Knowledge

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

    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 ...

  • Sponsored

    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 ...

What we learnt at Northumbrian Water's Innovation Festival 2018

In 2017 Northumbrian Water Group’s first Innovation Festival landed in the North East, and this year it was bigger and better than ever.

Design and SpecificationSustainability
NBS-LCA

Reduce embodied carbon from the start

Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.

From long lost arts to new eras: we predict the construction jobs of the future

As we prepare to welcome several thousand schoolchildren to our Future Buildings exhibition over the next month, we turned our thoughts to the construction industry some of them may well work in. ...

Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation

The ten innovations disrupting the construction industry

Our Future Buildings exhibition at the Old Post Office opened earlier this month, exploring what our homes, offices and schools may look like in the future and the technology empowering the ...

Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation

Creating greener, smarter communities: apply to take part

Do you want to make the world a better place? To make a difference to society, the environment and the economy? Do you have an idea for a business that could:

SustainabilitySmart cities

Digestive 'smart' bricks set to power homes and recycle waste water

A new project to transform building facades into ‘biological computers’ made up of ‘digestive’ bricks that can create useful products from waste has been launched at Newcastle University.

Design and SpecificationSustainability

The NBS guide to façade greening (3/3)

This time, we investigate the performance of the façade greening systems mentioned in previous parts, with reference to a range of recent research projects.

Design and SpecificationSustainability

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The NBS guide to façade greening (2/3)

This time we continue our exploration of systems available and their likely benefits and detractions in more detail.

Design and SpecificationSustainability

The NBS guide to façade greening (1/3)

This time we clarify some core concepts and terminology, ahead of an exploration of systems available and their likely benefits.

Design and SpecificationSustainability

Green wall success means Newcastle’s really growing places

We’ve touched on the benefits of ‘living walls’ or ‘green walls’ before on theNBS.com but with summer hopefully just around the corner it felt like a good time to venture outdoors to explore two ...

SustainabilityGreen walls

Living facade at EEA HQ

Architects generally overlook the impact their decisions have upon biodiversity. Yet at a local and global level design decisions, especially in the area of material choice and specification, have ...

Design and SpecificationGreen walls

The growth of living walls

A growing trend for green walls is emerging, boosting biodiversity in our towns and cities. According to a recent report by the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) , Biodiversity and the Built ...

Design and SpecificationSustainability