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.
Healthy, efficient and sustainable buildings
In this exclusive extract from The Whole Building Handbook: How to Design Healthy, Efficient and Sustainable Buildings by Varis Bokalders and Maria Block, we look at the increasingly pressing need to ...
SustainabilityClimate change
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
In this exclusive extract from NBS Shortcuts , written by noted industry figure Austin Williams, we introduce rainscreen cladding and its use in the UK.
Design and SpecificationBook extract
Cover pricing
In September 2009, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) handed out fines totalling almost £130 million to a number of construction companies in the UK. The OFT found that these firms had engaged in ...
Contracts and LawTendering
The Construction Act review
It is generally accepted that Part II of the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 has brought about significant change to practices in the construction industry, since it came into ...
Government policyContracts and Law
Slip resistance - an update
The May 2009 issue of the NBS Journal included an article that reviewed the competing TRL pendulum, German ramp and BCRA Tortus test methods for determining the slip resistance of floor coverings. It ...
Health and Safety
JCT Revision 2 Contracts
Preliminaries for Revision 2 to the JCT Standard, Intermediate, Minor Works, and Design and Build Contracts will be available with NBS Update 2009-3 and also on the NBS website. NBS Technical Author, ...
Contracts and Law
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Generator selection
NBS Engineering Services section V12 - Generator systems – has been extensively revised in Update 2009-3. We look at some of the issues to consider when specifying generator systems.
Design and SpecificationConstruction Products
Specifying multi-layer reflective foil insulation systems
Multi-layer insulation blankets have recently been added to NBS section P10. NBS Technical Author, Charles Stirling, strips back the layers to reveal his findings on their uses and efficiency.
Construction Products
The appeal of timber
In this exclusive extract from Timber in contemporary architecture: a designer's guide by Peter Ross, Giles Downes and Andrew Lawrence, we analyze the enduring appeal of timber.
Construction ProductsTimber
The role of mycorrhiza for plants in stressed environments
In a changing climate, horticulturalists and landscape professionals are looking for ways to ensure the establishment and healthy growth of plants, whilst minimizing the use of both water and ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
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
The growth of living walls
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 ...
