Near future specification systems

My colleague from the NBS Technical Team John Gelder has written a super article on his vision for the next generation of specification systems. It was written for the latest NBS Journal. But can also be read on thenbs.com - http://www.thenbs.com/topics/DesignSpecification/articles/nearFutureProjectSpecifications.asp

Introduction:

John Gelder, NBS Content Development Manager, looks at how near-future project specifications might differ from current project specifications.

Generally, we'll see that project specifications will be much smarter than at present, able to work much harder, whilst requiring less effort to produce and use.

Conclusions:

When is this near-future? Some of what is described here could be available in a couple of years, some within five, and some will take longer. None of it depends on specifiers being expert in building information modelling. Provided the content and software developers get it right, you'll be using BIM without even knowing it!