Built environment

What to expect

Getting a degree

What to expect

This is a small field as far as student numbers go but its scope is huge. The built environment includes everything that is made, rather than a part of the natural environment. It is the objects inside our homes and businesses. It is our buildings, communities and cities.

The various specialisations in built environment differ considerably in the approach they take to the constructed environment. Some are concerned with building or creating it, others with selling it, still more with managing and maintaining it, or ensuring it is in harmony with the natural environment.

Not surprisingly, a diverse range of career paths is available to graduates of built environment, depending on what they study, including:

• Construction and construction management
• Planning (town or urban and regional)
• Interior design
• Building inspection
• Landscape architecture
• Environmental design
• Drafting and building design
• Furnishing
• Trades (construction, surveying, joinery, plumbing).

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Getting a degree in built environment

Visit the University Ratings section for built environment course ratings.

Courses and specialisations

If you want to study in built environment, you will be on the look out for a number of different degrees, depending on your interests.

Design degrees include industrial and interior design, and landscape architecture (graphic design is under creative arts ). Degrees in planning (whether town planning, regional planning or urban planning) might actually be named ‘bachelor of planning’ but they might also be in an applied science degree. Specialisations in property are often found in business or commerce degrees. Then again, if you want to learn about construction and project management, a degree in building and construction may be for you.

Which course is for you?

All built environment courses have some kind of a technical element. It will be stronger in construction and design, but even planners and property managers will need some knowledge of the way things are built and maintained. In property, there will be a strong business element, and planning will often include some social science. At the other end of the spectrum are courses in interior and landscape architecture and industrial design, which demand something of an artistic flair.

Getting in

Getting into built environment courses has become more challenging in the last few years, but most remain fairly accessible. Prerequisites often include English, maths, and for design-based courses, art and design, but depending on the niche you choose, other subjects may be required or recommended. Contact your preferred institutions for more details.

Where to study

Although relevant degree courses are available at universities (and perhaps at the odd TAFE institute) around the country, because built environment covers such an varied assortment of different types of degrees, you might only find a select number of each type in any one location.

What to look for

Although there are only a select number of courses in each specialisation around the country to choose from, you should look around to see how much practical experience is offered and consider if you want to gain that experience in one location or another (e.g. regional, tropical, in an area with lots of property development or population growth).

Depending on the niche you choose your course should also be recognised by one or several professional associations listed below.

Careers for built environment degree graduates

With so much variety in the courses on offer, the career paths that are available to different degree graduates in built environment are also many and varied. The good thing about this field is that most courses are directly linked to particular occupations.

Creative roles in fields such as interior design and landscape architecture are often in small private practices. For those in planning roles, there are opportunities in private practice and the public sector. Construction management roles are just as likely to be in big private property development companies as in independent private practice. If you study at degree level, you will be able to work independently in any organisation (even your own) as an accredited professional.

Whichever type of role or workplace you end up in, your prospects will be related to the general state of the industry. The employment prospects and salaries of graduates from the built environment are currently good when compared with those of other graduates.

Graduates are not very satisfied with their courses or the skills they gained, and their employment prospects are average compared with those of other graduates. 23 per cent of 2008 graduates were still seeking full-time work four months after graduating. However, this is a field in which a range of factors have a strong influence on the employment prospects of not just graduates, but experienced professionals. For example, cycles in
the building and construction industry, and the property market, both have an impact. Salaries in this field are average, with graduates being paid an average salary of $47,894 in 2009.

For more information

Check out the following websites for more information about careers and professional accreditation in this field: Australian Institute of Landscape Architects , The Australian Institute of Building , The Design Institute of Australia , Planning Institute of Australia .

Other fields of study likely to appeal to someone interested in built environment (and its various sub-fields) are environmental studies , business and management , architecture and surveying .

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