The wsa offers taught programmes in advanced practice that are open to candidates from non-architectural backgrounds and lie outside the route prescribed for a professional career in architecture. Among these is the suite of three MSc degree programmes described here, which draw on established and widely recognised research strengths possessed by the School. These are programmes run solely by the School. In addition, you could follow these links to other pages on the MA in Urban Design and the MSc in Sustainable Energy and Environment, which are courses we share with other Schools.

Subject Matter

These three programmes, in their different ways, all address the impact that the built environment has on the sustainability of our planet and its inhabitants, and are addressing practitioners who have some involvement in the production or management of the built environment. The current trend in practice is towards "green" approaches to design, and this trend is encouraged by legislation which demands a higher level of regard for sustainability. To respond sympathetically, practitioners must develop their awareness of the ways buildings can affect their environment. These three MSc programmes give practitioners a range of perspectives to choose from. Click on the heading below to bring up the appropriate programme description in full in the column alongside:

Theory and Practice of Sustainable Design This programme prepares professionals for finding opportunities to initiate and facilitate sustainable change in the built environment. It provides an array of practical tools for implementation and guides students in applying their knowledge to a live project.

Environmental Design of Buildings This programme provides the skills and knowledge required by building design teams to create comfortable physical environments in and around buildings that are healthy, sustainable and energy-conscious.

Building Energy and Environmental Performance ModellingUsing the School's expertise in developing computer software, this course focuses on its use for studying such diverse aspects of building and urban design as lighting, thermal simulation, air flow, carbon-dioxide emission, and life-cycle analysis.

The broadest perspective is given by the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Design course, which offers a comprehensive view of the issues involved in the design and construction of sustainable built environments, from product selection to planetary impacts. Although the design of building environments is considered in this course, this aspect of sustainable design is amplified in the next course in the range, Environmental Design of Buildings. This course takes the physical environment in and around buildings as its subject. The guiding principle is still sustainability, in that it aims to achieve comfortable and healthy environments in buildings without compromising the environment at large. The environmental performance of the outcome has to be assessed, and part of this course introduces students to the use of models for this purpose. However, modelling is becoming an increasingly specialist activity, and this aspect is, in turn, amplified as the subject of the next course, Building Energy and Environmental Performance Modelling. This course gives students practical training at greater length in the safe use of the major types of performance modelling tools.

msc

The three courses are described more fully under separate headings alongside.

Programme Format

The original Environmental Design of Buildings programme was established over 15 years ago, and the other two programmes were added to the suite about 5 years ago. Continual revision has ensured that these three programmes have sharpened their standards and evolved to meet the needs of their students and the changing demands of the profession. The relationship between them has also advanced, and now takes advantage of the synergy between the three degree programmes whilst also clarifying the distinction between them. This format fosters contact between students on the three courses, and between local and distance students, which takes advantage of the variety of background from which our student cohorts always come.

The taught content is delivered in a set of separately-assessed modules. Teaching uses a variety of media, including lectures, set texts, case studies, seminars, workshops, course work, computer modelling, physical modelling, group tutorials, and student presentations. Taught material in core modules has been developed for computer-aided learning, providing particularly valuable support to students whose first language is not English.

Project work is pursued in separate modules which give students opportunities to apply what they have learned in a specialist professional context. The projects are generally sufficiently flexible to allow students to follow their own interests and strengths. Study visits are arranged to buildings of interest and relevance to the programmes.

The final module is a research dissertation, and is a period of more independent study, in which students report on an investigation that they have conducted under supervision into a research question that interests them.

Before the taught programme begins there is an induction course to introduce new students to the school, the university, and its facilities and to give them some experience in the basic skills that they will need. This is particularly helpful for students without recent experience of full-time education, but it also is designed to define the common standards anticipated from students from varying academic backgrounds.
More generally, post-graduate students enjoy a high level of staff support in both academic and personal matters.

Click here for more information on the Programme Structure.

Study Options

There is a full-time and a part-time route through all programmes for students taking the course locally in Cardiff. Full-time students complete the programme in one year (twelve months). For part-time students, there are options which allow them to complete in two years or three years.

For the Environmental Design of Buildings programme, there is also a distance learning route over three years.

Click here for more information on Programme Pathways.

Financial support

Each year until further notice, one bursary will be offered by the Leverhulme Trust to a suitable candidate with an offer to study for any of these three schemes . The bursary pays the academic fees and provides about £12,000 for living expenses (subject to final adjustment). Only UK residents applying for full-time study are eligible. The award will be made on the grounds of outstanding talent and financial need from applicants expressing a wish to be considered. Those interested should attach a letter to their application forms making a case for receiving this support. It is intended to make the selection by the end of the July preceding the session. The recipient cannot also be in receipt of another state or private academic award.

All three schemes meet the criteria for Panasonic Trust Fellowships. Every year the Trust awards a limited number of fellowships (worth £8,000 each for the 2009-10 academic year) to engineers attending full-time Masters’ courses in the UK on subjects related to the Environment and Sustainability. To be eligible, a candidate must be a UK citizen qualified to degree level in engineering or a related discipline, have membership at any grade of a professional engineering institution, and have some industrial experience. More details will be found on the Panasonic Trust web site at http://www.panasonictrust.net/fellowships/default.aspx. Applications should be made directly to the Trust using the form available on their web site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Follow this link for FAQs for this MSc Degree Suite.

Application Information

Applicants for any of the MSc courses should accompany their application with a supporting personal statement in which they give their reasons for wanting to study the subject taught in the specific degree course for which they are applying. This statement should make it clear why the subject is important to them, what experience or education they are bringing to the course, what they hope to get from the course, and what ultimate career plans they may have. This statement, which should not exceed 700 words, will be used by the admissions team in making a decision about whether to accept the application. There is no requirement for a portfolio, but if applicants choose to submit a printed portfolio of no more than 8 pages (not a digital one) it will be reviewed.

Applicants should follow the links to the more detailed pages on Programme Pathways to make sure that they understand the options available to them, particularly if they are applying for part-time attendance. However, applicants applying for part-time study will not be asked to decide which of the part-time pathway options they want to take until they enrol with the University after their application has been accepted.

Please note that there are specific technical requirements for entry to the distance learning version of the Environmental Design of Buildings programme.

For further details and application forms:

Admissions Administrator: Christine Heywood
Telephone: +(44) 029 20879332
Facsmile: +(44) 029 20874623
Email: HeywoodC@cardiff.ac.uk

Current students

The course material for current students is presented on the Blackboard virtual learning environment, access to which needs a University network username and password. A module in Blackboard called Scheme Announcements contains supporting information of a more general nature. Current students may also find some useful links available from the Schools Support Pages.

MSc Theory and Practice of Sustainable Design

Scope of the Programme

As environmental and social problems become ever more prominent in our global community, there is an increasing need for attention to the principles of sustainability in the procurement, design, and construction of buildings. This course addresses this need by a developing a pro-active approach to change, informed by the principles of sustainability, in the work of professionals.

The taught modules focus on good practice in the procurement process for sustainable development and for sustainable building design. They introduce a range of issues that threaten sustainability, and a corresponding range of techniques used to address them in sustainable practice. These practical aspects of the programme are supported by an introduction to holistic issues that underpin sustainability at the levels of philosophy, theory and principle.

Project work plays an important part in the programme and is designed to help students clarify their thinking, test their views and develop working skills. It aims to empower students to become critically reflective practitioners who develop their own personal stance with respect to sustainability. In the main project, whilst working in an inter-disciplinary team on a live project, they will be encouraged to question values, beliefs and practice in a way that will increase their effectiveness in breaking through the barriers to sustainable practice.

Programme Suitability

The scheme is designed for built environment professionals from the disciplines of architecture, town and country planning, engineering, construction and property development. It is also appropriate for people from social sciences, ecology, environmental sciences, politics, local authorities etc without a design background but working in relation with or having an interest in the built environment.

The global dimension of sustainability and the global relevance and application of the learning to be gained makes the course relevant internationally. The course will value and build upon the perspectives of participants from different cultures.

The programme is available to students studying locally at Cardiff, either full-time or part time. See the MSc Degrees Suite column alongside for information on the options - Study Options.

Programme Aims

The principal aims of the scheme of study are:

to develop students’ vision and understanding of both the principles and application of sustainability in global and local contexts, and across social, environmental and economic boundaries.
to develop in students the knowledge, understanding and skill needed to facilitate and engage in the design, procurement, and construction of a holistically sustainable built environment, on their own or as part of a collaborative inter-disciplinary team.
to meet the learning needs of students from diverse academic, professional, and national backgrounds.

Programme content
Programme Content The structure within which the modules are delivered is discussed in the MSc Degrees Suite column alongside - Programme Format.

Core modules (60 credits)

Site and Environment (10 credits): fundamental physical principles applied to environmental issues;
Earth and Society (10 credits): human and social issues affecting the sustainability of built environments;
Building Fabric (10 credits): using properties of the building fabric to design buildings with reduced energy consumption;
Primitives (10 Credits):skills in basic mathematics, research methods, and environmental evaluation using Ecotect.
Low Carbon Footprint (10 credits): a holistic approach to how to account for the use of energy by buildings;
Efficient Services (10 credits): approaches to the design of building services for greater efficiency.

Specialist modules (60 credits)

Sustainable Building (10 credits): building design, construction and assessment for a sustainable future;
Building Procurement and Performance (10 credits): procuring and monitoring sustainable performance in use;
Sustainable Design Practice (40 credits): project module for students to apply in practice what they have learned in class.

Dissertation module (60 credits)

Dissertation: research into some topic chosen by the student as being of particular interest.

Modules

Site and Environment (Core teaching - 10 credits)

In this module, an analytical approach is taken to the physical environment experienced by users outside buildings. The theme is the ambient environment of the site. The module discusses basic physics needed to understand physical environments in general, climatic processes involved in creating the local environment of a site, procedures for analysing environmental data to provide designers with objectives, and the physical needs that users have for their environments. Successful environmental design must start with an understanding of the ambient environment, of how it arises, of its short and long term variation, of its affect on comfort, and of how it can be harnessed and moderated. On completion of the module a typical student should be able to:

knowledge and understanding:

demonstrate an understanding of basic concepts in environmental physics;
discuss in principle the physics of building environmental performance;
explain the environmental and human factors affecting thermal comfort;
explain the relationship between types of sky and available thermal and visible radiation;
explain the factors influencing global and local climate;
show how these matters affect the objectives that environmental designers should pursue.

discipline specific skills:

solve problems in environmental physics using basic numerical and graphical procedures;
gauge relationships between local climate and landscape in specific circumstances;
conduct an environmental site analysis;
estimate the availability and nature of sun, light and wind at a site;
calculate the daylight factor and the changes in solar orientation at any location;
interpret design objectives from climatic and environmental data using graphic techniques;
operate satisfactorily the software for climatic analysis used in the module.

Earth and Society (Core teaching - 10 credits)

This module introduces the principal concepts of sustainability and the values, beliefs and assumptions that underpin them. It considers the historic development of the 'green' movement and how social frameworks, which influence people's behaviour and lifestyles, impact on sustainability as well as introducing Climate Change as an important context for sustainable development. It identifies different positions relating to sustainability adopted today, both at a theoretical and practical level and encourages students to question these as well as their own views. It also ensures an awareness of sustainability at a variety of development scale, from individual buildings through communities to the broader urban scale including health and comfort in the built environment. The module provides a structure for students to develop, discuss and formulate their personal sustainability standpoint. On completion of the module a typical student should be able to:

knowledge and understanding:

demonstrate familiarity with the theories, concepts and context of sustainability;
discuss the influence of different frameworks impacting on society and the built environment and their effects on sustainability;
illustrate the interrelation of the different frameworks on sustainability;
identify historic stages of the 'green' movement;
identity influences on and ambitions for a healthy and comfortable building environment
show awareness and understanding of leading examples and issues of sustainable design at a building, community and urban scale;
appreciate the complexities and interdependencies of sustainable design and the constraints involved in applying the theories of sustainability into practice at a variety of development scales;
identify potential and appropriate methods for enhancing the sustainability of personal lifestyles and local and global communities with relation to the built environment;

discipline specific skills:

clearly articulate their sustainability standpoint;
critically assess ideas, concepts and approaches relating to sustainability.

Building Fabric (Core teaching - 10 credits)

A building's fabric provides the means for forming an enclosure and separating it from the external environment. It can therefore act as a shelter from external environmental conditions, or a means for moderating and taking advantage of them, in order to improve comfort within buildings. Understanding the principles by which a building interacts with the external environment through its fabric, is therefore key in understanding building performance. This module will introduce those principles as well as novel and established techniques to achieve a successful design for comfort, health and energy efficiency. On completion of the module a typical student should be able to:

knowledge and understanding:

describe the basic thermal properties of building materials
describe the properties of glazing in relation to thermal and visual parameters
explain the issues relating to the provision of comfortable and healthy air in building spaces
explain the main techniques for predicting and measuring performance for façade and ventilation design and for estimating thermal load
discuss constructively the collection, storage, distribution, and utilisation of energy in a passive building
demonstrate the dynamic heat transfer processes in facades and spaces
evaluate how heat loss and surface heat transfer can be controlled by glazing, insulation and thermal mass;
illustrate how ventilation systems can provide good air quality with the efficient use of energy
evaluate how sunlight and daylight can be controlled through facade engineering
demonstrate an understanding of core building physics principles thought in the module

discipline specific skills:

interpret and act on the information produced by modelling methods.
solve problems in building physics using basic numerical and graphical procedures
identify appropriate techniques for predicting façade and ventilation performance for specific designs
engage in the integrated design process in relation to fabric and ventilation design.

Primitives (Core teaching - 10 credits)

Fundamental skills in three areas can be identified which are necessary for satisfactory completion of these schemes of study and for which many students will need tuition. They are sufficiently important to be taught and assessed as part of the schemes, rather than left to induction and private study. These are skills in basic mathematics, research methods, and environmental evaluation using Ecotect. On completion of the module, a typical student should be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding:

demonstrate knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, geometry and descriptive statistics, to the level needed for the schemes of study served;
understand the purpose, process and standards of academic research;
understand how research knowledge advances collectively and how research is distinguished by different methodological approaches;
explain the content and structure required of a dissertation;
explain the criteria that make a good research proposal;
distinguish between fair and unfair practice in research conduct and research reporting;
explain the capabilities and limitations of Ecotect software in evaluating the environmental performance of buildings;

Discipline Specific Skills:

evaluate the environmental performance of buildings using Ecotect across a wide range of the predictive techniques it offers, particularly as follows;
build a valid 3D geometrical model from plans or description;
produce accurate shadow maps for a given building;
produce accurate daylight factors for a given space;
produce, and interpret, a passive energy breakdown, for a given zone;
produce seasonal heating/cooling, for a given whole building.

Generic Skills:

demonstrate an ability to solve basic problems in the mathematical areas listed above;
conduct a literature research satisfactorily;
distinguish between good and bad research;
conduct numerical and statistical evaluation of data at a basic level;
write a satisfactory research proposal;

Low Carbon Footprint (Core teaching - 10 credits)

Low carbon design requires an holistic approach to the energy use of a building. The designer needs to understand in principle how buildings use energy and to supplement this understanding with evidence on energy use from the field. He or she needs to be able to work with goals for building design, such as zero carbon standards, and with ways of off-setting energy consumption with renewables.

The aims of the module are therefore;

to introduce the ways buildings use energy;
to introduce methods of matching these demands through renewables and low energy systems;
to introduce techniques for assessing the energy footprint and sustainable performance of the building using benchmarking and monitoring.
On completion of the module a typical student should be able to:

knowledge and understanding:

explain how buildings use energy, the demands and loads with buildings and the impact of occupancy on energy use;
explain use of renewables technologies and low energy cooling technologies within buildings;
show a basic knowledge of the concept of embodied energy;
show an understanding of assessment tools for sustainable design;
explain the benefits monitoring and calculate benchmarks for buildings;
show an understanding of zero-carbon buildings.

discipline specific skills:

evaluate how well a building attains low carbon design;
assess the impact of the various building services options on a building design problem.

Efficient Services (Core teaching - 10 credits)

The design of 'environmentally friendly' buildings depends critically on the choice of appropriate servicing strategies - an inappropriate servicing strategy can negate all the work undertaken on the form and fabric of the building. This module explores the principles behind current low energy solutions to servicing strategies, and deals with basic application information and strategies. The course is designed to complement information provided in all the other modules. On completion of the module a typical student should be able to:

knowledge and understanding:

describe how, why and where buildings services consume energy;
describe the current techniques available to minimise this energy use;
present a reasoned argument in favour of efficient building services;
describe the interaction between the building services and the building fabric and form.
explain the principles behind a range of low energy servicing solutions for buildings;
recognise when and where it is appropriate to apply these solutions.

discipline specific skills:

assess the impact of the various building services options on a building design problem.

Sustainable Building (Specialist teaching - 10 credits)

Sustainable building design aims to create resource-efficient buildings that are comfortable and healthy places to live and work. Materials, water and energy are used for the construction and the running of buildings and the use of resources can be associated with environmental and social impacts. Sustainable design ensures that the impacts associated with resources are kept to a minimum while also considering issues of light, temperature, indoor air quality and psychological aspects of buildings that affect health. This module focuses on the design to minimise resource use, while considering the need to create healthy environments.

knowledge and understanding:

discuss the principal aims and strategies of sustainable building design
identify the impact of resource use of a development
explain the typical environmentally preferred construction systems that minimise environmental impacts associated with resources
explain the main principles of designing for health and well-being
explain the environmental impacts of different materials
explain basic environmental and social impacts of resource use locally and globally
discuss approaches to minimising resource use adopted by a number of case studies
be aware of sources of information on the selection of materials, the design for water and energy efficiency and the design to ensure the health and well-being of the inhabitants

discipline specific skills:

evaluate the environmental information on materials provided by different sources
investigate and present environmental profile of a building material
develop an outline green specification for a particular development
assess the options for material specification and design in respect of individual buildings' characteristics and propose an appropriate outline specification
assess the opportunities for saving water and energy appropriate for different development types and situations and propose appropriate strategy

Building Procurement and Performance (Specialist teaching - 10 credits)

This module focuses on sustainable buildings in use, as well as the processes required to deliver buildings which will perform as anticipated. In addition it aims to introduce case studies and methodologies for post occupancy monitoring, in the context of targets set through modelling and occupant interaction with buildings. Sustainable development requires the collaboration of all parties involved in the construction process, from the clients, planners and designers to the contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. This module introduces the roles of the different parties involved in the construction process and the approaches that can be adopted to achieve sustainable buildings in use. Research and monitoring methods will be introduced applicable at both building and community scale considering, health, comfort, and wider building performance factors including energy, water, light, noise and waste. On completion of the module a typical student should be able to:

knowledge and understanding:

explain the principles and the benefits of sustainable development, including the environmental performance, cost and productivity benefits, user benefits and marketing advantages
identify key parties involved in the construction process and describe their roles in the delivery of sustainably performaning buildings in use
identify the legal responsibilities of each party that contribute positively towards sustainable development in use
discuss the barriers to the adoption of sustainable construction principles
be aware of government and other initiatives supporting sustainable development
explain the mechanisms by which sustainable development is encouraged throughout the building development process
explain how monitoring and research can be undertaken to help improve building performance
identify appropriate monitoring and research techniques to evaluate building and development performance in use
discuss case studies of good practice
be aware of publicly available sources of information on sustainable development

discipline specific skills:

develop and present a plan of action including relevant documents for a theoretical project to ensure building performance meets targets set during the briefing and design stage.
discuss merits of and prioritise approaches to procurement to ensure delivery of sustainable development in use
discuss the characteristics of performance indicators and assessment methods in respect to sustainable development with the view of making use of one of the methods
develop and implement appropriate research and monitoring strategy to exlore building performance.

Sustainable Design Practice (Specialist project - 40 credits)

The project module in this course allows students to apply to a live situation principles of sustainable design learned in the taught modules. It will provide an opportunity for professionals from different disciplines in the built environment to find out how they each define and approach problem solving in relation to sustainable design, and to explore new working relationships which will require new ways of thinking. Holistic thinking will be encouraged through integrated action, with the emphasis on an individual's transformation through collaboration rather than on team-working itself. This will be a learning-by-doing approach within which a critical reflective learning process will be employed.

The module will incorporate a single development project in co-operation with a local/regional authority, development agency, community group or practice. Students will form multi-disciplinary groups, liaising with officials and with an identified client. Depending on the subject and / or building type there will be indirect or direct participation of user and community groups. The project will be a mutually beneficial activity, with the 'live-project supplier' gaining a significant input, and the students learning from engaging with a real problem.

knowledge and understanding:

illustrate how sustainability philosophy, theory and principles can be applied to a practical design problem
understand sustainable development principles at pre-contract, procurement and design phases
describe his/her own and his/her discipline's role in, and contribution to, a collaborative design process
illustrate that he/she has followed a reflective learning process and has identified his/her own transformation and self-development
demonstrate ability to model complexity and relationships within a built environment development problem and process
show an awareness of the significance and characteristics of interdisciplinary thinking when addressing sustainability design issues

discipline specific skills:

identify key issues and action criteria for sustainable design
develop strategic approaches which incorporate vision and practical actions
illustrate new paradigm sustainability thinking.

Dissertation (60 credits)

This final module in the scheme is intended to give students an opportunity to focus on some aspect of the subject matter about which there is insufficient published knowledge to be found. All practitioners working in the forefront of their field find themselves from time to time extending knowledge with original ideas and novel applications. They need to feel secure moving in new territory, to be able to come to reliable conclusions, to pass their experience on to others, and to learn from other people's advances. In this module, students choose some aspect of the programme's subject that needs further study, and conduct academic research in order to make a small advance in knowledge. This will help them to consolidate their capacity for independent study, to develop a critical stance towards standards of research supporting new contributions to knowledge, and to learn some of the techniques needed to conduct academic research proficiently themselves. On completion of the module a typical student should be able to:

knowledge and understanding:

demonstrate, through the dissertation, systematic knowledge in a selected aspect of the subject area of the scheme of study;
have made a critical evaluation and analysis of a body of knowledge, or an original contribution to knowledge, in the subject area of the scheme of study;
interpret cogently and convincingly the results of the research in relation to the research objectives;

discipline specific skills:

define objectives pertinent to the chosen research problem and make an effective plan for pursuing them;
apply established techniques of research and enquiry productively in pursuing the research objectives;

transferable skills:

exercise initiative and personal responsibility in planning and implementing the research;
communicate the aims and methods and results of the research with clarity and in a style appropriate to the expected audience;
show a thorough and systematic approach to planning, implementing, and reporting the research.