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.
Understanding sound
This programme looks at the various ways of subduing noise in buildings.
Design and SpecificationVideo
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
RICS damp expert Stephen Boniface defines the commonly accepted definition of rising damp before both he and fellow guest, Jeff Howell, claim ‘true’ rising damp doesn’t exist.
Design and SpecificationVideo
Regenerating the former Ebbw Vale steelworks
The UK’s long industrial history means that there is a substantial legacy of former industrial land ripe for regeneration. South Wales was once an area synonymous with heavy industry – with the plant ...
Design and SpecificationVideo
What does Building Information Modelling (BIM) mean for specifications?
How many articles and posts do you read that include a definition along the lines of "BIM provides a 3D model of a building"? BIM is driving change but we should improve industry understanding of ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
NBS products for 'small works' specification
NBS publishes a range of products for specification of building work. A question that is often asked is "which version of NBS should I use to specify a small (or medium, or large) building that I am ...
Design and SpecificationSpecification
Living facade at EEA HQ
Architects generally overlook the impact their decisions have upon biodiversity. Yet at a local and global level design decisions, especially in the area of material choice and specification, have ...
Design and SpecificationGreen walls
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Specifying for sports
Though most fabric and services systems and products can be used in facilities of all types, some are specific to a particular facility. So where does a specifier go for neutral authoritative ...
Design and Specification
Designing for biodiversity
Biodiversity (biological diversity) sustains the living systems that provide us with health, food and fuel, all of which are vital for our quality of life and the long-term sustainability of our ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Rainscreen cladding
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
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
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 ...
