Knowledge

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

Sustainable Futures UK Report 2026

Explore the current state of sustainability in the UK construction industry based on the results from a comprehensive survey conducted by NBS.

Must Reads

  • Construction Products

    Siderise: Helping to bridge the gap between Gateway 2 approval and on-site fire protection

    While the new building safety regime hasn’t fundamentally changed what requirements higher-risk buildings (HRBs) must meet to comply with the Building Regulations, it has significantly increased the ...

  • RIBA CPD

    RIBA CPD for Architects: Understanding Flooring Specification and Detailing

    For architects and specifiers, flooring details can have a significant impact on the safety, accessibility, durability and overall performance of a building. Yet the technical considerations ...

  • Sponsored

    Designing sustainability into construction – proof over promises in sustainable construction

    With tightening regulations and growing client demand, the construction industry is under increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable progress against carbon reduction targets. For specifiers, that ...

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 ...

Design and SpecificationSustainability
NBS-LCA

Reduce embodied carbon from the start

Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.

NBS and the structural Eurocodes

Structural Engineer subscribers are seeking assurance that NBS is keeping pace with the release of Eurocodes. Consultant Engineer and NBS freelance author, Ted Wallis, strikes the NBS formwork and ...

Design and Specification

A century of building specification works

Advice on specifying has a long history, beginning perhaps with 'On Architecture' by the Roman architect Vitruvius (24 BC). However, it has usually only been covered incidentally in works on other ...

Design and SpecificationSpecification

An inspector calls

Following our article on specification, or lack of it, at Ian McGlinn's Maison d'Or 'Yes! We have no specifications', John Gelder looks at what the case tells us about inspection.

Design and Specification

CPIC and Uniclass - who, what and why?

In a world ruled by acronyms these are just another two, but CPIC and Uniclass are important to the success of the construction industry in cutting costs and waste. Sarah Delany, CPIC Secretary and ...

Design and SpecificationUniclass

The benefits of master specifications

Specification is an essential part of the design process. Unfortunately, for most engineers, it is the least enjoyed task. This often results in specifications of inferior quality. If a specification ...

Design and SpecificationSpecification

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External stairs, ramps, handrails and balustrades

External steps and ramps are one of the few areas of work where a landscape architect may need to refer to the Building Regulations Approved Documents. There is no obligation to adopt a particular ...

Design and Specification

The use of historic buildings as museums and art galleries

Architects and their clients face very significant dilemmas in making historic buildings more inclusive in response to contemporary access standards and regulations. Architects, conservationists, ...

Design and SpecificationFire safety

Yes! We have no specifications

Like Nero's Domus Aurea, little remains of Ian McGlinn's Maison d'Or – though a legal (rather than archaeological) legacy lives on. John Gelder looks at what this legacy tells us about specification.

Design and SpecificationSpecification

Toilets for disabled access

Austin Williams, provides a general assessment of the needs for disabled access to toilets, in the first of the NBS Shortcuts series.

Design and SpecificationBook extract

Ban the ban: materials blacklists

We have recently had a couple of queries about materials blacklists, which we had thought were a thing of the past. Clearly this is not the case, so John Gelder, Content development manager, revisits ...

Design and SpecificationConstruction Products

Specifying colour

The visible electromagnetic spectrum ranges between about 400 nm (violet) and 700 nm (red). In building, colours are rarely pure spectral colours (like the yellow from low pressure sodium vapour ...

Design and SpecificationSpecification