Introduction

The Department of Building was established on 1 June 2000, when the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Real Estate was restructured as the School of Design and Environment, and the then School of Building and Real Estate became two departments – Department of Building and Department of Real Estate.

As a newly formed academic entity, the first critical task was to conceive a vision that truly represents the collective aspiration of the staff and students of the Department. Our vision is “To be a global knowledge leader in project and facilities management.” Our core strength is in the knowledge and experience gained in working within the Asian region, and this will remain our niche domain in the global context.

To realize our vision, our mission is “to advance knowledge, educate students, and foster enterprise in project and facilities management”. Given that we have high quality human resources, there must be a physically and intellectually conducive environment to nurture and bring out the best in our staff and students. Specifically, our objectives are:

To establish an academic centre of excellence for the pursuit of knowledge in science, technology and management in the building design and construction processes, which are relevant to our nation, region and the tropical environmental context.

To develop core competencies in Project and Facilities Management, with specific emphasis on integrated approaches to design, construction and management.

To design and deliver teaching programmes based on the established core competencies, aimed at developing the leaders of tomorrow’s construction industry.

To establish significant and high impact collaborative research and development partnerships with the local industry as well as international institutions and organisations

To provide service to the community by contributing to the achievement of national development goals through synergistic partnerships amongst students, staff, faculty and alumni.