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
sustainability
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.
sustainability
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.
NBS and sustainability
Design for construction is undergoing rapid change, which manufacturers need to be aware of. Catch up on recent innovations from the ‘Rethinking Design and Construction’ presentation by Jaimie ...
Sustainability
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
Designing for sustainability: Creating a healthy environment at work, school and play
Sustainable construction and design take in a built asset's economic, environmental, ethical and social impacts over its lifetime. It emphasizes sustainable performance at every juncture, from asset ...
SustainabilityNBS for CIS
Targeting net zero: addressing energy efficiency, ventilation and thermal comfort
Net zero and greenhouse gas emissions What do we mean by net zero? It is essential to understand that while human activity contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions, the Earth requires a ...
Sustainability
Delivering a Sustainable Future in Construction
Sustainability in construction is an ever-present topic that impacts every part of the sector’s ecosystem. Catch up on key developments in sustainability from the NBS Construction Leaders’ Summit ...
Sustainability
Continued growth for MMC and off-site construction, despite setbacks in modular housing
Introduction ‘Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)’ can have a broad meaning, with a wide range of associated terms and definitions. In the National Audit Office’s 2005 report 'Using modern methods ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
The retrofit standards framework
While new builds are designed to be energy-efficient from the outset, most of the building stock we have existed before modern energy-efficiency home standards were introduced. This is true now and ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
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How design and specification can help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals
September 2023 marks eight years since the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) were adopted globally. The schema, which comprises 17 goals, focuses on a holistic approach to ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Daylighting
In architectural terms, ‘daylighting’ refers to using natural light to provide occupants with the level of lighting they need for essential activities. For a building to be considered ‘daylit’, the ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
NBS in 2022: Key highlights
After another busy year, we wanted to reflect on some of the key highlights of 2022.
Design and SpecificationSustainability
NBS’s launch of the US Master Specification (USMS) library
1. NBS - a global platform When launching NBS Chorus in 2019, we set out to create a best-in-class specification platform that worked with pre-written content libraries for building projects around ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Sustainable housing
Defining sustainable development There are two widely-accepted definitions of what constitutes sustainable development:
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Sustainable Outcomes and Building Services Engineering
NBS is the official specification and product data partner of CIBSE. The partnership brings together a wealth of information, content, and resources from both organisations, providing support ...
