Sustainable Real Estate Investment URBAN5154

  • Academic Session: 2025-26
  • School: School of Social and Political Sciences
  • Credits: 10
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course explores the climate change and sustainability agenda and its influence on the decisions of real estate market actors concerning design, investment, development, leasing, financing, pricing, operation, and management of real estate assets. The course requires application of relevant theories, concepts, and models to explain real-world decisions and outcomes in relation to sustainability and real estate.

Timetable

18 hours of timetabled on-campus teaching in Semester 2, delivered as follows:

 

- 3 hourly blocks (2hr lecture + 1hr tutorial), once per week, over 6 consecutive weeks.

Requirements of Entry

Mandatory Entry Requirements:

None

 

Recommended Entry Requirements:

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

A 2500-word professional report.

 

Students are asked to show consideration of the roles of market actors in real estate development and investment, incorporating an understanding of how ESG criteria shape decision-making within the path to net zero.

Course Aims

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the adoption and impact of sustainability principles within the real estate sector. The course will also equip students with knowledge and critical awareness of sustainable development concepts, policies, building energy and environmental assessment methods, as well as important property sustainability debates relevant to key stakeholders in the built environment.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ demonstrate a critical awareness and understanding of the impact of climate change and the sustainability agenda on the decision-making processes of developers, investors, occupiers, and other stakeholders in the real estate market.

■ critically evaluate the value and role of ecological, social, and governance (ESG) standards and environmental certification schemes as drivers of sustainable real estate investment.

■ explain the connection between climate change and the real estate sector, demonstrating a critical understanding of barriers and challenges to the adoption and realisation of sustainability and achieving net-zero emissions.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.

 

Minimum requirement for award of credit for students on MSc City Planning is D3 or above.

 

University standard regulations apply to students on other qualifications.