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.
Are you BIM ready? What your business needs to do before 2016 (1/10)
The UK government has mandated that all centrally-funded work is to be undertaken using BIM by 2016. This is now less than 12 months away, and for those organisations that haven’t yet done so, this ...
Digital TransformationSpecification
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
Can retrofitting and refurbishment solve the housing shortage?
Could a new concept in refurbishment help to alleviate the UK’s serious shortage of warm, sustainable and affordable homes? Melanie Thompson of Get Sust! investigates.
Sustainability
The top five barriers to BIM implementation
In the move to comply with the UK government’s mandate to work to BIM Level 2 by 2016, organisations are likely to encounter challenges in the process. Time and capital need to be invested, and ...
Digital TransformationSurveys
UK productivity - how the construction industry can help
The UK economy is in an odd position. Globally, its current rate of growth is impressive; among the G7, the UK is the leader in annual GDP growth. Over the next two or three years we expect growth ...
Zero carbon policy for new homes in England
New homes need to be high quality, accessible and sustainable. To achieve this, the Government are setting out a road map to deliver a radically simplified system for setting standards in the design ...
SustainabilityGovernment policy
Looking to 2050
One of the more interesting publications to be issued over the last few months in relation to BIM is Built Environment 2050: a report on our digital future (.pdf, 8.68Mb).
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Clarity on Architects' certificates
Hunt and others v Optima (Cambridge) Ltd and others1 On 31 July 2014, the Court of Appeal overturned the first instance decision of the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) and held that an action ...
Contracts and Law
Multi-storey and underground car parks
Despite their seeming simplicity, the design of a car park on multiple levels – whether above ground or below – involves the consideration of a number of significant requirements. These range from ...
Design and Specification
Case study: Bridlington Leisure World
The need for accurate and up-to-date specifications East Riding of Yorkshire Council is in the early stages of a project to replace the aging Bridlington Leisure World. The new, multipurpose facility ...
Design and SpecificationSpecification
Construction hard hats
Whether involved in building or civil engineering projects, work at onshore or offshore industrial sites, or an occasional visitor, the hard hat – or safety helmet – is an essential item of safety ...
Health and Safety
Lighting Technology – Building in Efficiency
We will visit Hoare Lea’s new offices, where they have invested heavily in new designed lighting systems and techniques that enhance energy use and lower costs, while providing a better psychological environment for staff.
Construction ProductsVideo
3D models can bring quicker, greener, cheaper construction
Using 3D models at the design stage improves better information to reduce production time, and during construction can greatly reduce the amount of waste in offcuts, over-ordering, and abortive work. ...
