Built Environment — Environmental Design and Engineering

This leading-edge programme, established before many in the built environment field were aware of greenhouse gases, has produced a stream of high-achieving graduates sought after by the biggest names in building design and the construction industry. We attract students from across the globe eager to find positions throughout the globe or to take relevant, cutting-edge thinking about sustainable building design back to their own part of the world.

The programme aims to develop students' knowledge and expertise in problem solving in the area of the built environment, and provide a framework for developing innovative thinking in the design and operation of buildings, placing associated environmental issues in a global, national and personal context.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of six core modules (90 credits), two optional modules (30 credits) and a built environment dissertation (60 credits).

A Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits, full-time nine months) is offered.

Core modules

• The Built Environment: The Energy Context
• Health, Comfort and Wellbeing in Buildings
• Building Solar Design
• Natural and Mechanical Ventilation of Buildings
• Efficient Building Service Systems
• Methods of Environmental Analysis

Optional modules

• Building Acoustics
• Advanced Building Simulation
• Light, Lighting and Vision in Buildings
• Energy Systems Modelling
• Industrial Symbiosis
• Low Energy Housing Retrofit
• Smart Energy Systems Implementation
• Post Occupancy Evaluation of Buildings
• Multi-objective Design Optimisation
• Introduction to System Dynamics Modelling
• Indoor Air Quality in Buildings

The availability of all optional modules is subject to demand.

Dissertation/report

All MSc students submit a 10,000-word report on a topic related to the main themes of the programme. The topic can be chosen to enhance career development or for its inherent interest.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of interactive seminars, individual and group tutorials, site visits and a residential field trip. Assessment is through unseen examination, coursework, and the built environment report. Joint coursework, including two major low-energy architectural design projects, is carried out by students in multi-disciplinary teams.

Fieldwork

Students will have the opportunity to participate in field trips and site visits including a residential trip to the Centre for Alternative Technology in north Wales.

There are no additional cost to students for the field trip to the Centre for Alternative Technology.

The normal minimum qualifications are a second-class Bachelor's degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.
For applicants without a first degree or full professional membership, but with relevant and substantial work experience in the field, a special qualifying examination may be set. Details of this route can be obtained from the Bartlett's Graduate Faculty Office.