Real Estate

Module Aim:  

This module will provide you with knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles of the construction of buildings so that you can apply this knowledge in the context of the building inspection, measurement and appraisal tasks undertaken by a Real Estate surveyor.  

Indicative content:  

Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

Fundamentals of Buildings: 

• Foundation construction   

• Ground floor construction  

• Wall construction   

• Internal Floors / Stairs  

• Roof construction  

• Steel / concrete frames  

• Doors, windows internal finishes  

• Curtain walling and cladding  

• Mains services supply  

• External and internal drainage  

• Introduction to future technologies  

Inspection: 

•  Inspection & measurement techniques and purposes  

•  Measurement devices, calibration & error 

•  Surveying Safely 

•  Defects & building pathology  

•  Survey types  

•  Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)  

•  Disability access assessments under the Equalities Act 2010  

•  Sales particulars (conventional and online)  

•  Conveyancing process (searches & enquiries; title)  

•  Comparison of different countries’ approaches and requirements  

Module Aim:  

This module will give you the skills and knowledge that you need to get the best out of your studies at university level and it will inspire and empower you to aim for a great career in the built environment in your chosen discipline through engagement with employers and the world of work, including though an employer-brief based Applied Project. 

Indicative content:  

 Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

• An orientation to study and life at University (including study skills; assessment literacy; academic integrity; academic advising; welfare support; equality, diversity & inclusion; effective team working) 

• An introduction to your course (including building your course community; getting to know each other; field trip; meeting other year groups and graduates from your course) 

• An orientation to careers in the built environment (including ‘professionalism’; the range of built environment roles; understanding your professional identity; professional bodies and their requirements; ethics and professional standards; career planning and employability skills; employer presentations; networking) 

• An employer-led introduction to a core area of work in your discipline (by for example, a set of sessions in which professionals take you through the reality of how they deal with a key task, from start to finish) 

This module is key to settling you into your course and connecting you to the opportunities that successfully engaging with the course will give you. 

Module Aim:  

Built environment professionals need to understand how the projects that they are involved in are shaped by the interaction of social, legal, economic and environmental factors. This module will introduce you to the core concepts of sustainability, law and economics, by exploring them in the specific context of an area of contemporary challenge within the built environment, such as how to increase the number of new homes being constructed.  

Indicative content:  

 Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

• Sustainability (What is sustainability? Where does it come from? Who is in control? How does sustainability enable housing development? How does it restrict it?  How does sustainability look in other countries? Is sustainability just about the environment? How is sustainability assessed within built environment projects?) 

• Law (What is law? Where does it come from? Who is in control? How does law enable housing development? How does it restrict it? How do disputes arise and how are they dealt with? How is legal risk identified and managed within built environment projects?) 

• Economics (What is the economy? Where does it come from? Who is in control? How does economics enable housing development? How does it restrict it? What shapes the economy at national and local level? How is scarcity dealt with? How is economics used in managing built environment projects?) 

• Housing (What is housing? Where does it come from? Who is in control? Who provides housing? Who restricts it? Why is there a shortage? What could be done differently? How is housing provided around the world?) 

Module Aim:  

This module will provide you with a grounding in the fundamental concepts and methodologies of real estate valuation in order to enable you to carry out valuations for range of properties and purposes.  

Indicative content:  

 Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

• The nature of value and valuation in commercial and residential markets.   

• Valuation and the Property Profession.   

• Property as an investment.   

• Valuation Mathematics.   

• Methods of Valuation.   

• The Valuation of Retail Premises.   

• The Valuation of Freehold Interests.   

• The Valuation of Leasehold Investment.  

• Residential Valuations, Mortgages and Insurance Valuations  

• Valuation and sustainability   

• Is valuation now done the same way in every part of the world?  

• How does equality, diversity and inclusion affect property valuation? 

Module Aim:  

In this module you will identify and analyse the key features of UK real estate markets, and the means by which value, prices, allocation, land and property use, locational and investment decisions are determined. You will then use this understanding as a framework for examining non-UK real estate markets. Key economic and valuation concepts will be applied and developed in order to inform authentic evaluation and decision taking about rival investment opportunities in various UK and non-UK locations.   

Indicative content:  
 Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

• Showcase the global opportunities of a career in real estate  
• The dynamics of investment in UK and global real estate  
• Characteristics of the UK commercial and residential real estate markets and sectors  
• The development process, including finance, redevelopment (brownfield), the impact of planning controls and regeneration objectives  
• Taxation of commercial real estate, including non-domestic rating  
• Inward investment & economic development  
• A comparison of the Chinese, Singapore and Hong Kong property markets 
• Corruption, bribery and money laundering risks and compliance  
• Islamic finance  
• REITs and other indirect investment vehicles  
• Legal structures of property ownership outside the UK  
• Investment risk assessment (e.g. sustainable financing)  
• International valuation standards and practice  
• Commercial property valuations (including investment appraisal using Discounted Cash Flows)  
• Investment valuations  
• Asset valuations  
• Liability for valuation  
• Valuation reports  

Module Aim:  

This module will enable you to critically evaluate lease advisory, property management, valuation and related real estate professional roles by studying and applying the fundamental legal and professional principles applicable to the management of commercial real estate leases and assets.  

Indicative content:  
Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

• Employability skills for placement success 

• How properties are owned and managed 

• Commercial leases as a real estate management tool 

• Sustainability and Green Leases 

• Lease interpretation and negotiation 

• Rent review, lease renewals 

• Valuation aspects of the landlord and tenant relationship (e.g. 1954 Act valuations; lease terms effect on valuation; surrender and renewal; rent and premiums)  

• Application of professional codes to the landlord and tenant relationship 

• Avoiding discrimination in property management 

• Property management outside the UK 

• Property insurance 

• Property insolvency and repossession 

• Property disputes and dispute resolution 

• Valuation of premises and businesses (marriage value; plant & machinery; business and intangible assets) 

Module Aim:  

In this module you will investigate how regulatory and commercial processes of ‘planning’ bring about urban (re)development. The two core areas to be explored (and compared and contrasted) are the English town & country planning system, and master-planning & development appraisal as carried out by developers. The module’s focus will be upon contemporary urban challenges set by matters such as the decline of ‘the High Street’ (and urban centres generally), and it will explore the attempts by each type of ‘planning’ to revitalise and/or repurpose urban buildings and places.  

Indicative content:  

Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

• The ‘death of the high street’ and the challenge posed to real estate professionals  

• Identifying and understanding the factors that shape the past, present and future of urban areas  

• Property law-based approaches to development control (e.g. racist zoning in the US as a case study)  

• The rise (and fall?) of the town & country planning regulatory system  

• Understanding the national and local role of planning policy, by examining what is being done to trying to ‘save’ the high street through regulatory planning  

• Incentives and interventions: compulsory purchase; local taxation; grants  

• Comparative approaches to inner-urban transformation from around the world  

• Sustainability, place and place-making  

• The benefits (and challenges) of community participation in decision--making  

• How owners manage emptiness via demolition, security, meanwhile use, charity shops.  

• Contemporary approaches to retail and high street regeneration  

• How developers ‘plan’ – their role in master-planning  

• How developers ‘plan’ – development appraisal  

• How investors ‘plan’ – what are property funds looking for in retail/ mixed use schemes?   

• Exploring examples of successful (and unsuccessful) council / developer collaborative ‘save the high street’ schemes  

• Academic research and theorists on how best to explain and address the ‘death of the high street’  

• Building skills related to finding and using academic research and concepts in evaluation and essay writing   

Module Aim:  

In this module you will put into practice the sustainability principle of ‘think global, act local’ by collaborating face-to-face with students from across the Department of the Natural and Built Environment and potentially online with students at other universities around the world, in order to work upon an Applied Project related to the resilience of built environments. 

Indicative content:  

Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

Collaboration skills: 

• Working with others, building relationships, including with external stakeholders 

• Developing collaborative and strategic design proposals 

• Cross-cultural communication, collaboration and inclusivity 

• Communication, presentation and reflection skills 

• Understanding and responding to client requirements 

• Developing and presenting environmental and construction design solutions 

• Reflection on collaborative learning 

Resilient built environments:  

• Study and consideration of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 

• Resilience and sustainability: are they the same thing? 

• Hazards facing built environments (e.g. climate change, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, heat stress, war, pandemics, energy & technology failures) 

• Infrastructure & resilience 

• Insurance, finance and resilience 

• Principles of resilient design, construction and use of built environments 

• Professional roles and requirements in built environment resilience 

• Deep-dive into one hazard (e.g. flood resilience) and contrast UK and non-UK approaches to resilience to that hazard  

Module aim:    

The aim of this module is to enhance students’ professional development through the completion of and reflection on meaningful work placement(s).  

A work placement will provide students with opportunities to experience the realities of professional employment and experience how their course can be applied within their chosen industry setting.

The placement will: 

• Allow student to apply the skills, theories and behaviours relevant and in addition to their course 
• Enable students to enhance their interpersonal skills in demand by graduate employers – communication, problem-solving, creativity, resilience, team work etc
• Grow their student network and relationship building skills
• Provide student with insights into the industry and sector in which their placement occurs 
• Help student make informed graduate careers choices

Indicative Content:  

In this module students undertake a sandwich placement (min 24 weeks / min 21 hours per week) which is integrated, assessed and aligned to their studies.  

Their personal Placement Academic Supervisor (PAS) will be their key point of contact during their placement and will encourage and support students to reflect on their experience, learning and contribution to the organisation they work for.  

To demonstrate gains in professional development, students will be required to share their progress, learning and achievements with their Placement Academic Supervisor and reflect on these for the summative piece of work. 

Module Aim:  

This module has two aims: 

Development Management: to enable you to individually and collaboratively identify, formulate and advance feasible real estate development proposals by identifying and addressing relevant physical, legal, finance and market factors. 

Climate Action Retrofit Project: to enable you through working collaboratively in an immersive, work integrated learning environment, to address an employers’ brief use your disciplinary knowledge and given professional identity to identify, formulate and advance feasible retrofit proposals to address energy and environmental challenges posed to existing buildings by the climate emergency. 

Indicative content:  

Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

 Development Management: 

• Identifying and dealing with legal constraints at potential development sites 
• Land contamination: law and science 
• Heritage, conservation & development 
• Planning law & policy factors 
• Residual valuation, cashflow, finance & funding 
• Modelling a development project (including risk and sensitivity) 
• Reporting a development appraisal 

  Climate Action Retrofit Project:  

• Climate change, energy and the built environment 
• Strategies for climate action and delivering Net Zero 
• Construction and Real Estate professionals’ roles and perspectives on climate action 
• Energy efficiency in new build 
• Retrofitting existing buildings 
• The challenges and dangers of retrofit (e.g. Grenfell tower) 
• Evaluating research and technologies for retrofit 
• Selecting, costing and communicating retrofit proposals 
• Reflection upon your personal development during the course and planning for your future personal development 

Module Aim:  

This module will give you the knowledge and skills to target your future careers towards strategic roles in corporate real estate and in the investment management of real estate assets and portfolios. 

Indicative content:  

Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

Career planning 

• Reflection on placements and managing professional challenges and change 

• Orientation to graduate careers, career planning and the APC  

Strategic Real Estate Consultancy 

• Strategic roles within real estate management and consultancy  

• Principles of management and strategy  

• Managing change  

• Corporate Real Estate: business environment, corporate alignment and drivers  

• Offices: past, present and future (in the UK and globally)  

• Tenure choices  

• Relocation & Space utilisation  

• Working practices, wellness, inclusivity and culture  

• Sustainability considerations in corporate decision-taking  

• The future of real estate  

• Consultancy and reporting 

Investment Management  

• Introduction to real estate investment portfolio management  

• Investment method of valuation  

• Discounted cash flow analysis  

• Statistical data sources and indices  

• Statistical analysis, correlation and regression  

• Data analysis and property market research  

• Diversification – risk and return  

• Modern Portfolio Theory (Markowitz)  

• Portfolio Theory and CAPM  

• Investment strategy and performance benchmarking / measurement  

• Sensitivity analysis; scenario analysis and risk analysis   

• Portfolio manager guest lectures  

• Portfolio acquisitions, sales and management  

• How to reflect on portfolio performance   

Module Aim:  

This module will give you the skills that you need in order to plan and implement an individual research study related to a built environment topic of your choice with a particular emphasis on the types of research questions, research methods and data sources that you will encounter in professional practice. 

Indicative content:  

Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

• Deciding what to research, based upon reflection on your career goals and experience to date  
• Formulating a workable Research Question 
• Research ethics  
• Critical evaluation of data sources and existing studies  
• Working with policy and business information sources  
• Understanding intellectual property, data re-usage rights and information governance  
• Gathering and preparing existing data for re-processing  
• Hypothesis testing, basic algorithms, validity and verification  
• Quantitative data analysis: working with Big Data and data mining  
• Qualitative data analysis: working with texts, maps, images, case studies, legal materials  
• Descriptive, predictive and normative analysis  
• Dealing with uncertainty, incompleteness and bias  
• Succinct communication of findings  
• Evidence-based decision-making  
• How to reflect on the progress and effectiveness of a research project 

Module Aim:  

In this module you will carry out an individual research study related to a built environment topic of your choice, and report and reflect upon the outcome of that study, with a particular emphasis on the types of research questions, research methods and data sources that you will encounter in professional practice. You will report and reflect upon the outcome of your study. 

Indicative content:  

Module content may vary in response to changing teaching and professional developments but could include:  

NB: this module will not have taught content (that is provided in the Research Methods module). The following listing is therefore the knowledge and skills that you will use and develop by undertaking your individual project: 

• Keeping your Research Question and research design under review as your study progresses 

• Critical evaluation of data sources and existing studies  

• Working with policy and business information sources  

• Understanding intellectual property, data re-usage rights and information governance  

• Gathering and preparing existing data for re-processing  

• Hypothesis testing, basic algorithms, validity and verification  

• Quantitative data analysis: working with Big Data and data mining  

• Qualitative data analysis: working with texts, maps, images, case studies, legal materials  

• Descriptive, predictive and normative analysis  

• Dealing with uncertainty, incompleteness and bias  

• Succinct communication of findings  

• Evidence-based decision making  

• How to reflect on the progress and effectiveness of a research project