Civil Engineering with a Foundation Year

In civil engineering you'll study structures, water, geotechnics and environmental issues. The foundation year will give you the essential skills and knowledge you’ll need to commence your BEng in Civil Engineering, giving you a strong start to your degree.

Give yourself the best possible grounding in the principles behind civil and structural engineering, leaving your options open for a range of careers in the industry.

If you don't have the usual scientific or mathematical background for an engineering degree, a foundation year is for you. After successfully completing the foundation year, you can start your main degree.

Research-active academics and teachers with extensive industrial experience give you a broad-base understanding in this civil and structural engineering degree - making it perfect if you're not sure which area of civil engineering you want to go into.

Civil and structural engineering is at the forefront of improving the way we live. Whether it's providing the facilities that keep our day-to-day lives running smoothly - from roads and railways to clean water supplies - or working to meet the ever-changing needs of our society in the areas of sustainability, renewable energy and climate change - by designing innovative buildings, you'll be helping to create and protect the world we live in.

The course integrates a strong focus on civil engineering analysis and design with the latest research on sustainable development - equipping you to tackle challenges in the built environment and design innovative solutions that minimise impact on the environment.

Years one and two will see you concentrate on the core disciplines of structural engineering, water infrastructure engineering, fluid mechanics, and geotechnical mechanics, from both an analysis and design perspective.

The second half of the course follows more specialised and advanced structural engineering areas such as bridge engineering, multi-storey building design, sustainability, geotechnics and your independent research project.

During your third year, you'll spend a full semester doing the integrated design project. You’ll unleash your creativity on a grand scale: devising plans for an entire urban regeneration project based on a real site in Sheffield. You'll investigate new design methods and construction materials while developing detailed designs such as elegant bridges, sustainable and environmentally sensitive multi-storey buildings, or state-of-the-art sports venues.

The course challenges you to solve increasingly complex problems - building on your core knowledge with specialist modules in the final year so that you'll graduate as a skilled, competent and well-rounded engineer.

Why study this course?

• Project-based learning - Our series of design projects allow you to integrate technical knowledge with more practical design considerations. You can develop capability in tackling realistic projects and address the complex challenges in engineering a low carbon future.

• Semester-long integrated design project - Explore both concept and detailed design for a range of real-world built-environment problems.

• Professional skills development - Supported by a team of staff with industry experience, our programmes empower and support you to take responsibility for your own development and develop skills and attributes that prepare you for a future as a professional civil or structural engineer.

• Specialist teaching facilities - 'Learning by doing' is the reason The Diamond was built. Dedicated to engineering, this is where you’ll apply the theory you learn in lectures – consolidating your understanding alongside students from other disciplines, and beyond the bounds of the curriculum.