BLAR13046 - Built Environment 2

Showing: 2026 HE Term 2
General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will explore the roles and responsibilities of the building design professional in relation to the design and planning of the built environment. In this unit you will: Provide an introduction to the development of both urban and regional Australia in terms of infrastructure provision and built environment outcomes; Develop an understanding of how the application of social innovation in the decision-making process can positively affect outcomes for both urban and regional environments; Provide background to the need for triple bottom line decision making in the planning and design process; Develop an understanding of the impact of how current trends can reduce the environmental footprint associated with the development of the built environment. N.B. Students are strongly advised to attempt this unit within their final year of equivalent full-time study to ensure an adequate level of entry knowledge.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisites: BLAR11045 Built Environment 1 and

BLAR12036 Building Design 1 and BLAR12050 Contract Documentation

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026


Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 30%
2. Presentation and Written Assessment 70%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student Feedback
Feedback:
 Students reported that the feedback forums are helpful to progress and develop their design work.

Recommendation:
 The feedback forums will continue to be offered to support students with their design development.

Action Taken:
 Design critique forums continue to be a part of the Moodle page of the unit and students are encouraged to make the most of them for giving and receiving feedback on their work and fellow students' design in-progress.
Source: Student Feedback
Feedback:
 Students reported that the social innovation aspect was challenging and allowed them to express creative ideas to address design problems.

Recommendation:
 Social Innovation will remain a focus for this unit and the assessment strategy.

Action Taken:
 A key focus of the design project for this unit, which students were expected to develop through assessment tasks, remained the proposal of a socially innovative solution to housing problems.
Source: Students' written comments in SUTE survey
Feedback:
 Students suggested that a residential school to complete design critique sessions would be useful for some of the final-year subjects in building design programs, including this unit.

Recommendation:
 The option of offering an intensive, a few-day-long residential school is being discussed among the Built Environment Leadership Team. A feasibility study is underway for a possible trial in 2028, if any.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Students' written comments in SUTE survey
Feedback:
 Students commented that the unit was fun and challenging. They also appreciate that assessments were broken into weekly progress checks to help with time management.

Recommendation:
 The practice of breaking down assessment tasks into weekly progress or milestones will be maintained with each weekly topic clearly addressing which assessment task is expected to be completed in that specific week.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Develop project proposals based on the optimum use of the site for a parcel of land which are compliant with a local authority's development plan
  2. Prepare a project feasibility study incorporating 'triple bottom line (TBL)', social innovation and sustainability principles and the use of these metrics to justifying the preferred design option
  3. Select building materials and construction techniques which have a low impact on the natural environment
  4. Solve independently routine and unfamiliar problems using information, technology, logic and ethical decision making
  5. Use appropriate modes of communication and practice personal and interpersonal skills to effectively communicate project proposals and design outcomes.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • • •
2 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • • • • •
9 - Social Innovation • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10
1 - Written Assessment • • • • • •
2 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • • •