Dr Damilola Ekundayo

Biography

Before joining academia, I worked in the construction industry as a chartered quantity surveyor, chartered construction manager and professional project manager both in the UK and abroad on varied projects from building construction to civil engineering work. Besides working for a construction consultancy practice and a property developer at different points in my professional career, I was also involved in a multi-million pound building and redevelopment project successfully completed by one of the UK’s largest contractors.

Expertise

I worked for many years in the construction industry as a quantity surveyor, cost manager, commercial manager and project manager both in the UK and abroad before joining academia. My varied industry experience, working with one of the UK’s largest contractors, a consultancy practice and a property developer at different points, led to my professional qualifications as a chartered member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), and a full member of Association for Project Management (APM).

Industry connections

Through collaboration with governing bodies, advisors from industry, and use of specialist guest lecturers, the academic content of the programme is continuously reviewed to maintain its relevance to industry. Through delivering the core/specialist modules and the different exit awards available, the MSc QS at BCU also positions itself to meet current continual professional development (CPD) needs of internationally recognised institutions such as the RICS and CIOB, which accredit built environment programmes.

We also work very closely with our industrial partners such as Rider Levett Bucknall, Willmott Dixon, Galliford Try and Birmingham City Council and several other industry stakeholders through the Future Homes Research Project that the University is leading on. They are not only actively involved in our course development, teaching and assessment but also contribute in various ways as guest speakers, as well as offering site visits, summer placements, research projects and employment.

Former students

Our students and graduates go on to do some extraordinary things. Studying MSc Quantity Surveying and Cost Management (QS&CM) at Birmingham City University allows students to go on to work on a variety of exciting, exclusive and gigantic construction projects including the largest infrastructure project in Europe such as the Britain’s new HS2, where one of our last year’s students has already stepped into her role as an Assistant Quantity Surveyor at Balfour Beatty Vinci’s joint venture working for HS2.

This career gives you the rare opportunity to work in diverse areas of the economy including construction, engineering & infrastructure, offshore, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, banking, energy, retail, residential, commercial, and real estate etc either in the public, private or third sector. Our QS students are highly sought-after and recent graduates have secured positions with companies such as KIER, Balfour Beatty, Vinci, Gleeds, Turner & Townsend, Colas Rail, as well as working on major infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Crossrail.

The Built Environment in Birmingham

Regardless of your undergraduate subject, study the professionally accredited MSc QS as a conversion course to help you enter a highly rewarding and exciting career in the construction industry. The applied learning approach, flexible delivery modes and specialist modules including BIM (as part of Integrated Project Delivery) and Sustainability make this professionally recognised MSc QS&CM ideal for high calibre students with ambitions to pursue a career as a leading Quantity Surveyor/Cost Manager/Commercial Manager.

Accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE), the MSc QS&CM is aimed at cognate and non-cognate graduates from any discipline. There is an online introduction course (optional) to prepare you for this Master’s programme, with appropriate academic support provided. Non-cognate graduates working in construction or interested in taking advantage of the excellent job opportunities in the sector but have no built environment degree, qualification or experience can undertake the MSc QS&CM as a conversion Masters programme en route to becoming a chartered Quantity Surveyor. It will also equip cognate graduates and professionals in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) with the skills to become industry leaders in the management of project costs.

The MSc QS&CM is specifically designed to meet the needs of anyone seeking to build on their studies in construction, further their career or pursue a career change in the financial management of project design and construction, whether for client or contractor. We have established a very good reputation in the industry with our current undergraduate programmes in quantity surveying and construction management. The MSc QS&CM has thus been running as a sister programme alongside our equally successful, existing suite of postgraduate programmes in construction and BIM. These include the MSc Construction Project Management (CPM), MSc Building Information Modelling and Management (BIMM) and/or MSc Digital Construction (DC).