MSc/PgDip/PgCert Construction Project Management
Attendance
Full-time, Part-time
Full-time – one year
Part-time – two years
Starts September
At a glance
About this course
This is a fast-track conversion course for graduates from an unrelated discipline who want to become a construction project manager and a member of the Chartered Institute of Building and/or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The course is also suitable if you are a professional working in a property or surveying role and want to improve your skills and career prospects in construction project management. If you have a degree in a related area, you should apply for the MSc Construction Management or MSc Project Management.
Construction project management is a global, professional role. It can involve some of the largest and most prestigious international construction projects, such as building for the 2012 Olympics in London. The construction project manager plays crucial central position in the coordination of the different resources of consultants, labour, finance and materials to fit the client's requirements. Communication and strong interpersonal skills are vital to the role.
You benefit from a range of teaching, learning and assessment techniques. Intensive study weeks allow you to work on complex, professional briefs with other students. One of the modules is an international project which currently takes place in Shanghai with assistance from international surveying firms.
The international project provides you with an opportunity to gain experience of the project management of a real site and reflects the challenges associated with working on a real live project for a client. You work with local practitioners and other experts benefiting from insights from professionals working in that location.
You work alongside students studying related subjects by taking part in an interdisciplinary project. This increases your understanding of their roles and responsibilities, how your role as a construction project manager interacts with those roles and develops the skills and knowledge essential to an effective professional practitioner.
Teaching takes place in a newly refurbished, dedicated building at our City Campus. We also support you with online resources that allow you to learn off-campus.
Based on our City Campus there are opportunities to use many of the city's new and existing buildings for case studies, project work and practical teaching sessions.
Associated careers
After completing the course, you will be able to proceed to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Assessment of Professional Competence or the Chartered Institute of Builders professional development programme.
There are many employment opportunities for construction project managers with regional, national and international construction and civil engineering contractors.
Professional recognition
This course is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).
Course content
Modules
Construction fundamentals
You identify construction styles and examine a range of solutions available to construction professionals in designing and constructing domestic and low rise commercial buildings.
Professional skills
This module is based upon the relevant RICS mandatory APC competencies and gives you with the key professional skills that you require in order to obtain employment and progress within your chosen career path.
Law for the built environment
You explore the legal environment in which real estate and the wider built environment operates. You examine the main duties of property owners and professionals arising out of contract and tort, and develop your understanding of land ownership and rights and interests in land. Having developed a thorough understanding of the relevant wider legal framework you can place the following legal studies in context.
Economics for the built environment
You examine the operation of land and property markets and the economic basis of development and the construction industry.
Construction project management
You study the principal characteristics of a construction project and place construction project management in the context of other core modules demonstrating the links between them. You acquire a critical appreciation of construction processes, their relationships and requirements. You study the role and practice of the construction project manager and learn how to critically appraise communication in construction project management. You reflect on and evaluate factors which have an impact on your achievement of the aims and desired learning outcomes, seeking, evaluating and using feedback on your performance.
Planning development and sustainability
You look at issues related to the physical change of the built and natural environment which are essential to conducting property valuation. Including site identification, marketing and disposal of the completed development, regulatory land use planning systems and sustainability. You consider the impact of change factors, such as funding which affect the success or failure of development projects.
Contract administration
You evaluate standard forms of contract and develop procedures to successfully fulfil any party's contractual responsibilities. You study contract procedures from the letting of a contract through to the financial settlement of the completed project.
Project procurement
You learn how to formulate and justify appropriate procurement methods, in given circumstances, including the constraints of quality, time and cost. You evaluate and appreciate the various forms of procurement and the contractual implications within the UK and international construction markets. You learn how to test for procurement success or failure using Benchmarking and Key Performance Indicators and you apply administrative procedures in relation to specific procurement methods, such as whole life, risk, value and supply chain management.
Project financial management
You learn how to analyse and apply financial and legal data in the development appraisal stage of a building project. You formulate and operate a building project's cash flow and cost monitoring systems and identify and recommend a range of initial and long-term project funding options. You give advice regarding information supplied with an organisation's financial accounting systems. You create and operate an effective and responsive development project management accounting system.
Investment and finance
You study the principles of financial and investment management and examine the significance of diversification, risk and return in investment portfolio management. You learn how to apply and evaluate the concept of stock and bond pricing, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and modern portfolio theory for the development of a reasoned investment strategy. You acquire analytical decision-making skills and solve financial and investment problems.
Structural principles
You study basic principles of structural behaviour such as compression, tension, bending, shear, torsion. You carry out structural assessment including structural calculations. You undertake structural calculations and designs.
Refurbishment project
You evaluate the technical, design and ethical issues raised through the reuse of existing buildings and develop a proposal for a project based on the conversion of an existing building. You develop creative problem-solving skills in a simulated professional context as well as skills in research, report writing and graphical presentation.
International project
This module provides an opportunity to gain experience of the global nature of building surveying and reflects the challenges associated with working on a real live project for a client. We work with local practitioners and other experts, so you benefit from insights from professionals working in that location.
MSc
Dissertation/consultancy project
You develop your applied research methods, providing a firm foundation for your dissertation/consultancy project. You are supported by a tutor throughout this module, chosen according to the nature of the research you are undertaking. The tutor acts as a mentor during the process of your research and writing up phase.
Assessment
• coursework • projects • examinations
Entry requirements
A good honours degree or equivalent in any discipline.
If English is not your first language you typically need an IELTS 6.5 score with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in all other skills or equivalent. If your English language skill is currently below IELTS 6.5 we recommend you consider a Sheffield Hallam University Pre-sessional English course which will enable you to achieve an equivalent English score.
Fees
Home and EU students
2013/14 academic year
Full-time – typically £7,995
Part-time – typically £2,665 for year one and £5,330 for year two
International students
2013/14 academic year
Typically £10,980 for the course
2014/15 academic year
Typically £11,250 for the course
How to apply
Complete the application form available at www.shu.ac.uk/study/form