Civil Engineering for England

Civil Engineering deals with the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, and includes infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, dams, sewage systems, pipelines and buildings. This Level 4 Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ) provides a broad introduction to construction and different civil engineering functions and is aligned to the Construction Engineering Senior Technician Occupational Standard.

In addition to acquiring knowledge and specialist skills relevant to this profession, you will develop problem solving, commercial, business and interpersonal skills with the aim of being able to perform key civil engineering tasks and understand processes, operations and work effectively in the sector.

As a Civil Engineer you will be expected to make decisions regarding material choices and understand the structural behaviour of materials, testing procedures and perform calculations to establish the performance of materials in use. You will develop an awareness of the design process and be able to produce design propositions and a construction information package for a project. The technologies and processes of civil engineering in the development of highways, bridges and substructures, will be examined so that you can apply this to the design of infrastructure and produce solutions to address hazards and problems encountered in projects. Familiarity with rock types, soils classifications, geotechnical procedures and methods will contribute to your understanding of the design and construction of buildings and infrastructure. You will be given the opportunity to determine and analyse forces within fixed structures and understand the fundamental concepts of structural design.

The development and impact of the construction industry will be explored, as well as the routes to employment and progression. Your knowledge and understanding of the mathematical principles and theories that underpin construction technology, structures and materials will be developed. This will involve the use of analytical and computational methods to solve engineering construction problems, the interpretation of data and application of statistical and calculus techniques. Building Information Modelling, the process of information management through a project lifecycle, is explored and will involve the generation of 2D and 3D views of a building model.

Full time, 12 hours per week for 1 year
Part time, 6 hours a week for 2 years

On completion, you may progress to L5 HND and from there may complete a L6 top-up such as:

• BSc (Hons) Structural Engineering
• BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering
• BEng (Hons) Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

On completion, you may consider roles such as:

Civil Engineer
Site Engineer
Geotechnical Engineer
Highway Engineer
Project Manager
Structural Engineer
For further information please contact us by visiting the contact page on the college website

Although every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained within this document is accurate, there may be changes to this programme and provision. We will endeavour to keep prospective and current students updated where appropriate and when the information becomes available.

Course Modules

At level 4 you will study:

• Construction Design Project (Civil Engineering),
• Science and Materials,
• The Construction Environment,
• Mathematics for Construction,
• Civil Engineering technology,
• Principles of Structural Design,
• Geotechnics and Soil Mechanics,
• Digital Applications for Building Information Modelling.

Students are continuously assessed using a variety of methods including preparation of reports, delivery of presentations, demonstration of skills in practical workshops and through experiments, portfolios and the collation of evidence.