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
design-and-specification
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.
design-and-specification
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.
The pros and cons of polymer photovoltaics
Photovoltaic (PV) technology allows solar energy to be converted directly into electricity. Photovoltaic panels come in a variety of options to suit the varying requirements of structure types; ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
Exploring the NBS BIM Object Standard - General Requirements
Last time we looked at what the standard is and why standardisation is so important, this time we delve into the guidance relating to Section 1: General requirements.
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Specifying the perfect Christmas tree
It's that time of year when you rummage around in the loft for the decorations and stand in line for a nicely shaped Christmas tree. You can't beat the smell of a real pine, but if you can't face ...
Design and SpecificationNBS Annual 2017
Design Engineering Refocused
Design Engineering Refocused Hanif Kara, Daniel Bosia
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
How to ensure smart cities benefit everyone
Technology has the power to help people live in communities that are more responsive to their needs and that can actually improve their lives. For example, Beijing, notorious for air pollution, is ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
A guide to cavity wall insulation
Cavity wall insulation can be a great way of improving the thermal performance of a building, making it both warmer and cheaper to heat, but it's not always a suitable solution. We explore the pros ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
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Global renewables capacity exceeds coal
Global capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources has, for the first time, overtaken coal according to a new study from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Exploring the NBS BIM Object Standard
In the first part of a new series we explore what the standard is and why standardisation is so important.
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
How building design changed after 9/11
Image: The new One World Trade Center building, made with high-performance concrete. John D. Morris, CC BY-SA
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
The cities of the future could be built by microbes
Image: Illustration of pressure sensing bacteria in soils from the ‘Computational Colloids Project’. Carolina Ramirez-Figuroa, Luis Hernan and Martyn Dade-Robertson, CC BY-SA
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Have your say in our EU Referendum Survey
Four months after UK’s referendum on our future in Europe, I would like to invite you to take part in a follow-up NBS survey about the future of our sector.
Design and SpecificationSustainability
BIM Level 2 - Was it worth it?
Six months after the Government’s deadline, how well is BIM Level 2 working in practice? And, with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy's planned £15m investment in Level 3, ...
