Newcastle business, NBS, announces partnership with international art gallery, BALTIC

Newcastle business, NBS, announces partnership with international art gallery, BALTIC

Nov 19, 2015 |NBS |2 Minute Read

Press Release
20 November 2015

Newcastle-based NBS has announced a new partnership with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, beginning with sponsorship of BALTIC’s newly opened exhibition, BILL MURRAY: A Story of Distance, Size and Sincerity.

Richard Waterhouse and Rebecca Surtees-Brown 2The partnership between BALTIC and NBS,  will also see the launch of a new Art & Architecture business networking event.

Rebecca Surtees-Brown, Corporate Relations Manager at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, said:

“Like BALTIC, NBS promotes innovation and creativity and we look forward to working together. NBS is a high profile company based in the North East and we are happy to have found a new way to showcase the opportunity for local businesses to engage in cultural projects with a regional, national and international impact.”

Commenting on the sponsorship, Richard Waterhouse, Chief Executive at NBS said:

“NBS is delighted to be involved with BALTIC as part of its commitment to playing a key role in the economy and community of Newcastle Gateshead and the wider north-east region. We have ambitious plans for growth both in the UK and overseas, but Newcastle will remain our home as part of the digital construction hub that is developing rapidly in this area. We look forward to working with our partners at BALTIC with whom we share much common ground in our interests in art and architecture.”

The Art & Architecture event will be held at BALTIC in Spring 2016, and will bring together architecture and construction professionals and innovators including key speakers such as NBS Chief Executive Richard Waterhouse.

Based in the Old Post Office, NBS is one of the fastest growing businesses in the city centre and currently employs nearly 200 people at its Newcastle office.

Part of the knowledge arm of the Royal Institute of British Architects, NBS is at the forefront of the digital revolution that is taking place within the construction industry. For 40 years, it has provided technical information, innovative products and services to UK companies working in architecture, construction, design and engineering.

The three-tier partnership with BALTIC also sees NBS become a BALTIC B.Partner as part of the gallery’s corporate membership programme which gives private access to the galleries for events, entertaining and private viewings.

The exhibition BILL MURRAY: A Story of Distance, Size and Sincerity opens at BALTIC on 20 November and sees London-based artist Brian Griffiths take reference points from the ubiquitous Hollywood actor and cultural icon Bill Murray. The ambitious commission for BALTIC’s Level 4 gallery is centred on a series of different styled and period buildings from a lavish LA beach house to an historic Scottish mansion. These originally constructed buildings are grounded on tables throughout BALTIC’s largest gallery space. Bill Murray, architecture and everyday objects are forced together in set pieces that joyfully confuse overview and point of view, scale and size, closeness and distance.

Rebecca Surtees-Brown added:

“We’re delighted to be supported by NBS for this new exhibition. Since opening in 2002, BALTIC has hosted a great number of corporate partners from international brands to regional, home-grown organisations and we’re thrilled NBS joins this family. This exhibition, which includes the artist Brian Griffiths constructing a series of architecturally diverse buildings, is a considered and dynamic match for partnering with NBS.


Our latest news

Visqueen supports one of the first Gateway 2 approvals under the Building Safety Act

The Dyecoats development in Leeds marks a major milestone for the UK housing sector. The £100 million flagship Latimer Homes scheme being delivered by GRAHAM is one of the first high-rise new-build projects in the country to achieve Building Safety Act Gateway 2 approval, a crucial pre-construction sign-off confirming that the design meets all safety and regulatory requirements before work begins on site.

Building Safety ActSponsored

Five questions to ask when specifying insulated panels

Selecting an insulated panel system for an industrial building should start with the building and application requirements.

Design and SpecificationSponsored

NBS and BDP join forces to improve generic carbon data in construction

Today, NBS (part of Hubexo), the platform for connected construction information, announces a long-term strategic partnership with BDP, a major global multidisciplinary practice of architects, designers, engineers and urbanists. The partnership recognises BDP's integral role in the development of NBS LCA, a new life-cycle carbon assessment platform providing professionals with high-quality, reliable and easy-to-use carbon data to ensure accurate tracking as construction projects evolve. BDP's primary contribution to NBS LCA has been the development of more than 1,300 pre-calculated generic assemblies, covering the most commonly used building fabric elements alongside key concrete and steel structural elements. These assemblies provide whole-element carbon data, giving designers consistent, UK-relevant carbon benchmarks from the earliest stages of project design. Users can easily and instantly apply carbon rates to a range of pre-configured common building elements, including walls, floors, and roofs. Developed by BDP and NBS, the assemblies remove the need for designers to manually build up material layers or calculate individual components at the concept stage. This saves significant time and effort, enabling proportionate and responsible carbon evaluation early in the design process, when decisions have the greatest impact on a project's overall carbon footprint. BDP also participated in collaborative workshops that directly informed the development of NBS LCA, helping to shape a tool that is practical, accessible and aligned with real-world UK construction workflows. Dr Lee Jones, Head of Sustainability at Hubexo, said: “BDP's contribution to NBS LCA has been invaluable. Their depth of project experience and technical knowledge has directly shaped the generic assemblies at the heart of the platform. These assemblies give designers a reliable, UK-relevant starting point for carbon assessment, without the burden of building everything from scratch. This is exactly the kind of collaboration that moves the industry forward, and we're proud to be working with BDP on a long-term basis.” Julia Yao, Associate, Sustainability Consultant at BDP, said: “Carbon assessment needs to be embedded in design from day one, not bolted on at the end. Working with NBS to develop its LCA product has been a genuine opportunity to put that principle into practice. The generic assemblies we developed draw on real project data and are designed to give designers meaningful, actionable carbon information at the concept stage. We're delighted to see them at the core of a platform that will be used across the industry.” With the UK Government outlining its commitment to responsible carbon reporting through its Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan, professionals need reliable, easy-to-use tools to assess and report embodied carbon. NBS LCA addresses this need by integrating carbon calculations with live design work, drawing on structured data from Circular Ecology's ICE Database and more than 12,500 verified, specification-ready construction products with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) from NBS Source and ECO Portal. Over the coming months, NBS and BDP will continue to develop their partnership, with a shared commitment to improving the quality and accessibility of carbon data for construction professionals across the UK. NBS LCA is available now, with flexible subscriptions designed for all professionals. For more information, visit the website here.

Product update