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
A specifier’s guide to BREEAM New Construction V7
Discover how specification can support BREEAM New Construction V7, with practical guidance from NBS and BRE on assessment requirements, evidence and more sustainable project outcomes.
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Designing sustainability into construction – proof over promises in sustainable construction
With tightening regulations and growing client demand, the construction industry is under increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable progress against carbon reduction targets. For specifiers, that ...
Construction Products
Dulux Trade launches new solution for high-humidity spaces
Because of how they are used, kitchens and bathrooms experience more moisture, more contact, and more ongoing maintenance. Standard emulsions are not designed for this level of use. Over time, ...
contracts-and-law
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 ...
Five practical tips on coordinating project information and specifications
This article is from the RIBA Construction Contracts and Law Report 2022. It has been reproduced for the NBS website with added illustrations showing how NBS tools can be used to address the ...
Design and SpecificationNBS Source
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
NBS Chorus for those that write contract Preliminaries
Within the NBS Chorus software platform we have developed content packages that are tailored to specific user requirements. For example, users can subscribe to separate libraries for ‘architectural’, ...
Design and SpecificationProduct update
12 Days of Digital Construction
1. Digital transformation has accelerated
Design and SpecificationStandards and Regulations
The Construction Leaders' Summit: six key takeaways
1. Stop making excuses, start making changes All of us have had to adapt to new ways of working following the COVID-19 pandemic. We've seen that if a significant driver like the pandemic comes along, ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Understanding the draft Building Safety Bill: Further Reading
Following the recent NBS webinar reviewing the context, content and potential impact of the draft Building Safety Bill, there have been a few requests for a list of the many references mentioned in ...
Contracts and Law
The new contract normal – What does it look like?
The situation that the construction industry is confronted with today would have been beyond anyone’s perception or comprehension at the start of 2020. The industry is now struggling to manage the ...
Contracts and Law
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Pricing specifications and drawings for small works
1. The contract documents When working on basic construction projects, where the work is of a simple nature, then typically this work will be undertaken using a ‘small works’ standard form ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
RIBA Plan of Work 2020 Overview – Question and answer
In April 2020 Dale Sinclair, Director of Technical Practice at AECOM gave a presentation giving an overview to the RIBA Plan of Work 2020. Following the session, a number of questions were raised by ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Dealing with contractual risk within the supply chain
For all the years I can remember, the mantra has been: USE UNAMENDED STANDARD FORMS OF CONTRACT. But, by and large, this has fallen on deaf ears, especially as you proceed along the supply chain
Contracts and Law
JCT Contracts 2016 and NBS - Spring 2018 update
As part of their ongoing publishing programme, the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) released the first batch of their ‘2016’ contracts towards the end of June 2016. This included the Minor Works (MW) ...
Contracts and Law
NEC4 Contracts and NBS - What's new? May 2018 update
A number of changes have been made to NEC4, with the intention of streamlining terms and operation across the whole suite. These include amendments to terminology, as well as provisions concerning ...
Contracts and Law
If banking can do it, why not construction?
Last spring, in a speech to Russian delegates, I contrasted the construction industry with the financial services industry. You might think our transactions have little in common on the face of it, ...