Digital Transformation in the Built Environment: Aligning Technology with Business

An online short course designed for executives in the built environment to help you develop your leadership competencies in digital transformation.

For more information about the course, fees, and how to apply, please visit the course page on UCLExtend.

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Overview

The Digital Transformation in the Built Environment: Aligning Technology with Business course is a successful outcome of a short course development grant funded by UCL Innovation and Enterprise through their lifelong learning team.

Aimed at executives, senior managers and policy makers involved in the construction industry, the course will address the challenges and opportunities created by digital transformation of the built environment.

Course leaders, Dr Eleni Papadonikolaki and Dr Beth Morgan, are experienced lecturers and executive coaches and active researchers in topics such as digital leadership, digital strategy, innovation, data management, and digital procurement among others. As well as benefitting from their research experience and track record in providing executive education to private clients from around the world, Eleni and Beth are using the scenario-based teaching case methods, developed by Harvard Business School and widely used in business schools globally. They are both certified in using the inductive Harvard teaching case method and have a portfolio of their own teaching cases set in construction setting.

Course format and pedagogy

The course will be delivered online through a mixture of 3 half day interactive synchronous sessions, self-paced asynchronous learning and webinars taking place over a four-week period amounting to 20hrs total study time. A key part of the learning will involve networking and business environment simulation. The short course will use the UCLeXtend platform as a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and the online interactions will take place during the dates below through Zoom.

The Harvard Case Study methodology will form a central part of the course. This is a teaching methodology that is particularly appropriate for this type of education: it uses a ‘flipped’ classroom style where participants are provided with scenarios to prepare before joining the class and asked to address various issues relating to it.

Course description

The “Digital Transformation in the Built Environment: Aligning Technology with Business” executive education (ExecEd) short course is designed to help experienced managers and leaders understand the terminologies, principles, tools and techniques for addressing digital transformation. This course responds to calls made recently by global governments and industry groups for reform and modernisation of construction. The course will prepare you to be a proactive manager or executive with a good grasp of the breadth of topics which are important in this subject area, including organisational management, project management and supply chain management.

The short course consists of the following teaching and learning events:

Course content

Preparation: Digital transformation fundamentals

Week of 30 May 2025 - Online asynchronous self-study component

Videos
Pre-class preparation readings

Day 1: Digital transformation in firms

13 June 2025 09:30 – 13:00 (BST) - Online synchronous interactive component

Organising for digital change
Digital strategy and innovation systems

Day 2: Digital transformations in projects and supply chains

20 June 2025 09:30 – 13:00 (BST) - Online synchronous interactive component

Digital leadership
Digital supply chain for sustainable futures

Day 3: Leading digital transformation in your workplace

27 June 2025 09:30 – 13:00 (BST) - Online synchronous interactive component

Presentations of group coursework
Reflections and outlook

The assessment will consist of (i) individual learning journals and (ii) group coursework. Upon completion, a certificate of attendance will be provided.

Who the course is for

The Digital Transformation in the Built Environment: Aligning Technology with Business course is ideal for professionals who have worked in the built environment sector for at least 3 years and are in a position to bring their own practical experience and challenges they have faced in the sector to the class.

Cohort size

The cohort size is limited to 20 executives to effectively facilitate peer-learning and interactive learning experience for participants.

Content and learning outcomes

Upon completion of the short course, the participants will be able to:

Understand the argument for digital transformation and how it changes the built environment
Gain knowledge of the impact of innovative digital technologies on the management of the built environment ecosystem (including architecture, engineering, construction and owner/operator firms)
Comprehend the latest developments in research, in the fields of management, organisation, social science with regards to digitalisation in the built environment and its implications
Develop the intellectual skills required for interpreting and reacting to changes in the built environment at organisational and project-based levels, and;
Critically listen to, read and/or receive a variety of information in different formats and from different sources and then summarise and evaluate their relative significance
Demonstrate ability to formulate arguments, communicate problems, their analysis and solution in a logical and concise manner in the English language
Interact and coordinate with like-minded professionals to co-create solutions without compromising competitive advantages in the digital built environment

Course team

Dr Eleni Papadonikolaki

Eleni is an Associate Professor in Management of Engineering Projects at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and Head of Section Integral Design & Management, leading a team focusing on integrated design and project management of major infrastructure. She is also the Founding Partner at Digital Outlook, with Dr Beth Morgan, a business partnership focusing on digital change. Her research interests are on innovation, digital transformation, collaboration, integrated teams and digital ecosystems and platforms from a socio-technical approach. She has extensive experience in developing executive education programmes and teaching executives using the Harvard Case Teaching method.

Dr Bethan Morgan

Beth combines management experience with substantial expertise in the teaching and research of digital transformation. Her work focuses on the socio-technical aspects of digitalisation in organisations, ecosystems and industries. In 2017, Beth was awarded a fellowship from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for continued work in disruptive digital technologies and is widely published. Her interest in executive education is long-standing and has led to her authoring and teaching using the Harvard Teaching Case method.