Course description
Course structure
The course consists of Level 2 and Level 3 (undergraduate) and Level M (Master's) modules. The Level 2 and 3 modules may be studied full time (one year) or part time by day release (one day each week in term time over two years). Then the M Level modules are taken by all students on an 'open learning' basis, attending for short blocks (usually two days every two weeks in term time) and all students are expected to be in relevant employment by this stage. The Graduate Diploma meets the academic requirements for RICS membership, but if you wish to gain a MSc (subject to validation) you would take one further module in research methods and write a dissertation.
Graduate Diploma Property Management students will study alongside undergraduate students for some of the Level 2 and 3 modules, but be in a separate group (or with other Graduate Diploma students) for others. At M Level they will either study as a separate group or with Graduate Diploma/Master's students, depending on the module.
Property and Facilities Management
We have now created a new routeway for this course, Property and Facilities Management, for which we are seeking RICS accreditation. Further details will be published soon, but in the meantime, here is a list of the modules in the Graduate Diploma course.
Undergraduate modules:
-Property Appraisal (two modules)
-Property Management
-Aspects of English Law and European Property Law
-Design and Performance of Commercial Buildings
-Corporate Property Management and Finance
Postgraduate modules:
-Comparative UK and European Valuation
-Refurbishment Project Management
-Development Appraisal and Analysis
-Estates and Strategic Management
If you wanted to gain the MSc Property and Facilities Management, you would also do the Research for Policy and Practice module, and write a dissertation.
The Graduate School
The Faculty's Graduate School was established in 2005. Its main purpose is to foster an active graduate community, encompassing students on postgraduate taught courses and students undertaking research degrees. There are currently around 700 postgraduate students (400 attending and 300 distance learning) on taught courses, and about 40 postgraduate research students. The Graduate School has dedicated space in the Faculty's building on the main campus, with teaching accommodation, a kitchen and informal areas. The work of the Graduate School is based on the Faculty's extensive research programmes, and on the innovative nature and high quality of its teaching. Student advisers for all postgraduate courses are located in the Graduate School Office, and they are your first point of contact if you have any problems or need information. The Student Handbook is also an essential source of information.
The Faculty has invested in online and offline computer-based resources to support modules, especially for those studying at a distance. You also have access to a large number of journals and databases online through the Bristol UWE library. The library and some computer labs on campus are open 24 hours, and the Faculty's suite of computer rooms supports software for word processing, data analysis, spatial analysis, computer aided design and other specialist software required by our students. An audio-visual group provides support for photography, digital imaging, filming and sound recording.
Outline course content
Level 2
Property Appraisal A
-Traditional valuation methods and new techniques
-Determination of investment and discounting yields (risks yield, discounted cash flow, implied growth rates, equated and equivalent yields, etc)
-Assessment of premiums, surrender and renewal of leases, effects of break clauses, lease incentives, interests in real property, etc
-Effects on values of Landlord and Tenant legislation and other statutory controls
Aspects of English and European Property Law
-Dispute resolution, including the use of experts, arbitrators, and mediation (eg in the rent review process)
-Application and procedures relating to party walls, boundary and other neighbour disputes, including access to neighbouring land and rights of light
-Compulsory purchase and compensation
-Restrictive covenants
-EU legislation and its relationship to national legislation
-The social, political and economic context in a variety of European countries, including different national and local government systems
-Different legal frameworks in Europe relating to property management (types of ownership, tenure, acquisition and disposal, leases, registration, enforcement, freedom of information, etc)
Property Management
-Business tenancies, law relating to landlord and tenant, occupiers' liability, defective premises, security of tenure, termination of lease and service charges
-Creation of leases and licences, implied and express covenants in a lease, assignments and sub-letting
-Dilapidations, development of the law, leasehold property repairs, establishment of liability, types of schedule
-Objectives of ownership of property assets, clients' needs, modern working practices within property, and the ways in which offices are used
-Property reporting and inspections, the use of modern technology in the inspection process, use of the code of measuring practice, professional responsibilities and negligence
-Service charges, administration and management, rights and responsibilities of various parties
-Marketing of property, developing marketing strategies, market research techniques, acquisition and disposal; methods employed, and matching these to clients' needs
Level 3
Property Appraisal B
-The need for a client-centred approach to asset valuations
-Analysis of a variety of valuation scenarios, including ones related to specialist properties (use of mandatory guidance, selection of appropriate valuation bases, the structuring of the valuation approach and the provision of valuation solutions)
-Property investment appraisal techniques and their relationship to those applied to the appraisal of alternative investment media, and cash-flow techniques (net present value and the internal rate of return)
-Investment risk
-The process of reaching professional judgements
Design and Performance of Commercial Buildings
-The investigation of brown field sites and selection of alternative solutions for the foundations
-Functions of the external envelope and the analysis of alternative superstructure, cladding, and roofing solutions for medium rise/span buildings
-Analysis of the functional requirements of internal spaces, the specification and detailing of appropriate components and finishes
-The development of a fire safety strategy, and tactics (prevention, escape, communication, active and passive containment, extinguishment, empirical and fire-engineered solutions)
-Evaluation of design solutions against a range of economic and environmental criteria
Corporate Property Management and Finance
-Estates: managing varied estates, national office occupiers, distribution suppliers and varied estates, and an examination change as a result of diverse RE portfolios
-Business: property in the board room, the view of property of a range of 'users' of the estate, property as liability or asset, property cycles, business rationalisation, decision making and the formulation of business cases, and business planning
-Corporate advantage: examination of case studies to review property strategies, new working practices, the changing demand for space
-Finance: the principles of accounts, balance sheets, profit and loss accounts, resource accounting, cash flow statements, ratio analysis
Level M
Development Appraisal and Analysis
-Corporate finance: sources of debt and equity, property funding and financing sources, institutional investment; application of investment appraisal to real estate management decisions (for example rent or buy decisions)
-Development appraisal: land valuations, development feasibility analysis, range testing and sensitivity testing; application of development appraisal to real estate decision making (for example develop/redevelop/refurbish option analysis); town planning considerations (brown field site, regeneration, transport infrastructure, related to ways of working, etc.)
-Impact of market forces on estate management, outsourcing, PFI/PPP, Lottery funding, sale and leaseback, etc.
Comparative UK and European Valuation
-Analysis of the differences and similarities in the nature of property management in the EU and the UK (impact of EU legislation, differences within the EU, building and planning context, relationship to business finance, investment, accountability, multi-national organisations, tensions created by competing rationalities, etc.)
-Use of the 'Red Book' appraisal and valuation standards/EU practice (mandatory standards, measurement, interpretation of guidance, etc.)
-Valuation in different contexts (including consideration of specialist situations); analysis and evaluation of case study scenarios in the UK and the EU
-Standards of professional practice, tensions in responsibilities, conflicts of interest, ethical dilemmas, and guarding against allegations of professional negligence
Refurbishment Project Management
-Analysis of the factors leading to obsolescence in commercial and industrial buildings (including condition assessments, defect diagnosis, functional appraisals, and the identification of the need for expert advice)
-The development of a brief for the refurbishment of a commercial building (including the evaluation of information on physical condition and functional requirements)
-Feasibility studies, the use of option generation and appraisal techniques, and sensitivity analysis in relation to a specific refurbishment project (the effectiveness of spatial, technical and financial solutions)
-The application of project management principles to refurbishment projects
-Analysis and management of risk in refurbishment projects
Estates and Strategic Management
-Strategic management of property estates (including the examination of different perspectives of the role, the relationship to organisational goals, the community, and the social, political and economic context; the tensions created by competing rationalities and value systems, and the consideration of different concepts of obsolescence), the module focuses on public sector estates but makes reference to other sectors
-Standards and performance indicators (industry and in-house) in the management of property estates (monitoring the performance of physical assets, the management process, and the relationship to business goals, considering issues of vested interests, comparability, validity, etc)
-Financial accountability for the effective use of property assets (related to value for money, Best Value, resource accounting and business plans)
-Cost Benefit Analysis, whole life costing, property profiling, sustainable decision making, etc.
-Policies of maintenance and renewal for the estate ('just-in-time', response, and planned maintenance and refurbishment programmes), and their relationship to strategy
-Risk, complexity, and uncertainty at a strategic level, corporate social responsibility
-Modules are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain up to date and relevant, so some of them may change before the course starts or whilst you are on it, but the overall aims and broad content of the course will remain the same. We reserve the right to make changes to courses and entrance requirements if appropriate.
