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.
Pricing specifications and drawings for small works
1. The contract documents When working on basic construction projects, where the work is of a simple nature, then typically this work will be undertaken using a ‘small works’ standard form ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
1. The importance of specification Many smaller practices work on less complex construction projects. While there is no universal definition of what a ‘small works’ project is, it is generally ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Fire safety and the RIBA Plan of Work
Based on a webinar of the same name by NBS Technical Author James Smith, this article looks at the importance of having a robust fire safety strategy and why it should be integrated into your ...
Design and SpecificationRIBA Plan of Work 2020
RIBA Plan of Work 2020 and specification
The specification drives the look and feel of a project, and heavily influences its cost plan. New design review tools such as virtual reality (VR) place even more importance on illustrating the ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Is this the new face of CPD seminars
CPD is a crucial part of any architects role. As it’s usually delivered in person, lockdown proved a challenge for those wishing to attend CPD seminars. As a result, as the construction industry ...
CPD
Using NBS to specify sustainable outcomes on projects
Sustainability is arguably the most expansive strategy in the RIBA Plan of Work 2020.
Design and SpecificationSustainability
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Construction verification – a revolution in accuracy
The increasing frequency for as-built point cloud scans as part of the delivery of a project is a sign that clients are no longer willing to rely on design models unchecked and issued as record ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Third-party certification with NBS Source
This requirement has recently been reinforced by the recommendations made in Dame Judith Hackitt’s report ‘Building a Safer Future’.
Enhanced Data with NBS Source
These improvements are the result of feedback that we’ve received from construction professionals over recent years, which includes feedback from our focus groups, surveys and general conversations.
Permalinks with NBS Source
A permalink may be copied to the clipboard by selecting the hyperlink icon to the right of the item’s title. Figure 1 below shows that the permalink for the featured doorset product has been copied ...
Uniclass 2015 - April 2020 update
This is the latest in our quarterly updating programme for Uniclass 2015. It includes updates to five tables.
Design and SpecificationStandards and Regulations
RIBA Plan of Work 2020 Overview – Question and answer
In April 2020 Dale Sinclair, Director of Technical Practice at AECOM gave a presentation giving an overview to the RIBA Plan of Work 2020. Following the session, a number of questions were raised by ...
