The Department

The Department of Building Engineering and Surveying has provided high quality research and education for over 60 years, and offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Our vast experience of education, research and development in the built environment has given the Department and the University an international reputation, attracting students from all over the world.

The Department covers all aspects of building technology, science, surveying, economics, management and engineering. It has 30 full-time academic staff and extensive laboratory and other facilities that are used by full-time research staff and by postgraduate students. These include: acoustic reverberant, anechoic and sound transmission facilities; thermal transmission facilities; drainage network testing facilities; a building services laboratory; materials testing facilities; a large wind tunnel and a rotating house used for wind and lighting studies. The Department has excellent computing and library facilities.

The Department’s continued commitment to high quality and innovative research has been recognised in the last two UK government Research Assessment Exercises in the Built Environment in 1996 and 2001. The Department is one of only seven built environment departments in the UK, and the only one in Scotland, to receive an RAE2001 rating of "5". This repeats our success in gaining a rating of "5" in the 1996 RAE.

The Department offers a broad range of taught undergraduate courses, all of which are accredited by relevant professional bodies, taught postgraduate courses and supervised higher research degrees (MPhil and PhD), with research studentships funded by organisations such as EPSRC.