A wide range of interesting articles that help you make informed decisions and deliver the best projects for your clients authored by our team of NBS subject specialists and construction industry contributors.
Sustainability
NBS Guide: Embodied Carbon Calculations
Learn how to align your carbon assessments with BIM workflows. This guide to Embodied Carbon Calculations, developed by NBS and Circular Ecology, sets out a practical, standardised approach to calculating the embodied carbon of building materials and products, and how to apply this data to BIM objects.
Must Reads
The hidden cost of compliance: why architects are demanding a new era of product transparency
Few pieces of legislation have reshaped the UK construction industry as significantly as the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA). Introduced to improve accountability, traceability and safety standards ...
Design and Specification
Brick slip cladding systems – the need for robust specification
This article from the NBS technical team outlines specification for brick slip technology, including history, technology, design, safety and testing.
When product data creates risk, AluK delivers the clarity and support architects need
The need to build more homes, more quickly, has not changed. If anything, the pressure has intensified. However, the conversation around Modern Methods of Construction has evolved.
Compost specifications for the landscape industry
Working with the Landscape Institute (LI) , the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) and leading consultants Enviros, NBS collaborated in a project led by the Waste and Resources Action ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
A growing trend for green walls is emerging, boosting biodiversity in our towns and cities. According to a recent report by the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) , Biodiversity and the Built ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Roof slates and BS EN 12326
Slate quality has had a chequered recent history. BS EN 12326 should have imposed common European requirements that are understandable to suppliers and specifiers. The NBS Technical Team look closely ...
Construction Products
Pendulum, Ramp and Tortus slip resistance test methods
Kevan Brassington, NBS Technical Author and SlipSTD member, guides specifiers away from the slippery slope of floor covering design.
There are a wide range of assessment tools and methodologies available for use within the UK construction industry. NBS Technical Author Michele Lucarelli introduces the most common.
Sustainability
Dispute avoidance: stages in a dispute
In this exclusive extract from Dispute Avoidance: A non-confrontational approach to the management of construction contracts by D. Bryan Morgan, we introduce the typical stages in a ...
Contracts and LawBook extract
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17th Edition Wiring regulations
The IEE/BSI Requirements for electrical installations has been updated as BS 7671:2008 Requirements for electrical installations. IEE wiring regulations. 17th Edition. This creates a new revised ...
Standards and Regulations
New standards for specifying macadam - NBS section Q22
Due to the number of enquiries asking where macadam should now be specified, NBS Technical Author Anna Dekker clarifies changes to standards and NBS which took place in 2008.
Construction Products
New standards for asphalt paving
On 1 January 2008 the existing British Standards for asphalt paving (BS 4987-1 and BS 594-1) were withdrawn and replaced by a new European Standard in several parts:
Construction Products
Lead in paint
Michele Lucarelli, NBS Technical Author, following work done on sections C20 and M60 with respect to lead in paint, provides some background to the issue.
Construction Products
RIP British masonry product standards
NBS Technical author, Kevan Brassington, outlines the confused transition – now at an end – from BSs to BS ENs for masonry units.
Standards and Regulations
BREEAM Assessment methods
BREEAM is a familiar term which has been in use since 1990, and when used in the construction industry, usually refers to 'BREEAM Buildings'. But BRE's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) family ...
