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
Sustainable Futures UK Report 2026
Explore the current state of sustainability in the UK construction industry based on the results from a comprehensive survey conducted by NBS.
Must Reads
Construction Products
Visqueen launches Ultimate Self Adhesive Membrane for hydrocarbon and VOC-contaminated sites
The construction industry faces growing challenges when building on increasingly complex brownfield sites. Alongside the need for effective waterproofing, developers and contractors must now address ...
Construction Products
Siderise: Helping to bridge the gap between Gateway 2 approval and on-site fire protection
While the new building safety regime hasn’t fundamentally changed what requirements higher-risk buildings (HRBs) must meet to comply with the Building Regulations, it has significantly increased the ...
RIBA CPD
RIBA CPD for Architects: Understanding Flooring Specification and Detailing
For architects and specifiers, flooring details can have a significant impact on the safety, accessibility, durability and overall performance of a building. Yet the technical considerations ...
Our top summer reads on smart cities, big data and more
You took BIM for Dummies to the Bahamas last year, so what should you read this time around? In advance of the holiday season we’ve compiled ten of the most popular paperbacks on big data, smart ...
Fire safetyVentilation
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
12 of the biggest health and safety risks in construction
According to HSE, within the UK there are 80,000 construction workers who suffer from work-related bad health each year and 64,000 who suffer non-fatal injuries.
Fire safetyVentilation
Will we ever achieve zero carbon homes?
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
New standards for lifts (EN 81-20 and EN 81-50)
Two new European standards for the design and manufacture of lifts were introduced in August 2014 - EN 81-20: 2014 and EN 81-50: 2014.
Design and SpecificationStandards and Regulations
The NBS guide to damp
All material contains moisture to greater or lesser degrees. Those that are porous – concrete, mortar, wood – begin their life with their pores filled with water. As they dry, the water content drops ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
What makes a passivhaus?
In recent years the term ‘Passivhaus’ has become a byword for an ‘eco-friendly’ dwelling. The evolution of the energy-saving home has taken leads from Scandinavian and mainland European ...
SustainabilityStandards and Regulations
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Gas safety regulations
The use of gas-fired heating appliances in buildings is subject to stringent regulations, and, as you'd expect, there is a wealth of information available on gas safety for householders and landlords ...
Standards and RegulationsVentilation
'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
How the Palace of Westminster gets rid of all that hot air
Images of the crumbling fabric and antiquated network of environmental services, including the mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning system in the Palace of Westminster, suggest that the ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
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
Excess heat (2/8)
This is the second in an eight-part series of articles, Climate Change Adaptation in Buildings, examining the impact of climate change on the built environment, and the responses that can be made to ...
SustainabilityVentilation
Learning lessons
One of the most important aspects of getting to understand how BIM works is to see what happens when you use it on a real project. Obviously, there are quite a few jobs that are now up and running ...