Dr Nick Hollely is a Lecturer in the Built Environment at the University of Plymouth (UoP). His career began with an early phase where he developed skills in  technical aspects of the construction industry. This was initially as a Cad Technician conducting surveys and creating drawings primarily for domestic planning applications, followed by three years as an environmental construction consultant covering assessments incuding Code for Sustainable Homes, BREEAM, SAP, SBEM and Display Energy Certificates. Next, he embarked on training as a Building Surveyor at the Palace of Westminster during the feasibility stage of the Palace modernisation developing competences in heritage project leadership, building services, procurement, and maintenance management. After graduating from UoP as a surveyor, he volunteered in rural Ghana to help construct schools for early childhood education. He then took a role conducting condition surveys for Energy Company Obligation purposes on high rise residential blocks in inner city London. After this, he began working as a Research Engineer with the University of Reading and Silverstone Circuit, the UK formula 1 venue, where he explored opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from activities across the built infrastructure on the estate. 

The second phase of Nick's career involved developing skills, during his doctoral studies, as a social scientist applied to management and strategy activities in the built environment where he learned how to conduct process-oriented research framed with socio-technical perspectives and practice theories. He is experienced in mobilising qualitative research techniques including ethnographic field observations, semi-structured interviews, and archive analysis. After completing his studies, he did a stint as a post-doctoral interdisciplinary social scientist initially in criminal defense investigating the institutionalisation of misconduct against Texan indigents including those facing the death penalty, then in cyber security studying UK practitioner strategising in response to online sextortion (webcam blackmail).

He has been instrumental in raising a mix of core and restricted funding for non-profits and research projects as primary author on over 50 grant applications since 2020. He is also an experienced crowdfunder having run campaigns for sports, youth empowerment, and human rights. He continues to provide consultation services at the intersection of the built environment and organisational strategy primarily helping to shape programme and project feasibility studies and business cases. Nick uses applied technical knowledge and recent career influences as a social scientist to inform his research-based teaching and practice-based research in the built environment. 

Module leader: BLDG402 Principles of Economics and Management (year 1)

Module leader: BLDG405 Built Environment Project 1 (year 1)

Module lecturer: BLDG503 Construction Management Processes and Principles (year 2)

Module leader: BLDG603 Sustainable and Safe Construction (year 3)

Module Leader: BLDG612 Dissertation Project (year 3)

Other Roles

Undergraduate tutor

Undergraduate dissertation supervisor

Postgraduate taught dissertation supervisor

External Roles

Associate, Cyber Security Group, University of Bristol & the UK National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (REPHRAIN)

Trustee & Vice-chair, Beaminster Cricket Club

Research Interests

Socio-technical perspectives applied to zero-carbon initiatives; industrial relations; ethics; policy studies; strategic briefing