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
smart-cities
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.
smart-cities
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.
Sustainability: An NBS guide to combating light pollution
Light pollution is an unwanted by-product of artificial light. It's most problematic in urban settings where artificial light sources exist en masse.
Design and SpecificationHealth and Safety
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
Background In the past few decades, there have been a variety of approaches used to make construction greener and more sustainable. Examples include using solar panels and integrating eco-friendly, ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Seeing the city: Mindfully
Ben Channon has worked at London-based Assael Architecture for over six years, adding his expertise to a number of different projects.
Design and SpecificationSmart cities
Hyperloop: Shaping the future of transport. Part 2
Previous: Hyperloop: Shaping the future of transport (part 1)
Design and SpecificationSmart cities
Hyperloop: Shaping the future of transport. Part 1
What is Hyperloop? In simple terms, Hyperloop is the process of transporting passenger or freight pods through a near vacuum tube at airline speeds using electric propulsion and magnetic levitation. ...
Design and SpecificationSmart cities
Seeing the city: Playfully
If you got the opportunity to visit the Great Exhibition of the North you might have seen Steve Mayes' brilliant exhibition at the Mining Institute.
Design and SpecificationSmart cities
Subscribe
Seeing the city: Artistically
As an artist, Ben Staves has an interesting way of seeing the world - one that'll take you by surprise if you spot his prints on a friend's wall or at a local market.
Design and SpecificationSmart cities
Digital transformation: where are we?
The way design practices operate is changing, and a major reason for this is digital technology. But exactly how are architects and other designers responding to the opportunities and challenges new ...
Digital TransformationSmart cities
Go back to school with these TED talks on design and innovation
You may not have had a Power Rangers lunch box in a while but that's no excuse not to keep learning. To help out, we've compiled some of the best TED talks on the construction industry, innovation ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
What is a digital twin?
Forbes describes digital twins as ‘a virtual model of a process, product or service’ - they enable teams to monitor, trial and experiment on a digital version of something physical. As a result, ...
Smart cities
What we learnt at Northumbrian Water's Innovation Festival 2018
In 2017 Northumbrian Water Group’s first Innovation Festival landed in the North East, and this year it was bigger and better than ever.
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Creating greener, smarter communities: apply to take part
Do you want to make the world a better place? To make a difference to society, the environment and the economy? Do you have an idea for a business that could:
