Knowledge

By 2045, an estimated 6 billion people will be living in cities. That means an enormous amount of showers flowing, toilets flushing, and sinks being filled. Dragan Savic from the University of Exeter explains why the 'invisible utility' should be at the heart of smart city plans.

Industry Foundation Classes - or IFC, for short, makes it possible to hold and exchange relevant data between different software applications and is at the heart of openBIM. We explore interoperability for digital construction in this beginner's guide.

We caught up with the team at architectural practice JDDK to find out more about their experiences in developing a BIM approach and discover just how that works in practice on innovative projects.

Delegates have flocked to London's ExCeL for this year's Digital Construction Week. Here's our pick of highlights and your social shares from the first day of the show.

It's a year since Mark Farmer's review of the UK's construction model. We recap some of the key recommendations and assess progress so far.

The UK BIM Alliance Project Team has produced a guidance document and associated matrix tool that BIM project teams can download and use to help them define their client data requirements.

We explore the Health and Safety File that serves as a legal record of health and safety information that will be of use to both clients and end users.

It's once again time for construction industry professionals to convene on Las Vegas for the 2017 edition of Autodesk University. Here's the reasons you should go.

We want theNBS.com to be the first place you turn for answers to your construction questions. Help shape our site by telling us what you want to see more of...

A sumptuous exploration of architecture delivered in concrete handpicked from the archives of Concrete Quarterly.

Are you ready for this year's Digital Construction Week? If you're heading to London's ExCeL on 18 and 19 October we present 10 things from this year's programme that you simply can't afford to miss.

Companies that process and transfer data need to take action as the new General Data Protection Regulation comes into force next year. We take a look at the scope of the new rules and suggest what you need to do to get ready.

We explore how data comes together on a design and construction project to form what is, at first, a model of design intent, and eventually evolves to become a virtual construction model. 

Unlike with the current linear "take, make, dispose" economy model, in circular thinking materials, components and products are kept at their highest use and value at all time. The focus is on restoration, regeneration and reuse rather than disposal.

Two new European standards - EN 81-20 and EN 81-50 - have come into effect for all lift installations established from 1 September 2017. Here we detail some of the key changes introduced with the aim of improving passenger and technician safety.