What Specifiers Want 2017 articles

The street furniture industry is at a crossroads. On one side lies the familiar path of disposable design and short-term thinking; on the other, a more considered approach that recognises our responsibility to future generations. After decades in this field, I've become increasingly convinced that sustainability isn't an add-on to urban furniture specification. It's fundamental to everything we do.

The NBS Construction Leaders’ Summit 2025 brought architects, specifiers, and building product manufacturers to explore how digital transformation, sustainability, and building safety are reshaping the built environment. This article explores key insights from the event, spanning data strategy and AI to safety, ethics, and regulation, revealing how the industry is moving from aspiration to action and from compliance to collaboration.

This is the latest in our quarterly updating programme for Uniclass. It includes updates to four tables.

From AI to BIM: the data behind construction’s digital shift. Download now to discover where the industry is moving and how you can stay ahead.

The refurbishment of flat roof areas can be complicated, and is made more difficult by different roof levels; access; waterproofing choices and more. This article, from our technical authoring team, explains the extensive guidance and detailed specification clauses available in NBS Chorus to help you deliver a successful outcome.

Acoustic separation in curtain-walled buildings can present challenges for both façade designers and engineers. These types of façade system, commonly composed of low mass materials such as glazed panels and lightweight and hollow aluminium profiles, are prone to flanking sound transmission: noise can travel from room to room via a path other than the separating partition. Curtain walls provide multiple paths for internal transfer.

A guide from our technical authors, for architects and building services engineers.

Learn how timber doorset manufacturer JELD-WEN builds sustainability into its foundations in this NBS article.

NBS Source is a library of hundreds of thousands of systems and products from construction product manufacturers. Within this library, there are over 1000 different Gypsum board partition systems from many different manufacturers. Partitions are amongst the most specified items of any building. We therefore recognize that it is not easy for designers to quickly and accurately find specific partitions that meet their performance requirements.

This is the latest in our quarterly updating programme for Uniclass. It includes updates to four tables.

Colour is an underestimated part of an architect and designer’s toolkit, as it directly influences emotion, behaviour, and navigation within a space. Used thoughtfully, colour brings comfort, and can create more inclusive, human-centred environments.

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is now a requirement in planning, making biodiversity a core design priority. This article explores how effective specification enables landscape architects and other professionals to meet BNG targets, integrate ecological goals into project delivery, and ensure long-term environmental and placemaking success.