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NBS Create

NBS Create - our groundbreaking new specification tool. Authored by our in-house experts to make sure your time specifying is fast and efficient, saving you time and money.

The future of specification

In spring 2011, NBS carried out a research project to find out how people were creating and using specifications in the UK, to find out how people saw specifications developing in the future. Richard Watson, Executive Director at RIBA Enterprises, introduces the findings.

NBS has authored and maintained the National Master Specification for the UK for nearly 40 years. During that time it has grown and developed from a slim, two-volume, printed publication to a digital information model covering building fabric, engineering services, landscape and structural specification. Over the course of those 40 years, we have seen substantial change in the construction industry, with cycles of growth and recession, new forms of contract and procurement and technological development. This survey provides a snapshot of our industry and its current attitude towards specification information and sets out what is expected of a specification system. The survey paints a clear picture of a diverse industry, using multiple procurement routes across a wide range of project types. This diversity requires a broad range of different approaches from performance to proprietary specification, and the flexibility to mix and match these approaches within a single project. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to the information requirements or method of specification and the specification system must work hard to meet the demands of industry both now and in the future.

Looking at that future, there seems little doubt that our industry is poised once again to see a major step-change with the widespread adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The government has stated that it will require the adoption of BIM by 2016 for publicly funded projects over £5 million. Initially, what this means in practice is that the construction team will have to hand over structured information at key stages in the procurement process. This information is currently "locked" into 2D drawings, bills, specifications and reports, and the adoption of BIM will require significant changes to the systems and processes that we use to create, manage, maintain and share that information. The survey demonstrates that despite the diversity of the industry, there is clear agreement about the value and role of the specification within this BIM future. The industry recognises that specification information is a core component of BIM and that BIM is not an alternative to specification

The findings of this survey also serve to endorse the investment that RIBA Enterprises have made in developing a new, "built-for-BIM" specification system: NBS Create. We are confident that NBS Create meets both the current needs for a flexible specification system demonstrated by this survey and delivers information in the structured format required for BIM. These are exciting times for our industry and with NBS Create, we are putting the "I" into BIM. The findings of this survey indicate that this will be welcomed and embraced by industry.