and help them identify gaps in their knowledge. This approach mirrors industry, where professional practitioners are required to keep records of their Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

Building Surveying is one of the broadest 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 both the Commercial, Private, and Public sectors. Many Chartered Building Surveyors work for property consultancies, public sector organisations, real estate-owning clients, and contractors, as well as in a number of specialist, niche areas such as Insurance, Rights to Light, and party wall matters.

By undertaking a building surveying degree, you will be equipped to explore a variety of careers within the field of building surveying. This includes career paths in the conservation of historic buildings or working in-house as a conservation expert in surveying firms.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of 96 UCAS points from an A Level or equivalent Level 3 qualification (E.g. BTEC National, Subsidiary or Extended Diploma)
• English Language and Mathematics GCSE at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)