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
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.
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.
Specifying your lock
On September 14th 2017, three neighbouring Staffordshire families woke up to the news that their cars had been stolen - including one model valued at over £35,000. Each house had been a victim of ...
Design and SpecificationConstruction Products
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
There are hundreds of gadgets you can use to measure, document and design more effectively on both large and small scale construction projects, but it was a very bright idea indeed to integrate these ...
Design and SpecificationConstruction Products
Phase change materials
What are PCMs and why do we use them? Phase change materials (PCMs) are substances with a high latent heat of fusion.¹ They store latent heat during the transition phase. A PCM absorbs thermal energy ...
Design and SpecificationConstruction Products
Should we be building our houses with LEGO bricks?
With its unique interlocking tube design and potential to build an infinite number of structures, it’s no wonder that the humble LEGO brick has stood the test of time. The original patent was signed ...
Design and SpecificationConstruction Products
Can BIM successfully deliver small construction projects?
The perceived value of BIM BIM is more than just developing a 3D model: it entails a collaborative way of working to deliver masses of information over a Common Data Environment (CDE) – a digitised ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Specifications - the views from the industry
The findings in the NBS Specification Report 2017 provide us with a good understanding when it comes to the industry's experience of specifications and future expectations. Clearly, specifications ...
Design and SpecificationSpecification
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The alternative to last-minute specification writing
Challenges A specification is a key contract document, typically produced during the technical design stage of a project. It is issued as part of the tender documentation and used throughout the ...
Design and SpecificationSpecification
Passive fire protection: Specifying and maintaining fire doors
What is a fire door? How many of us fully appreciate the importance of fire doors as life-saving components in the buildings that we occupy and use every day, either at our place of business or home?
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Are you BIM ready? What your business needs to do before 2016 (5/10)
The UK government has mandated that all centrally-funded work is to be undertaken using BIM by 2016. This is now less than 12 months away, and for those organizations that haven't yet done so, this ...
Digital TransformationSpecification
Are you BIM ready? What your business needs to do before 2016 (4/10)
The UK government has mandated that all centrally-funded work is to be undertaken using BIM by 2016. This is now less than 12 months away, and for those organizations that haven't yet done so, this ...
Digital TransformationSpecification
Are you BIM ready? What your business needs to do before 2016 (3/10)
The UK government has mandated that all centrally-funded work is to be undertaken using BIM by 2016. This is now less than 12 months away, and for those organisations that haven't yet done so, this ...
Digital TransformationSpecification
Are you BIM ready? What your business needs to do before 2016 (2/10)
The UK government has mandated that all centrally-funded work is to be undertaken using BIM by 2016. This is now less than 12 months away, and for those organisations that haven’t yet done so, this ...
