On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Develop and implement risk management strategies for construction projects and organizations for complex building and engineering projects.
2. Differentiate various procurement routes and select the appropriate procurement method for simple building and engineering projects.
3. Critically examine planning, execution and control problems in (professional practice) scheduling and explain their interaction with cost and resources management for simple building and engineering projects.
4. Identify and manage stakeholders in the construction sector and the project environment.
5. Identify key principles of sustainable development and the role of sustainable construction technologies.
6. Critically examine the resource efficiency issues (e.g. reuse and recycled materials, energy efficiency) in building and civil engineering projects.

The learning and teaching strategy is an active learning one, using a range of problems, application and case studies. The contents of this course will be delivered in forms of lecture, tutorial and workshops. Principles of construction project management will be covered in 1-hour lecture on a weekly basis. This will be followed by 2-hour tutorial which is designed to allow students to practice those principles introduced during the lecture sessions. Case studies will enrich student’s understanding of managing these various issues in building and civil engineering projects. Workshops are designed to facilitate students’ communication skills such as risk reporting and sustainability disclosure. 

The approach to assessment is one of integration with teaching and “assessment for learning” rather than of learning. Students will receive feedback progressively throughout the semester. Deadlines for assessment will be strictly enforced which will provide an overall framework for the semester of study.

All materials will be uploaded to the MyUni site or be available through the university library. Academic papers, journal articles, professional articles and appropriate data and case study information will be provided to support problem based activities using the MyUni facility. 

Face-to-face sessions will run in a weekly basis throughout the semester. These include: 1-hour lecture and 2-hour tutorial every week. Students are required to utilise university library resources as well as those materials made available on the course homepage to prepare assignments. The group assignment will require student team meetings either virtual or face-to-face, and collaboration. The assessments will be intense, with a challenge based, integrative problem solving approach. The time allocation should reflect the assessment weighting in the schedule below.

Students undertaking this 3 unit course are expected to devote 12 hours per week to contact activities and self-guided studies.

Essential information on construction project management concepts and approaches, definitions of activities, management strategies, analysis techniques and contemporary issues will be dealt with by structured lecture and tutorial sessions. Tutorial sessions are featured with problem based/case study exercises. The approach is progressive, building upon fundamental concepts and knowledge acquisition with increasingly complex problem based exercises.

In lecture sessions, following aspects of construction management and technology in building and civil engineering projects will be discussed: risk management, procurement, scheduling, stakeholder management, sustainable construction technologies and resource efficiency. Students will be encouraged to relate these principles to the real life projects through reading academic papers and resources from the professional bodies such as Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, The Chartered Institute of Building, and Australian Institute of Building. In tutorial sessions, students will work in groups to use their skills and knowledge to tackle these construction management and technology related issues.

Students will be encouraged to consult specific professional body’s website such as Green Building Council Australia to identify issues associated with green building and sustainable construction. International perspectives will be introduced by comparing to other sustainability rating tools such as LEED (US) and BREEAM (UK).

You may refer to a separate document or attachment which is updated more often than the Course Outline, allowing adjustments to be made to assessment for each delivery without having to revise the Course Outline as a whole.
In such cases, however, a copy of indicative details MUST be provided with Course Approval Proposal.

The first assessment is class quiz which aims to test students’ understanding of some basic concepts and principles related to construction management and construction technologies.

The second assessment requires students to demonstrate their understanding of risk management in building and civil engineering projects and to design strategies accordingly. Students are required to use both academic papers and case studies to support their arguments and risk management strategies. Students are required to address the following critical issues: stakeholder management, procurement, sustainability, financing, technical, political, resource management, globalisation, cultural, social, health & safety.

The last assessment will test integrated application of the knowledge in a real building and construction environment with students working collaboratively. Students are required to critically analyse the secondary data related to green building developments. It involves analysis, problem identification and solving, strategy setting and presentation.