CONSTRUCTION, BUSINESS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT - 2024/5

Module Overview

Civil Engineering projects are complex undertakings that involve relationships and collaboration between multiple parties. As a professional in the Civil Engineering sector, you will work with clients, stakeholders, sub-contractors, colleagues, regulators, inspectors, and many more. Furthermore, the success of project is dependent on many factors and measured by many criteria. It is important to deliver projects to specification, on time and within budget, whilst at the same time meeting expectations related to security, project risk, the different dimensions of sustainability including environmental quality, wellbeing and more. 
 
This module provides a window on the drivers that govern this complexity and the theory and frameworks that help explain and manage it. The module has a strong input from experienced professionals and makes use of case studies to relate theory to practice.

Module provider

Sustainability, Civil & Env Engineering

Module Leader

BEHNEJAD Alireza (Sust & CEE)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None 

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Procurement systems


• Contracts and tenders


• Financial assessment and payment


• Legal obligations and constraints 


• Management of contractual risk


• The roles and duties of the project manager, project management tools


• Quality assurance and Total Quality Management


• Environmental standards and drivers


• Ethical and moral standards, delivering social value


• Equality, diversity and inclusion in the work environment


• Security and safety culture


• Management of supply chains

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

None.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their depth of understanding of construction, business and project management issues, as well as their ability to use the understanding to solve professional problems.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• 
  Case Study coursework. This coursework will examine one or more detailed several detailed cases that present a construction, business and/or project management issue. The objective of the coursework is to accurately assess the various dimensions that require consideration as well as proposing an appropriate solution for the challenge faced.
  


• 
  End-of-semester exam. This will tests students on their understanding of all aspects of the curriculum. 
  

Formative assessment is a regular ongoing process throughout the semester. Immediate formative feedback is provided during the seminars. 
Feedback on the coursework assignment will be provided through individual written feedback and cohort feedback on qualities of good submissions and common issues in weaker submissions.

Students will receive written feedback on their coursework assignment as well as general verbal feedback in class.

Module aims

• Identify and appraise multiple dimensions of project management in Civil Engineering practice, including societal, environmental, commercial, security and ethical consideration.
• Identify and appraise the practices and frameworks that are available to manage these dimensions.
• Develop the skills to apply concepts and frameworks to practical problems and suggest appropriate actions in realistic scenarios.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to familiarise students with key guidelines, regulations, frameworks and practices and relating these to realistic workplace scenarios

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Captured content and guided reading of fundamental background material


• Seminars focused on discussion and understanding of these materials


• Guest seminars from professional practitioners to give their first-hand account of the role and significance of the concepts and framework


• Group discussions of in-depth discussion of realistic and real-life case-studies and dilemmas

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ENG3182

Other information

Surrey's Curriculum Framework is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: Students will learn about the key issues of management in Civil Engineering that concern all employers in employees in the industry. The link with current practice is strengthened through the inclusion of guest seminars with speakers from companies that routinely recruit graduates from the programme. The learning in focused on practical applicability through the use of case studies and analysis of realistic and/or real-life cases.

Sustainability: Issues of sustainability – social and/or environmental – are  present in all Civil Engineering projects. This dimension is included as an integral component of construction, business and project management in civil engineering.

Global and Cultural Capability: Managing projects is not possible without recognizing the diversity on the workplace and in the wider social environment of stakeholders, clients and partners. This dimension of project management is explicitly incorporated in the module and is reflected in case studies and learning materials, 
 

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2024/5 academic year.