Specification discussions at the NBS roundtable event

Building safety

The first topic discussed was building safety. The feeling in the room was that the introduction of the new Building Regulations ‘Principal Designer’ role as part of the new building safety regime means that specification will be taken a lot more seriously. One delegate commented that these changes are the most significant that the industry has seen over his 30-year career.

The building product manufacturer has a role to play here in supporting specification decisions. The information they provide must be clear, correct and up to date, and backed up with certification where appropriate. Where the specifier has design responsibility, they must ensure that the documentation supporting their designs is recorded. Where specification is by performance, this information should be submitted by the specialist subcontractor.

Change management has a new level of importance. On all projects, these design decisions should be recorded as evidence, if required, for building control. For projects that are classified as ‘higher-risk buildings’ (that fall under the recently set up Building Safety Regulator), any changes that are ‘notifiable’ or ‘major’ will need to be officially recorded and submitted. This highlights the importance of revision cover sheets and ‘Track Changes’-style formatting in any revised specifications.

When asking participants what improvements NBS could make to support the industry with building safety documentation, two features were suggested:

The ability to view how a specification section or clause has changed when comparing its current state with any previous publication.

The ability to download all manufacturer literature and data sheets for all products in the specification at key milestones. These could then be transferred on to an external storage device to hand to the client.

Sustainability

The conversation then moved on to sustainability. The roundtable took place shortly after the new UK Government had taken office, and the topic emerged of whether the industry would be forced to adapt due to legislation. However, many of the designers in the room commented that, irrespective of client demand or government legislation, they want to ‘do the right thing’. They want to create a built environment that has better sustainable outcomes, and the practices they work for support this desire. The architects in the room also want to assemble a team of designers who approach projects in the same way.

As with the topic of building safety, the specifiers were very clear that building product manufacturers have a big part to play too. What is needed is improved, standardized information that is extracted from Environmental Product Declaration certification. Manufacturers that are serious about being specified need to deliver this now. Furthermore, it is important for specifiers to consider the whole life cycle of a product. In simple terms, this is:

The embodied carbon within the product prior to the construction.
The operational carbon that is required to operate or maintain the product through its life.,
What the expected life of the product is, if maintained correctly.
What happens to the product once the building is dissembled, and whether it can be reused or recycled.

The role of NBS here is to connect the specifier and manufacturer, and to make the process as robust and efficient as possible. In theory, it should be possible to collect sustainability information in the background while design teams are developing the 3D model of the design, developing the specification and digitally connecting the two.

Artificial intelligence

When moving on to the topic of ‘digital’, the conversation very quickly switched to artificial intelligence (AI). Notably, the discussion was not about whether AI is on its way, but rather how specifiers are currently using it. At a basic level, AI has already changed how search engines retrieve information – ChatGPT is making the traditional Google search engine look dated. One common use case is to pass a complex document to ChatGPT and then ask for summary information to be provided.

Some practices, in particular those with offices across the world, have already invested reasonably significantly in building AI into their intranets and knowledge stores. This allows colleagues across their businesses to query library information and past project information to help make the best decisions on current projects.

The most obvious suggestion for what NBS could develop here was a chat assistant within our platforms. So – whether using NBS Chorus to prepare specifications, NBS Source to research product information, or the NBS-Accuris joint venture Construction Information Service (CIS) to access library information – a chat assistant built into the platform would be very well received.

Exporting professional services overseas

In parallel to the AI discussions, a separate discussion was held for those practices that design buildings overseas from their UK offices. The number-one request here was to have a single specification platform, but with different library content sets.

An example of this would be if a London-based practice was working as the architect on a large project in the Middle East. If the client or local authorities demanded that the specification largely be to US standards and practice – referencing ASTM standards and structured to MasterFormat – then the specifier would continue to use Chorus and their 3D design package of choice, but would simply change from the UK NBS library to the US NBS library.

Furthermore, if a practice were unsure about working in a country they did not usually work in – or wanted to focus mainly on design, and bring in external expert help with the specification – then the ability to expand the team through working with an experienced specification consultancy would be very well received.

Overall, the day was fascinating. Speaking with customers about the challenges they face allows us to continue to develop our platforms to meet the needs of the industry.