Built Environment: Environmental Design and Engineering MSc

About this degree

In the face of climate and biodiversity crises, it has never been more important to adapt the built environment and make our buildings, towns and cities healthier, more sustainable places to live. Environmental Design and Engineering MSc is designed give you the skills to tackle these increasingly critical issues by advancing your knowledge and expertise in the design of more efficient, sustainable buildings.

You will develop the skills needed to think innovatively about the design and operation of buildings in the context of local, national and global environmental issues.

Key areas you will study include:

• Passive design
• Efficient building services systems design
• Advanced building simulation techniques
• Occupant health, comfort and wellbeing in buildings
• Natural and mechanical ventilation in buildings
• Net zero carbon design
• Embodied energy/carbon

You will also get the opportunity to build your knowledge in specialist topics such as:

• Retrofit
• Indoor air quality
• Building acoustics
• Light, lighting and wellbeing in buildings

The MSc will develop your problem solving and critical thinking, providing you with a rigorous framework for the design and operation of buildings that keeps environmental concerns and the needs of occupants at the heart of design.

There is an urgent need for a more sustainable, efficient and healthier built environment to mitigate the impacts of climate change and contribute towards achieving net zero carbon targets. UCL's Environmental Design and Engineering MSc teaches a new generation of experts to apply innovative and sustainable approaches for more efficient building design and operation through integrated design and engineering.

A second-class Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. architecture, engineering, physics and other relevant disciplines in built environment) from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. If your first degree was not in a relevant discipline, please clearly state in your personal statement how your educational or employment background (including any internships or projects) relates to the programme and what you aim to achieve through your studies.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

The demand for workers with expertise in the health, energy performance and net zero carbon is rising exponentially as concern about global environmental issues has increased. Our graduates tend to move into, or continue in, building-related professions such as architecture, low energy/carbon and sustainable design consultancies, or building services engineering. Several students have also used the MSc as a foundation for MPhil/PhD research.