Construction Technology & Management

This Crossover Master Course is a fully integrated module that combines Construction Technology with the essentials of Project Management and Collaborative Design. The aim of this module is to gain understanding of the process at the tender phase of civil engineering structures (including buildings) from the perspective of a contractor. It is the most intensive and condensed phase of the whole project lifetime, where many aspects of the project need to be covered. Where decisive choices are made on conceptual design, construction method, environmental impact, time schedule, budget, risk, durability, sustainability, availability, maintainability, and, last but not least, safety. All these topics are supported by Management Systems, like Systems Engineering, Trade-off-Matrices (TOMs), Stakeholder Management and Risk Management. Resulting in a Basis of Design, a Method Statement and a final Bid. The type of contract is an important precondition. Teamwork with mixed disciplines is essential to gain a complete and balanced result.

Apart from the basics of teamwork with the theoretical background based on DISC/Insights-model [Tuckman, Lencioni and Belbin], it is crucial to have some insights and understanding of the different disciplines involved. That’s why the interdisciplinary approach followed in this crossover is an excellent instrument to gain knowledge about and learn from other disciplines in both theory and practice.

The backbone of this course is the combination of required knowledge on technical content and management processes, thereby covering a wide range of aspects of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. On top of that, the real-life project cases require students to deal with the challenges of today, like climate change and environmental impact.

Final assessment is based on the results of the following (5 ECTS each):

• Group report and presentation of the construction project;

• Individual written exam of the theory of project management including teamwork and information management.