Sustainable Built Environments, Energy and Resources

The built environment, from homes and offices to transport networks and industrial facilities, accounts for a substantial share of global energy use and resource consumption. Understanding how to design, retrofit and manage these environments in ways that reduce their environmental impact is one of the defining challenges of the twenty-first century. This degree at University College London places that challenge at its centre, drawing on engineering, environmental science, urban planning and policy to give you a genuinely interdisciplinary perspective on sustainability.

Over three years of full-time study, you will explore the technical and systemic dimensions of sustainable design. You will examine how buildings perform thermally, how energy systems are designed and integrated, and how resources such as water and materials flow through the built environment at different scales. You will develop skills in quantitative analysis alongside the ability to evaluate policy frameworks and governance structures.

The programme sits at the boundary of several disciplines, and you will build comfort with working across them, understanding how decisions made by architects, engineers, planners and policymakers interact with one another.

Careers from this degree span a broad range of sectors. Graduates move into sustainability consulting, energy management, building performance engineering, urban planning, policy development and environmental assessment. Many work for local authorities, infrastructure companies, consultancies and NGOs, as well as in the growing cleantech sector.

The skills developed are also well suited to postgraduate research and to professional qualifications in energy or environmental management. Given the urgency of the climate agenda, professionals with this kind of expertise are in increasing demand across public and private sectors alike.