Commercial Management and Quantity Surveying BSc (Hons) degree

The aim of this module is for the student to explore and reflect on the basics of academic, professional and personal skills required for their learning development and employability in the construction industry.

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, health and safety law, planning, supply and demand, elasticity, market structures and the macroeconomy.

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.

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;
• and to, in light of the preceding, 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.

The module also aims to, through two week-long collaborative projects, 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. These projects also introduce the students to the need for sustainable development of the built environment.

The aim of this module is for the student to:

• be introduced to the basic principles of measurement under the NRM2 method of measurement, and
• acquire appropriate skills and knowledge of land surveying for application to building and civil engineering works.

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;
• and 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.

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;
• and to help students appreciate the conditions these materials are expected to accommodate and their consequences for the sustainability of the built environment.

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, and
• an understanding of typical ground engineering problems and solutions that can be applied to civil engineering works.

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.

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), and
• an understanding of the role of Building Information Modelling from a QS perspective (5D).

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.

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.

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 clients 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 clients quantity surveyor prepares financial reports and cashflow forecasts, interim valuations, and final accounts.

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;
• and develop student ability to quantify the work to derive rates for typical construction projects.

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;
• and escalating methods of dispute resolution.

The aim of this module is to develop students' knowledge and understanding of the strategic commercial management of construction businesses.

The aims of this module are to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the role of research in overcoming 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, and
• present rational arguments and draw independent conclusions based on a rigorous approach to collecting and analysing data.

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.

The aim of this module is for the student to develop knowledge and understanding of the substantive and administrative provisions of standard contract forms in the context of English common law, case law and statute.

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.

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.

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.

The aims of this module are:

• to introduce students to the increasing need to extract commercial value from various forms of data;
• to introduce students to the increasing role of data that inform project management and corporate governance;
• to help students appreciate the various sources and applications of data in construction projects and organisations;
• to convey the importance of effective data gathering, archiving, and processing as pre-requisites to extracting commercial value from it;
• to help students understand the basic types of data analysis commonly performed within businesses generally;
• to help students recognise and understand different approaches to data analysis and the insights they can provide; to help students identify appropriate analytical approaches for applying data-derived insights into construction activities;
• to help students understand modern methods of construction (MMC), offsite and modular construction;
• to help students understand the management and technological aspects of large scale complex contemporary construction projects;
• and to help students recognise the benefits and risks of adopting modern methods of construction.