MEng Civil and Structural Engineering

Brief description:

The course unit is designed around the content of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) ‘Civil Engineering Procedure - 7th edition’, the ‘APM Body of Knowledge – 7th edition’, and the RIBA ‘Plan of Work 2019’ in order to provide students with a structured approach to understanding modern engineering projects.

Students will define projects from the perspective of Strategy, Systems, Stakeholders and Sustainability (4S) and appreciate how the role of the project manager changes depending on project phase and the engagement with client and funding bodies.

The course draws knowledge from a variety of project contexts, but focuses in the main on infrastructure and construction projects. It is important that students appreciate that as the world of managing projects changes in civil engineering, the solutions to complex problems often come from projects outside of the civil engineering context. Therefore the course establishes good practices rather than the more general perspective of best practice.

Students are encouraged to develop a high level of social awareness, and be confident in forming their own opinions based on information that can often seem conflicting. To this end each lecture will start with having students engage in discussions of how politics and government policy has an impact on the future of engineering by the use of a case study. For 23/24 this will be HS2.

Establish an understanding of managing projects by building a strategic foundation and reinforcing the importance of building and maintaining a valid project scope; Have students appreciate the role played by people in a project environment, and how we define and manage stakeholder expectations; Create awareness of the effect of external influence on the project and examine appropriate methods and practices to minimise risks associated with rapidly changing requirements; Appreciate the influence of government on public funded infrastructure problems, and the need to plan budgets that meet the funding cycle of government financial policy; Establish the importance of the project manager as decision maker, arbitrator and strategist.

ILO 1 - Examine the role played by performance management from both a cost and value perspective.

ILO 2 - Assess that the role of project manager is based on making effective decisions based on the evidence available, and that timeliness of making decisions is primary in meeting project objectives, cost and quality.

ILO 3 - Determine how projects operate at both a strategic and an operational level, and are a construct based largely around people.

ILO 4 - Assess the impact that sustainability has on the managing of major infrastructure projects.

ILO 5 - Examine the role played by having high levels of data and information integrity in managing quality in a project environment.

ILO 6 - Design an effective communications plan that allows decisions to be made and risks to be properly assessed.

ILO 7 - Examine the roles and responsibilities of people in the effective management of a project.

Syllabus:

Week (1):    Introduction to Project Management;

Week (2):    Project Context;

Week (3):    Project Strategy and Scope;

Week (4):    Project Lifecycles;    

Week (5):    Project Maturity Models;

Week (6):    Stakeholder Management;  

Week (7):    Work Breakdown Structures;

Week (8):    Project Quality and Requirements Management;      

Week (9):    Project Communication;

Week (10):  Project Cost;

Week (11):  Project Information Management and BIM;

Week (12):  Project Synergy

In-class feedback on tests