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.
Intelligent proprietary specification
As part of the series of BITESized talks at the RIBA Village auditorium at Ecobuild 2013, Clair Hillier of RIBA Enterprises discusses intelligent proprietary specification.
Design and SpecificationVideo
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
The University of Nottingham's distinctive Jubilee Campus is a development that is intended to demonstrate the University's commitment to exemplary standards of energy efficiency in its buildings.
Design and SpecificationVideo
Sports ground reuse
The tourists have gone, normal television service has resumed and official merchandise fills up the bargain bins. With the summer 2012 Olympics now over, it is hoped that a lasting legacy will be ...
Design and SpecificationSports grounds
Staircase Engineering and Design
This programme takes a look at the construction of stairs. It will explore the deceptively simple engineering in structurally efficient, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly stairs. A direct ...
Design and SpecificationVideo
Designing the Aquatics Centres Roof
This programme looks at how the wave-like roof that spans Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre in the 2012 Olympic Park was designed and built.
Design and SpecificationVideo
The new uniclass work sections table
Uniclass is set to change, including Table J – the Common Arrangement of Works Sections (CAWS). Here John Gelder, Head of content development and sustainability, outlines the replacement for CAWS.
Design and SpecificationUniclass
Subscribe
Substitution and beyond
In this article, John Gelder explores substitution, the use of 'or equal' and its ilk, and 'deemed-to-comply' specifications, and makes a few suggestions.
Design and SpecificationSpecification
Peter Eisenman: What makes great architecture?
This programme explores Peter Eisenman’s architectural and theoretical works, as well exploring his opinions on the state of architecture today. Eisenman’s new book, Ten Canonical Buildings: ...
Design and SpecificationVideo
King's Cross Central: Gasometers
Before we run through Argent's plans for King's Cross Central, the scene is set by showing how King's Cross's once famous gas holder Triplet lies mothballed in racks next to the ...
Design and SpecificationVideo
Restoring Carver's Warehouse
Carver's Warehouse is one of the most important listed buildings in Manchester's industrial heritage. Built in 1806, the stone-built structure retains virtually all of its original timber and cast iron internal structure. The challenge for owner Town Centre Securities was to restore the building back to its former glory, but to do so in a way that made the development commercially viable. Key to the project was the addition of a new two storey building and atrium of contemporary design linking into the 19th century building.
Design and SpecificationVideo
Timber weathering
Timber has long been a staple construction material for domestic scale properties, although it is increasingly being used in high-profile structures such as the Weald & Downland Gridshell. ...
Design and SpecificationVideo
TalkBack: Patrik Schumacher on Parametricism
Patrik Schumacher, partner at Zaha Hadid Architects, has recently come to prominence with his ideas on parametricism.
