About us

History of the Department

The Department of the Built Environment (DBE) was created on 1 July 2021 after a rebranding of the Department of Building (DOB). The DOB was established on 1 June 2000 when the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Real Estate was restructured as the School of Design and Environment. The Department has a proud history of over 50 years, tracing its roots to the Department of Building and Real Estate which was established in 1969.

This departmental rebranding heralds the dawn of a new era which firmly anchors the department at the forefront of Built Environment education and research. This rebranding serves to future-proof our educational offerings to transcend beyond the traditional notions of building, project, and facilities management. This thereby ensures that our graduates remain highly sought-after by the relevant industries.

Our Vision

To be a global knowledge leader in project management, facilities management, contract management and technology management in the sustainable built environment.

Our Mission

To advance knowledge, educate learners, and foster enterprise in project management, facilities management, contract management and technology management in the sustainable built environment.

Objectives

  • To establish an academic centre of excellence for the pursuit of knowledge in science, technology and management in the building design and construction processes, which are relevant to our nation, region and the built environment.
  • To develop core competencies in project management, facilities management, contract management and technology management, with specific emphasis on integrated approaches to planning, building and management in the built environment.
  • To design and deliver teaching programmes based on the established core competencies, aimed at developing the leaders of tomorrow’s built environment.
  • To establish significant and high impact collaborative research and development partnerships with the local industry as well as international institutions and organisations.
  • To provide service to the community by contributing to the achievement of national development goals through synergistic partnerships amongst students, staff, faculty and alumni.

Introduction

The Bachelor of Engineering programme in Infrastructure and Project  Management (the B.Eng (IPM) programme) taught at the Department of the Built Environment (DBE), College of Design and Engineering, prepares future leaders of the built environment. The B.Eng (IPM) programme is a unique programme in Asia because the full-time teaching staff and professors on the programme consist not only of construction professionals such as quantity surveyors, project managers and facilities managers but also civil, mechanical, electrical and material engineers as well as lawyers who have extensive experience in the built environment.

The built environment, contrary to popular opinion, is an evergreen and sunrise industry due to its evolution from the infusion of technology such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).

The four core competencies of the B.Eng (IPM) programme:

  • Project Management
  • Facilities Management
  • Contract Management
  • Technology Management

Project Management

Every building and facility originates in someone’s mind as an idea. That idea is translated by a designer into a tangible (physical) format such as a drawing. A IPM professional translates that idea into real-life, creating facilities which are beneficial to end-users. A project manager (PM) is an example of such a IPM professional. The PM coordinates man, machine, methodology and materials to breathe life into the designers’ ideas. A PM may work for the project owner or for the builder responsible for completing the project. The work of a PM is challenging because it involves initiation, planning, execution, and the closure of an undertaking. A IPM undergraduate in the Department of the Built Environment will be taught the theories and fundamentals of project management. Such technical skills in project management will be complemented by modules such as Project Leadership, Project Feasibility and Project Execution. If you had enjoyed organising projects and events in school, your project management skills will be honed even further in the B.Eng (IPM) programme in the Department of the Built Environment. Your ultimate reward will be to see your project completed and standing tall, fulfilling its purpose to its end-users, whether it be a block of public residential flats, a private condominium, a hotel, a school, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system etc.

Facilities Management

The discipline of facilities management is what keeps the nation’s building stock relevant to their end-users and occupants. The core of sound facilities management is to create and maintain safe, secure, healthy, eco-friendly and high performance facilities to support the occupants’ well-being in the facilities. A competent facilities manager (FM) will be able to ensure a sustainable future and reinforce the nation’s commitment to reducing a facility’s contribution to climate change. The mission of a FM is critical because he/she is tasked with providing an environment which promotes human health and well-being. The FM will be trained to create and manage a robust, flexible and well-maintained facilities with reliable and cost-efficient infrastructure, enhancing the performance and reliability of the facility throughout the entire life cycle from the planning, design, development, operation to decommissioning of a facility. The well-trained FM achieves the above because he/she will be taught, in the B.Eng (IPM) programme, skills desired by the industry including (a) efficient management of resources, (b) strategic life cycle analysis (LCA), (c) performance assessment and diagnostics, (d) cost-benefit optimisation, (e) selection and operation of optimum system, technology and materials as well as (f) simulation and modelling.

Contract Management

This core competency focuses on building cost as well as a knowledge of the law. A contract manager (CM), another type of IPM professional, is armed with numerical skills as well as legal skills. Depending on the phase of the project, a CM may practise the craft of a Quantity Surveyor (QS) or a procurer of goods and services. A QS’s role is prominent during the building phase of a project. There, a QS must be able to establish from a set of building drawings how much it costs to build the project. A QS must also be familiar with the contract clauses of the contract so as to ensure that both the building owner and the builder are fairly treated under the terms of the contract. When a builder requests to be paid (usually monthly), the QS’s role will be to ascertain that the builder’s claims are fair and reasonable. Like the PM, the PFM professional may be the project owner’s QS or the builder’s QS.

When a building is completed and becomes a facility, the CM’s role becomes that of a procurer of goods and services that ensure that the FM is able to do his/her job well. All relationships with suppliers of facilities management-related goods and services are underpinned by contracts. A CM here will therefore be an expert in knowing how to procure (buy/obtain) goods and services as well as the proper interpretation and application of the clauses in the supply contract so that the facility owner and the supplier are treated fairly in accordance with the terms of the contract.

The Department of the Built Environment has full-time professors who are qualified Quantity Surveyors and also lawyers who will be able to teach aspiring CMs to be professionals in the built environment.

Technology Management

For those of you who are more inclined towards technology, the B.Eng (IPM) programme offers you knowledge in the management of technology for the built environment. The Department of the Built Environment has deep expertise in the domains of Smart Buildings and the use of IoT and sensors to enable a better understanding and optimisation of indoor environments of buildings. For those who are keen, you will be taught about IoT, sensors, the basics of data communication as well as data visualisation tools. Students learn how IoT devices and sensors work, how to collect, organise, visualise and analyse the data into a meaningful “storyline”. You will be encouraged to undertake “hands-on” projects which will allow you to gain practical knowledge on how IoT and sensors can impact the performance of buildings and the best ways to develop strategies to improve performance using this data.

If you are into coding, the Department of the Built Environment also has expertise in practical Python/Pandas coding techniques for data from the built environment. Human satisfaction and wellness data are collected through wearables, web applications, and QR-code based interaction methods. These data are then used to train various types of classification models to predict whether a person will be satisfied in a given space and, if not, where they can go to become comfortable. Our professors also collaborate on system controls to predict how buildings should respond.

The Department of the Built Environment also has expertise in the harnessing of IoT and AI for:

  • fault detection and diagnosis of air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) systems
  • power generation or consumption forecasting using deep learning technologies
  • maintenance planning for large grid systems.

We will teach you the ways of collecting time-series sensor data, pre-processing and labelling of raw data. The pre-processed data is treated as a training inputs for machine learning (ML) or deep learning (DL) predictors. You will learn how to implement the modern ML/DL models using Python. A well-trained ML/DL model performs automated prediction that provides outstanding value in facility management.

Yet another sunrise aspect of the built environment is the increasing reliance on sustainable energy. The UN Sustainable Development Goals were developed to encourage global efforts in sustainable activities, of which Energy is one of them. As enterprises embrace sustainability reporting, the use of renewable energy in their electricity portfolio becomes an essential strategy. Hence, we will teach you the various types of renewable energy available in the urban context, with a focus on solar photovoltaics (PV) in Singapore and the tropics. This complements efforts from:

  • the private sector in implementing renewable projects on their portfolio
  • the public sector in developing policies and initiatives to increase renewable adoption

In addition, the emergence of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) in Asia is also discussed in the B.Eng (IPM) programme. At the Department of the Built Environment, you will be empowered with the fundamentals of renewable energy adoption for your future careers in today's climate-sensitive built environment.

In the Department of the Built Environment, you will also get to learn about smart construction technologies including construction automation, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) and construction 3D-printing. Integrating these novel technologies provide a viable way to improve the construction quality and productivity in the built environment.