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
timber
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.
timber
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.
Norway to build world's tallest timber building
The building is named after its neighbour and Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa and will sit on the edge of the north-eastern tip of the lake in the small town of Brumunddal, an hour and a half’s drive ...
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.
In December 2006 the government made an ambitious pledge. It was a pledge that would have ensured that within a decade every new home would be a 'zero carbon' home.
SustainabilityVentilation
2017 Timber Scorecard
The scorecard covers key sectors such as construction and home-builders as well as paper / printing and publishing, general retailers and furniture retailers.
SustainabilityConstruction Products
Wood
You'd be hard pressed to find a more enduring construction material than timber. It's (potentially) sustainable, impressively durable and its flexibility and aesthetic qualities have made it a go-to ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Wooden 'plyscrapers' - the rise and rise of tall timber buildings
The solid case for wood As a construction product, there’s much to be said for good, dependable, ‘old-fashioned’ timber. It’s lightweight yet strong – Timber’s cellular make-up makes it incredibly ...
SustainabilityConstruction Products
The clear benefits of wooden windows
The windows of the future could be made from transparent wood according to Swedish researchers.
Construction ProductsTimber
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Retrofit insulation (2/2)
Introduction Besides the continual drive to build new dwellings to ever most stringent thermal performance requirements, running in tandem is the push to improve the existing building stock. This ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Retrofit insulation (1/2)
Introduction Besides the continual drive to build new dwellings to ever most stringent thermal performance requirements, running in tandem is the push to improve the existing building stock. This ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
UK construction industry making good progress on sustainable timber
The UK Construction Industry is helping to tackle deforestation by increasingly sourcing sustainable timber and timber products according to a study from WWF-UK.
SustainabilityConstruction Products
'Thermal comfort' in timber frame buildings
As thermal performance requirements get ever tighter, the construction industry is getting to grips with new SAP calculations, PSI values and novel construction products, to achieve reduced CO2 ...
Construction ProductsVentilation
What is a U-value?
Although the main focus of environmental performance of buildings is now on carbon usage, there is still a need to consider thermal performance of the building fabric as a contributing factor. ...
Construction ProductsVentilation
Timber weathering
Timber has long been a staple construction material for domestic scale properties, although it is increasingly being used in high-profile structures such as the Weald & Downland Gridshell. ...
