Course overview
If you are creative, enjoy design and aspire to improve the world around us, then civil engineering is for you. This degree will equip you to find solutions to global environmental problems and design large and unique structures, such as buildings, bridges and other critical infrastructure assets that shape society - for example, water supply and treatment systems, transport networks and renewable electricity generation. The course balances deep theoretical knowledge with practical application. At Bristol, you will have access to our world-class laboratory facilities in which to do this, including the most advanced earthquake shaking table in Europe. The first two years provide a strong foundation in engineering, including mathematics, structures, soil and fluid mechanics, computing and surveying. In your third year, you will undertake a major individual research project and continue to develop key practical and professional skills such as project management, entrepreneurship, economics and risk analysis. Design is central to the course and this is reflected in the projects and real-world challenges you will face. In the first year, you will develop a sustainable solution to an open-ended problem, such as designing and making a model bridge. The second year includes designing with steel, concrete and timber, geotechnical design and water engineering.
