Cardiff University

BEng Architectural Engineering

This is a three-year full-time degree, with largely core modules in Years One and Two. Year Three has a carefully chosen balance of core and optional modules, allowing you to choose subjects to tailor to your personal interests or chosen career path. You need to earn 120 credits a year.

Year One

Year one consists of a series of lectures and practical laboratory sessions, providing you with a solid base for the next two years of your degree programme.

Core Modules for Year One

• Engineering Maths and Computation
• Fundamentals of Civil Engineering
• Applied Design and Practice

Year Two

Year two again consists of a series of lectures underpinned by practical laboratory sessions.

There is an off-site residential field course for five days in the spring semester, as part of the Field Studies of the Natural and Built Environment module.

Core Modules for Year Two

• Engineering Analysis
• Building Modelling
• History of Western Architecture
• Hydraulics and Soil Mechanics
• Structural Analysis & Design Theory
• Sustainable Civil Engineering Design & Practice

Year Three

Year three includes a major project, with a value of a quarter of the overall year. For this, you will work individually, alongside a supervising staff member.

There are other core modules but also a choice of optional modules, building upon the foundations established in the earlier years.

Core Modules for Year Three

• Construction and Construction Management
• Integrated Building Design
• Architectural Engineering Design Studio
• Tensile Structures
• Project
• Structural Analysis
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Structural Design Studies

Optional Modules for Year Three

• Concrete Materials and Structures
• Environmental Geotechnics
• Finite Elements for Full-scale Engineering Problems

How will I be assessed?

Your assessments will be varied to evaluate knowledge, understanding, professional skills, and key skills. Assessment in Year One is mostly through tests during the year, short reports, a professional development portfolio, presentations, and two written examinations. This range of assessments is carried into the higher years with a gradual change from tests to exams. The major individual project in Year Three is assessed by a dissertation report.

What skills will I practise and develop?

The Learning Outcomes for this Programme describe what you will be able to do as a result of your study at Cardiff University. They will help you to understand what is expected of you.

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to:

Knowledge & Understanding

• Apply a comprehensive knowledge of mathematics, statistics, natural science and engineering principles to the solution of complex problems in architectural engineering. Much of the knowledge will be at the forefront of the particular subject of study and informed by a critical awareness of new developments and the wider context of architectural engineering.
• Formulate and analyse complex problems to reach substantiated conclusions. This will involve evaluating available data using first principles of mathematics, statistics, natural science and engineering principles, and using engineering judgment to work with information that may be uncertain or incomplete, discussing the limitations of the techniques employed.
• Evaluate the environmental and societal impact of solutions to complex architectural engineering problems (to include the entire life-cycle of a product or process) and minimise adverse impacts.
• Discuss the role of quality management systems and continuous improvement in the context of complex architectural engineering problems.
• Apply knowledge of engineering management principles, commercial contexts, project and change management, and relevant legal matters including intellectual property rights.

Intellectual Skills

• Select and apply appropriate computational and analytical techniques, recognising/discussing the limitations of the techniques employed, for the synthesis of architectural engineering problems, and to make judgements on appropriate action.
• Select and evaluate technical literature and other sources of information to address complex problems.
• Design solutions for complex architectural engineering problems that meet a combination of societal, user, business and customer needs as appropriate, with consideration of applicable health & safety, diversity, inclusion, cultural, societal, environmental and commercial matters, codes of practice and industry standards.
• Apply an integrated or systems approach to the solution of complex problems.

Professional Practical Skills

• Select and apply appropriate practical laboratory and workshop skills in architectural engineering, particularly in devising analytical or experimental approaches, to investigate complex problems.
• Select, apply and evaluate appropriate materials, equipment, engineering technologies and processes, recognising their limitations.
• Use a risk management process to identify, evaluate and mitigate risks (the effects of uncertainty) associated with a particular architectural engineering project or activity.
• Adopt a holistic and proportionate approach to the mitigation of security risks in architectural engineering.

Transferable/Key Skills

• Communicate effectively on complex engineering matters with technical and non-technical audiences, evaluating the effectiveness of the methods used.
• Identify and analyse ethical concerns and make reasoned ethical choices informed by professional codes of conduct.
• Adopt an inclusive approach to engineering practice and recognise/articulate the responsibilities, benefits and importance of supporting equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Function effectively as an individual, and as a member or leader of a team.
• Plan and record the reflective evaluation of self-learning and development as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

Our graduates are mainly employed in the civil and structural engineering fields with major consultancy and contracting firms, with roles such as graduate civil or structural engineer or building design engineer.

Our graduates are typically employed in major companies such as Arup, Atkins, Capita Symonds and Ramboll, in destinations all over the UK and further afield. We also have graduates working for architectural and building services practices.

A number of graduates have opted for further study, either at MSc or PhD level, at institutions across the UK.

Others have chosen to work for national and multinational companies. Recent examples include companies in the financial, media and marketing sectors with destinations including Deloitte, PwC and Virgin.