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
government-policy
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.
government-policy
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.
Buying into BIM: industry response to the call to arms
Update: Since this article was first written, all the content from the NBS National BIM Library has moved across to NBS Source. ...
Digital TransformationGovernment policy
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
Human trafficking, Operation Magnify, and the skills shortage
On 14 October 2015, the Home Office announced a new campaign designed to tackle construction companies hiring illegal workers. Called “Operation Magnify”, the campaign targets businesses believed to ...
Government policyContracts and Law
BIM Level 2 website goes live to support Government mandate
A website that will act as a repository of best practice standards when it comes to helping Government and the construction industry achieve value and efficiencies throughout the project lifecycle ...
Digital TransformationGovernment policy
New build homes to get superfast broadband
The Government has worked with Openreach - BT’s local access network business - and the Home Builders Federation (HBF) on an agreement which aims to deliver superfast broadband connectivity to new ...
Design and SpecificationGovernment policy
Feed-in tariffs: Solar scheme changes from January 2016
The government has moved to slash renewable energy subsidies with a significant cut to the feed-in-tariff (FIT) from January 2016.
SustainabilityHeating
Changes to consumer unit requirements in 2016
All consumer units must meet the requirements of the IET Wiring Regulations Seventeenth Edition Amendment 3 with effect from 1 January 2016.
Design and SpecificationStandards and Regulations
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Zero carbon policy for new homes in England
New homes need to be high quality, accessible and sustainable. To achieve this, the Government are setting out a road map to deliver a radically simplified system for setting standards in the design ...
SustainabilityGovernment policy
Funding better flood defences
As the clear up operations, dredging and repairs get underway following the torrential rainfall that submerged much of the UK at the start of 2014, the construction industry waits to hear how much ...
SustainabilityClimate change
Government sustainability policies - A manifesto for mitigation
The countdown to the 2015 general election is about to begin. With 13 months to go, the parties are busily finalising their manifestos. Meanwhile the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ...
SustainabilityGovernment policy
2014 Budget and the construction industry
Given that the main purpose of the Chancellor’s budget day task is actually to balance the books, it’s perhaps not surprising that in monetary terms, there’s rarely much that could be said to be ...
Government policyContracts and Law
Embedding sustainability
In 2013 architects face uncertainty in volumes of work, but steadily increasing demand for more sustainability in outcomes, i.e. built environment projects that deliver economic and social value, and ...
SustainabilityGovernment policy
A seismic shift in the wrong direction
Back in February 2012, Melanie Thompson of Get Sust! wondered what, if anything, the new chief at DECC would deliver. It took a while to build up steam, but by the end of the year Ed Davey's ...
