Last edited 31 May 2016

Sheffield Hallam University - Department of the Natural and Built Environment

1 Details
2 Profile
3 Undergraduate courses
4 Postgraduate courses

[edit] Details

Department of the Natural & Built Environment

Faculty of Development & Society

Sheffield Hallam University,

City Campus,

Howard Street,

Sheffield S1 1WB

Tel: +44 (0)114 225 4805 / 5094

Email: [email protected]

[edit] Profile

The Department of the Natural and Built Environment focuses on the academic disciplines which seek to understand, design and shape our world.

The department aims to provide the knowledge and skills needed to develop careers – whether just starting out or wanting to progress from a current role. Undergraduate and postgraduate courses focus on the academic disciplines and professional practices associated with understanding, planning, designing and managing sustainable places and environments in both a local and a global context.

Work placements, real life work simulations and specialist events help prepare the skills employers are looking for, whilst courses are developed with and accredited by professional bodies.

Tutors combine academic excellence with relevance in the field, using their expertise to advise government, professional bodies and multinational companies on a range of issues from climate change mitigation to urban regeneration, sustainability and surveying. They use a mix of lectures, seminars, studio workshops, laboratory sessions and field work to help with study.

Fieldwork is an important element of all of courses. As well as local field visits around Sheffield and the Peak District National Park, there are also residential field courses in the UK and overseas. A final year dissertation or design project also allows focus on a subject of particular interest and independent work with one-to-one advice from a project supervisor.

The Department of the Natural and Built Environment has established itself as a leading provider of high quality research and scholarship. It has developed a national and international reputation for academic and industry-focused research, spanning both the natural and built environments and embracing a wide range of disciplines.

In the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 exercise, their subject area was ranked first among 23 modern universities and eleventh of all UK universities. Overall, 65% of the research submitted by Sheffield Hallam received the prestigious 4* and 3* rating as world-leading and internationally excellent, moving the University up 25 places in the national research league tables. The established collaborations with society, industry and the professional sectors promote the transfer of knowledge and underpin the teaching and learning across the department.

There is collaboration with local and national organisations on a professional basis. Many academic staff members have worked and continue to work in practice and offer consultancy, while others are represented on national and regional boards. Staff members are also chair or panel members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA), the Royal Geographical Society, the Chartered Institute of Building and the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.

High quality facilities have helped establish an excellent reputation for research and teaching. They have architecture studios and laboratories in the centre of Sheffield which are equipped for drawing, model making, and computer aided design. Nearby construction workshops have wood and metal working tools, laser cutters and environmental testing equipment. Adjacent spaces are used for structural design activity and hands-on construction classes. There are also specially designed state of the art environmental and soil laboratories, as well as plant preparation and growing facilities.

Extensive use is made of relevant technology to ensure students are fully versed in the latest techniques, including networked PCs with Autocad software, geographical information systems (GIS) to map and analyse environmental data and global positioning systems (GPS).