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.
Writing clear and concise specifications is crucial on construction projects. A well-structured specification is not only essential for design success but can also prevent delays, unexpected costs and disputes. Here are five essential tips to help you get it right, from our Best Practice Guide to Specification Writing.
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If you are building, selling or letting a non-domestic building, before practical completion can be granted the new occupier or owner must be supplied with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which grades the building's energy efficiency. In this programme we visit the new flagship John Lewis Store in Stratford, to see how a non-domestic EPC survey is undertaken and what factors are key in influencing the final EPC grade.
This programme looks at what exactly is required of the Co-ordinator throughout the design and construction process - and how it can be most effectively achieved.
The Royal College of Music in London is located in the cultural quarter of South Kensington, an area crowded with museums, concert halls and academic institutions.
Developed by a wide range of industry representatives over a ten-year period, its assessments are becoming an essential benchmark for many civil engineering projects large or small and this programme looks at some of the main components of the scheme.
Eurocode 3 is the new standard for the design of steel structures. It is wider in scope than other Eurocodes due to the diversity of steel structures, the range of design options and the possible slenderness of construction. This programme mainly concentrates upon building structures and the first part of Eurocode 3.
This programme takes a look at principles of fire safety, along with common problems and solutions, but with a particular emphasis on passive fire protection that works through the compartmentation of buildings.
With rising damp almost eliminated in English housing, condensation is now the major source of unwanted dampness in homes. It can lead to mould growth, health issues for occupants and additional maintenance costs. This programme looks at the conditions that give rise to condensation, its impact upon dwellings, and what can be done to rectify its negative effects. It also addresses different forms of condensation, discussing surface and interstitial condensation.
Under its Rainbow Standards initiative, the RICS has created a suite of colour-coded guidebooks that provide a set of minimum professional standards: red for estate managers, blue for residential surveyors, purple for facilities managers and now, a Black Book for QSs. This programme explains the reasoning behind the Black Book.
We’ll be looking at the legal duties that employees could use as a basis for a stress claim against their employer and in particular the law relating to bullying and harassment. This will include an update on the recent changes to the Sex Discrimination Act concerning harassment.
Interviewed in the studio, Jonathan Small QC and Oliver Radley-Gardner of Falcon Chambers consider the important topics in current telecoms law. They discuss the issues surrounding the leasehold enfranchisement valuations, take a look at the mismatch between current landlord and tenant legislation and the Telecoms Code, and consider the implications of the Human Rights Act.
This programme explores the reality behind the hype, explaining how LEDs work, outlining their history and providing a detailed discussion of the qualities of LEDs within six key categories.
