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Advanced Project Management in Construction MSc

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.

Start date

16 September 2024

6 January 2025

Duration

1 year full-time
28 months part-time

Places available (subject to change)

45

About the course

Reasons to study

  1. You'll learn in the state of the art £30m Barbara Hepworth Building with collaborative studios, photography studios and exhibition space.
  2. Accredited study: The course is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and you will gain membership and MCIOB status on completion.
  3. Internationally Excellent: 100% of our research impact was classifed as world leading and internationally excellent (REF 2021).

This course is aimed at industry professionals seeking to acquire advanced, strategic level skills as project managers in the global construction industry and built environment who are wishing to progress towards managerial positions.

To take up such roles, Project Managers need to be able to apply knowledge to optimise and solve complex issues in a very dynamic industry, with a clear understanding of business implications. This course aims to enable the understanding of process and production management issues, including planning and control approaches, procurement and contract management strategies, the management of resources, and how information technology can be applied to support successful project outcomes with a clear focus on Lean Construction and Building Information Modelling (BIM). The advanced level nature of the course also aims to prepare you for further research in the field, either within academia or for consultant organisations, providing the skills and competencies necessary for a Project Manager to successfully deliver global projects.

This Master’s degree also forms part of an integrated suite of built environment postgraduate taught courses within the School of Arts and Humanities which mark an exciting new development in the subject area and draws on the skills of leading researchers and practitioners.

Course detail

Lean and BIM in Construction Projects

This module aims to discuss Lean Construction theory and practice, including its application in Building Information Modelling (BIM) enabled projects. The module discusses traditional approaches to project management and presents Lean as an innovative waste and value-based approach to managing construction projects.

Advanced Procurement in Construction

Delivering construction projects in time, within budget and to the required quality standards is not only the key measure of global construction project success, but also the ultimate responsibility of all the construction project managers. Managing construction contracts and procurement arrangements appropriately is key to achieve such success in construction projects. This module aims to impart clear knowledge and the skills necessary to understand and apply approaches to achieving this goal.

Construction Project Management: Planning and Control

This module is aimed at preparing you to manage projects within the built environment through the use of advanced planning and control techniques. It will enable you to learn and apply a range of skills in project planning, scheduling, monitoring and control that includes cash flow and capital expenditure analysis, value management, risk and opportunity management and the use of software-based decision support tools as used in industry.

BIM at the Project Level: Collaborative Approaches

This module aims to address BIM at the project level. The aim is to provide understanding and support the critical evaluation of the key issues in collaborative, integrated BIM based projects. It includes a broad understanding of process change needed to enable the achievement of BIM benefits in practice.

Research Methods

The research methods module introduces students to a variety of methods, approaches and practical issues involved in conducting academic research. It will give you the chance to become familiar with the key elements involved in designing, carrying out and assessing research relevant to a range of built environment disciplines. The objectives of this module are: to define a topic which is both researchable and manageable within the bounds of a Master’s dissertation/project; to conduct a preliminary literature search and synthesis, providing a background and justification to the research project; to establish clear aims and objectives for the research to specify the detailed plan to be carried out; and to produce a structure for the research which indicates the sources and methods to be employed and a feasible working programme.

Major Project

This module gives you the opportunity to undertake a major, in-depth piece of work along with other This includes a largely self-directed study, of what you have gained from the course and, often, to integrate it with elements from previous studies or professional experiences. It gives the opportunity for you to develop your research skills and abilities, allowing exploration of a particular and complex area covered in the taught elements of your course of study. The major project represents a study of a specified topic based on the gathering and analysis of primary and secondary data, contextualised within existing knowledge in the field and drawing conclusions to a defined research question.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • An Honours degree (2:2 or above) in a relevant subject or an equivalent professional qualification.
  • Alternative qualifications and/or significant experience may be accepted, subject to approval.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

What can I research?

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, which means you have the opportunity to benefit and develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant.

Research Centre

The tutors are affiliated with the Innovative Design Lab research centre which focuses on these themes in the design and construction of facilities for research:

Lean Construction

  • Theory Building
  • Lean Design
  • Synergies between Lean and BIM
  • Integrated Project Delivery
  • Production Planning and Control
  • Visual Management
  • Target Value Design
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Retrofit
  • Logistics

Digital Technology

  • Smart Infrastructure Inspection Technology
  • Energy Efficiency through Modelling Building Occupants Behaviour
  • Serious Games
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Photogrammetry
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
  • Virtual Reality
  • Blockchain

Your career


This course can help you develop the necessary skills to lead collaborative design and construction teams, effectively manage projects, and adopt innovative approaches such as Lean Construction and Building Information Modelling (BIM). Graduates could consider careers in managing infrastructure and civil engineering projects too. The course aims to help you to develop skills that are transferable to managing these type of projects.

* Percentage of our postgraduate students who go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 2017/18, UK domiciled graduates).

96.4% Graduates employed*

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

Changes to a course you have applied for

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Cancellation of a course you have applied for

Although we always try and run all of the course we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will contact you to discuss other suitable courses with us we can transfer your application to. If we notify you that the course you have applied to has been withdrawn or combined, and you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

We will always try to deliver your course and other services as described. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below:

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change in this context is a change that materially changes the services available to you; or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to. You should read these carefully before you enrol. Please note that this information is subject to change and you are advised to check our website regularly for any changes before you enrol at the University. A person who is not party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it. Only you and the University shall have any right to enforce or rely on the agreement.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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