Property Development and Planning MSc
About this course
Our MSc Property Development and Planning course equips you with the skills to pursue a career in commercial or residential real estate development and teaches you how to navigate the planning system.
The course prepares you to oversee and manage vital parts of the process involved in property development: site identification, analysis, planning, design, viability, marketing and finance, through to leading to the delivery of a development scheme.
You'll take on applied projects, attend site visits and hear from visiting industry experts. Progress on this course will provide a thorough understanding of construction, development processes, real estate economics, valuation, appraisal, heritage and conservation and law applied to surveyors.
This course is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) enabling you to progress to Chartered Surveyor status after graduation.
Who is this course designed for?
This course is aimed at professionals and graduates wishing to pursue a career in the property and construction industries and professions, on route to Chartered Surveyor status. It's suitable for students who don't necessarily have a background in property as it acts a fast-track conversion course for those with an unrelated undergraduate degree (or professional qualification) to obtain an accredited route into the industry.
In addition, this course is suitable for property and construction professionals who wish to specialise in planning and development.
-
2nd most sustainable university in the world (UI GreenMetric World University Rankings 2024). -
Learn from experts — Land and Property Management at NTU is ranked 2nd in the UK for Teaching Quality (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, 2025). -
Study in the heart of Nottingham — one of Europe’s top 25 student cities, and home to over 75,000 learners (QS Best Student Cities, 2025). -
Our flexible study options are great for part-time learners who wish to balance employment commitments with further study. Significant academic support and guidance is available for those returning to study after extended periods in employment.
What you’ll study
This course has a strong emphasis on the town-planning process and procedure, real estate development practice, and the valuation and appraisal of land and property with development potential.
The course is formed of nine modules – eight core modules and one optional. You'll be able to choose one of two optional modules, offering the opportunity to pursue research or to undertake a work placement in industry.
Your modules total 180 credit points. The modules' credit points are weighted based on the total time you can expect to spend studying the module content, both in terms of contact hours and non-contact hours.
Some of these modules are shared with other Masters level property management courses.
Core modules
- Construction and Planning
- Real Estate Valuation and Appraisal
- Law for Surveyors
- Property and Construction Economics
- Planning Practice
- Professional Practice
- Development Practice
- Heritage and Conservation
Optional modules
- Postgraduate Dissertation
- Internship
Construction and Planning
15 credit points
- This module will introduce you to principle aspects of professional practice and help you to develop key professional skills, and a critical appreciation and evaluative understanding of professional and technical subjects within the general fields of real estate.
- In particular, the module will introduce you to building technology concepts and terminology, specifically with regard to: new and traditional residential and low rise multi-story construction; and key aspects of land use and the Town and Country Planning system.
Real Estate Valuation and Appraisal
- This module will enable you to develop your knowledge, understanding and skills of valuation and appraisal of real estate. It's concerned with both existing operational and investment properties, and development opportunities focusing on commercial property.
- It will provide you with an understanding of UK valuation and appraisal theory and practice, together with an international perspective on the topic. The valuation aspect will be concerned with estimates of market value, in accordance with international valuation standards. Investment and development appraisals will be concerned with the notion of investment value - value to the investor or developer.
- In this context, appraisal encompasses a thorough consideration of financial performance and risk analysis, and includes the application of a range of valuation and appraisal techniques.
Law for Surveyors
- This module will help you to develop knowledge and understanding of key elements of a range of legislation and legal principles relevant to the work of Chartered Surveyors and professional advisers working in the real estate and construction professions.
Property and Construction Economics
- This module will enable you to evaluate economic theory within the context of real estate and construction markets, and where necessary to propose the creation and application of alternative approaches to market analysis and evaluation.
- This module will also develop your ability to evaluate and analyse how the real estate and construction professions operate and interact within the industries.
- After studying this module, you will be able to identify and analyse industry-wide problems based on an understanding of the market structure, performance, and behaviour of the industry.
Planning Practice
- This module will allow you to critically evaluate and advise on development management and spatial planning matters in relation to land, sites and development options.
- You’ll develop the skills required to research and appraise planning information in relation to land, sites, development options and wider relevant thematic matters. You’ll also learn to offer reasoned and professional advice to a range of clients and stakeholders.
- You’ll explore, discuss and appraise planning theories, concepts and contemporary themes, with a particular focus on sustainable development and communities.
Professional Practice
- This module will draw upon the knowledge, understanding and skills you’ve developed during your studies as you critically evaluate and conduct a complex research or professional assignment.
- You’ll apply your learning and demonstrate appropriate application of technical and theoretical knowledge, understanding, frameworks and skills are required.
- This module enables you to engage with industry and will be facilitated by a period of simulated work experience.
Development Practice
- This module provides an understanding of property development at site and area-wide scale. Urban regeneration, urban extensions, and city wide developments will also be explored.
- You'll be introduced to the development industry, the development processes, and the design of schemes and their wider contexts.
Heritage and Conservation
- Focusing on the UK, but also drawing on increasing international paradigms, you will learn how to appraise culturally significant buildings and paces, consider relevant aspects of architectural history, identify construction forms, and appraise building condition.
- This module seeks to develop a greater understanding of the science of conservation materials and its relationship to building failure and appropriate repair strategies.
- Embedded within the module will be an underlying reference to the economic aspects of heritage management, together with a comprehensive understanding of the relevant legal, statutory and procedural controls.
Postgraduate Dissertation
- The aim of this module is to enable you to develop the necessary set of skills needed to compose an informed piece of writing and independently undertake a research project within recognised constraints
- It provides an opportunity for you to conduct a piece of work on your own initiative and to select a subject that holds special interest to you.
- You will be required to examine the connections between theories and principles, business or industrial practice and research in the context of your course.
Internship
- By choosing this option you will need to successfully secure an internship*, and complete a period of programme relevant work experience (minimum 150 hours).
- As part of this you will be required to complete an associated research-based enquiry examining connections between theories, principles and practice; business, commercial, industrial, and professional practice and research, in the context of your course and field of internship.
- Your Practice Research Enquiry will be reported in the form of a professional report; it is expected that this report will be underpinned by rigorous and critical examination of literature within the field. This enquiry may be based around a topic that has been pre-identified and possibly partly pre-constructed in your internship environment, and framed around an issue of organisational relevance to the internship provider.
- Key relevant data may be readily available from or through the internship and the outcome of the study may well have direct relevance to the internship provider (although this is not a requirement). It is important to note that this study will require a focused critical literature review, and critical consideration of methodological choices, options and approaches. You will be required to specify the nature of your research enquiry at a formative stage of the investigation through the submission of a Practice Research Enquiry Proposal.
*You will receive support in sourcing a placement through our Employability team, however it is your responsibility to source and secure your internship opportunity with a relevant company. Availability of internships is not guaranteed. If an internship cannot be secured, then you will be required to complete the Postgraduate Dissertation / Consultancy Project module instead.
It is the responsibility of non-UK students to investigate the restrictions of their student visa when seeking internship opportunities and/or employment in the UK. Visit the UKCISA website for the most up-to-date visa information.
We regularly review and update our course content based on student and employer feedback, ensuring that all of our courses remain current and relevant. This may result in changes to module content or module availability in future years.
Don’t just take our word for it, hear from our students themselves
An accredited route to your new career
How you're taught
How will I learn?
A wide range of teaching and learning methods are used to deliver the course content. In most modules, you'll take part in intensive sessions of key point lectures, supported by study guides, case studies and other literature. Many modules include presentations by external industry specialists and visits to live sites, to provide a real life perspective on the module content. Previous guest speakers have included Cushman & Wakefield, Savills, the President of RICS and the Head of Estates for Rolls Royce Industries.
Non-contact hours include direct out-of-classroom reading and activities, and independent learning and reading is deemed necessary to achieve the learning outcomes for the course.
Study trips
Field trips and study visits are an important part of your learning. Trips may include site visits and visits to practices, museums, exhibitions and events. You will have the opportunity to go on a field trip as part of your studies, previous destinations have included Barcelona and Malta.
Where a trip is mandatory it will be aligned to your modules and inform project work, and substantive costs – including travel and accommodation – will be paid for by the school. A valid passport and any associated visas will be required for any trips outside of the UK. Where there are unforeseen circumstances outside of our control, trips may not run.
Please note that field trip locations may vary and are subject to availability and change.
How you're assessed
Assessment methods include project work, independent assignments and reports, exams, work portfolios and presentations.
Assignments are investigative in nature, enabling you to develop your principles, analyse, critically appraise and evaluate relevant issues, demonstrating your creativity and sustainable thinking.
Careers and employability
This course provides an opportunity for graduates from disciplines unrelated to real estate and construction to embark on a professional career inreal estate, property management and development.
Where do MSc Property Development and Planning graduates from NTU work?
Our graduates are highly regarded by employers, enjoy excellent career prospects and have gone on to work for a wide range of major national and international organisations.
100% of MSc Property Development and planning full-time and sandwich graduates are in a graduate level role 15 months after finishing their degrees (latest Graduate Outcomes Survey 2020/21).
Recent graduate destinations include:
- LendLease
- Knight Frank
- Cushman & Wakefield
- Savills
- Verdi Aspinall
- Innes England
- Various planning authorities
- Blueprint/Igloo Regeneration
- Pegasus Care
- Clowes Developments
Roles include development consultant, real estate investment agent, planning consultant, valuation surveyor, director and property manager.
Becoming Chartered with the RICS
The RICS accreditation enables you to progress to Chartered Surveyor status once you have completed your studies. To become a Chartered Surveyor, you'll need to complete at least two years of relevant professional work experience – the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC).
This course will prepare you for future employment in a number of the RICS APC pathways. Find out more about how to complete your APC and become RICS qualified.
Internships
If you elect to complete the optional Internship module as part of the course, it is your responsibility to source and secure your internship opportunity with a relevant company. You will receive support through our expert Employability team, however availability of internships is not guaranteed.
It is the responsibility of non-UK students to investigate the restrictions of their student visa when seeking internship opportunities and/or employment in the UK. Visit the UKCISA website for the most up-to-date visa information.
Our Employability team
Our expert Employability team will work closely with you at every stage of your career planning, providing personal support and advice. You can benefit from this service at any time during your studies, and for up to three years after completing your course.
Throughout the year, our Employability team runs a series of events specifically for students studying in the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment. This includes the Built Environment Jobs Fair, where employers advertise graduate positions to our students.
NTU Enterprise
You'll also have the opportunity to turn your ideas into a viable business with help from NTU Enterprise, NTU's purpose-built Centre for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise, a support centre to help students create, develop and grow their own businesses.
Re:search Re:imagined
To us, research is about more than writing papers and proposing new ideas. By daring to think differently, we’re disrupting the research landscape and finding the answers to the questions that really matter. From mortgage markets to real estate economics, we’re inspiring the brightest minds to rise up and find solutions to some of the most significant global challenges facing society.
Find out more: ntu.ac.uk/research
Campus and facilities
City Campus facilities
Many of your lectures and seminars will take place in the Newton building on our City Campus.
Industry standard software
You will have the opportunity to use and familiarise yourself with our industry-standard software, including:
- digital mapping
- development appraisal
- property and environmental risk information
- industry-standard information systems and databases.
IT resources
Our IT resource rooms and PC clusters are distributed across our City Campus, with PCs providing access to Microsoft Office, email, web browsing, networked file storage and high-speed online printing services, with a free printing allowance for each student.
Resource rooms are available 24 hours a day.
Books and library resources
Our state-of-the-art Boots library will give you access to an extensive and diverse range of books and periodicals that focus on specialist areas within the built environment. The library's OneSearch system provides access to all our electronic resources, journals and books.
Within the library there is a liaison librarian who has specialist subject knowledge and can offer detailed help in finding and using print and electronic resources, and also with areas such as Harvard referencing and research skills.
Entry requirements
UK students
Academic entry requirements: 2.2 honours degree in a subject unrelated, or partially related, to real estate and construction.
We specify these minimum entry requirements, but we will assess you individually on your ability to benefit from the course. We sometimes offer places on the basis of non-standard entry qualifications, and industrial or professional experience.
Additional requirements for UK students
There are no additional requirements for this course.
Other qualifications and experience
We welcome applications from students with non-standard qualifications and learning backgrounds and work experience. We consider credit transfer, vocational and professional qualifications, and any work or life experience you may have.
You can view our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy which outlines the process and options available, such as recognising experiential learning and credit transfer.
Getting in touch
If you need more help or information, get in touch through our enquiry form.
International students
Academic entry requirements: Bachelor's degree grade 2.2 in a subject unrelated, or partially related, to real estate or construction.
We specify these minimum entry requirements, but we will assess you individually on your ability to benefit from the course. We sometimes offer places on the basis of non-standard entry qualifications, and industrial or professional experience.
We accept equivalent qualifications from all over the world. Please check your international entry requirements by country.
English language requirements: See our English language requirements page for requirements for your subject and information on alternative tests and Pre-sessional English.
Additional requirements for international students
There are no additional requirements for this course.
English language requirements
View our English language requirements for all courses, including alternative English language tests and country qualifications accepted by the University.
If you need help achieving the language requirements, we offer a Pre-Sessional English for Academic Purposes course on our City campus which is an intensive preparation course for academic study at NTU.
Other qualifications and experience
We welcome applications from students with non-standard qualifications and learning backgrounds and work experience. We consider credit transfer, vocational and professional qualifications, and any work or life experience you may have.
You can view our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy which outlines the process and options available, such as recognising experiential learning and credit transfer.
Sign up for emails
Sign up to receive regular emails from the International Office. You'll hear about our news, scholarships and any upcoming events in your country with our expert regional teams.
Getting in touch
If you need advice about studying at NTU as an international student or how to apply, our international webpages are a great place to start. If you have any questions about your study options, your international qualifications, experience, grades or other results, please get in touch through our enquiry form. Our international teams are highly experienced in answering queries from students all over the world.
Policies
We strive to make our admissions procedures as fair and clear as possible. To find out more about how we make offers, visit our admissions policies page.
