Sustainable Built Environments, Energy and Resources BSc

Course overview

Are you ready to join a new generation of sustainability experts helping to make our buildings, towns and cities more sustainable, healthier places to live? In the face of climate crisis, we need a sustainable built environment that is both climate-resilient and resource-efficient. UCL’s Sustainable Built Environments Energy and Resources BSc and MEng is a unique, solution-oriented undergraduate degree that combines every aspect of sustainability, from social and environmental science to resource economics and engineering, to give you the skills needed to take decisive climate action and help build a sustainable future.

You will learn:

• Social, environmental and economic theories, and how these can be used to address climate change, achieve net-zero emissions, and improve health and wellbeing in the built environment.
• How to use data analysis, modelling and advanced decision-making processes to design, construct, operate sustainable buildings, neighbourhoods and cities.
• How to use important digital tools and software used in sustainability to provide creative solutions to real-world problems.
• Essential maths and statistics required to work in sustainability, learning through real-life examples with additional support provided.
• The key challenges facing sustainable built environments, including heritage, health and culture, and how to overcome them.
• Leadership, critical thinking, communication, problem-solving and other employable transferrable skills.

Beyond lectures and workshops, you will get hands-on experience applying your theoretical knowledge to real-life sustainability issues in our 'Sustainable Buildings' and 'Sustainable Cities Challenges' modules.

Depending on your ambitions, you can take the course as either a BSc (Hons) or an MEng.

• Students on the BSc (Hons) route will be motivated to gain a comprehensive understanding of sustainability issues in the built environment, ready to kick-start their career in a range of different sectors concerned with sustainability. BSc students will study full-time for three years.
• Students on the MEng route will wish to become sustainability engineers. They will study for four years, gaining the same knowledge as BSc students, plus taking additional engineering-focused modules. We are actively seeking accreditation so MEng students can apply to become Chartered Engineers once they have completed their studies.

If you are unsure of which pathway is right for you, you can apply for either route and at the end of the second year you will have the opportunity to change.

The time to act on climate change is now. We need a new generation of experts with the skills to make our buildings, towns and cities more sustainable, healthier places to live. UCL’s Sustainable Built Environments, Energy and Resources BSc is designed to provide you with the vital skills needed to kickstart your career in sustainability, take action on climate change, and help build a better future.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 1

The foundation of your career

With energy consumption increasing, with increasing investment in climate resilience infrastructure and clean energy, and with an increasing number of companies adopting sustainability practices and hiring experts in the field, sustainability is a rapidly growing industry. We expect graduates of this course to be in exceptionally high demand as a result. The skills taught on this course will be attractive to a wide range of potential employers, including those in fields such as:

• Energy industry
• Governments, and local authorities
• Startup energy companies
• Building design and construction industry
• Multinational consultancies
• Sustainable finance
• Charities, non-governmental and not-for-profit organisations.

Possible job titles for those who have completed the Sustainable Built Environments Energy and Resources BSc include Sustainability Analyst, Sustainability Manager, Policy Assistant or Advisor, Building Consultant, Energy Modelling Consultant, Sustainable Finance Analyst. These are just a few examples as there are a wide range of new industries and career paths emerging in this space.

The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources is engaged with researchers across environmental design and engineering, energy, resources and heritage who come together in research to address the complex global challenges of sustainability transition. Additionally, most of our work is in partnership with industry, government and other academic bodies, ensuring that what we do has a real-world impact. We are always eager to discuss with organisations, big and small, different ways we can work together. As a student of the Sustainable Built Environments, Energy and Resources BSc you can leverage our research and partnerships to attain employment opportunities, work placements and field visits that will form the foundation of your career.

Employability

The Sustainable Built Environments, Energy and Resources BSc has a specific focus on boosting your employability in the professional world by enhancing your skills in creating sustainability strategies, using programming languages for data analytics, and developing your digital skills for creating sustainable built environments.

By studying with us, you will develop a holistic view of sustainability and the built environment and be able to create sustainability strategies that take into account uncertainties and complexities using skills from a combination of academic disciplines.

You will become familiar with programming languages like Python for data analytics, used widely across different industries, as well as learning digital skills and software for creating sustainable built environments including ENVI-met microclimate simulation software, Geographic Information System (GIS) for analysing geographic information, and EnergyPlus for building energy simulation.

You will also develop transferrable skills that will support your career beyond sustainability, including how to lead a team, communicate complex ideas and use advanced decision-making processes.

Industry views

The skills taught on this course will be attractive to a wide range of potential employers and industries. Nearly 100% of the 44 potential employers we surveyed said there was either a high or very high demand for graduates from a course like this. Over 70% said they expect demand for the kind of skills taught on this course to increase sharply.

“The climate crisis demands that we organise our industry a new way for a sustainable future. Building performance must address broader sustainability and encompass social, economic and ecological aspects. Graduates of this course are the future of our industry.” Dr Craig Robertson, Head of Sustainability, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)

“Designing a new world - a sustainable future involves transformative change in every aspect of society globally. This degree provides a future focussed and progressive academic foundation for the next generation of building professionals to learn and explore transdisciplinary ways of working, engage in healthy debate and experimentation across multiple domain areas, developing a cohort of future leaders to steward the industry towards a more sustainable world." - Florence Lam - Arup Fellow and Global Lighting Design Director, Visiting Professor at UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering