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.
Our top five uses of tech at the Great Exhibition of the North
The Great Exhibition of the North launched on 22nd June and is set to highlight the thousands of reasons why it’s good to live and work in the North of England. On top of this, we’ve been enjoying ...
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.
Dealing with contractual risk within the supply chain
For all the years I can remember, the mantra has been: USE UNAMENDED STANDARD FORMS OF CONTRACT. But, by and large, this has fallen on deaf ears, especially as you proceed along the supply chain
Contracts and Law
Uniclass 2015 - April 2018 update
The April issue was the latest in the three-monthly Uniclass 2015 updating programme. The Uniclass 2015 tables were last updated in January 2018. Between updates, we liaise regularly with a growing ...
Design and SpecificationStandards and Regulations
JCT Contracts 2016 and NBS - Spring 2018 update
As part of their ongoing publishing programme, the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) released the first batch of their ‘2016’ contracts towards the end of June 2016. This included the Minor Works (MW) ...
Contracts and Law
NEC4 Contracts and NBS - What's new? May 2018 update
A number of changes have been made to NEC4, with the intention of streamlining terms and operation across the whole suite. These include amendments to terminology, as well as provisions concerning ...
Contracts and Law
If banking can do it, why not construction?
Last spring, in a speech to Russian delegates, I contrasted the construction industry with the financial services industry. You might think our transactions have little in common on the face of it, ...
Digital TransformationContracts and Law
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The CIC BIM Protocol: Introducing the second edition (2018)
Models are not new! Representations of buildings in model form have been around for centuries. Come to think of it, BIM is not new either. It’s been around ever since the technology was available to ...
Digital Transformation
Our top summer reads on smart cities, big data and more
You took BIM for Dummies to the Bahamas last year, so what should you read this time around? In advance of the holiday season we’ve compiled ten of the most popular paperbacks on big data, smart ...
Fire safetyVentilation
Standards explained: Part two
CEN CEN is the European committee for standardisation who brings together the national standardization bodies of 34 European countries. It is one of three bodies (CENELEC and ETSI) that have been ...
Standards and Regulations
RIBA Building Contracts 2018 - What's new?
The Basics The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have published new “2018” versions of their two Building Contracts, originally released in November 2014. The contracts come in two ...
Contracts and Law
Standards explained: Part one, British Standards
UK standards British standards (BS and CP) There are seven types of British standards defined in BS 0 (A standard for standards – Principles of standardization):
Standards and Regulations
Construction waste and materials efficiency
The statistics In 2015, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) reported in their second edition of the Digest of Waste and Resource Statistics that, while efforts have been ...
