Please take part in our national specification survey

Please give us your views on the place of specifications in the construction industry.

Our survey closes on Sunday and we've had a fantastic response so far. But this is one final call out to help us push those numbers up even higher so that we can deliver as strong an insight as possible into this topic.

Our Research and Analysis team do surveys and publish the corresponding reports for free to industry throughout the year. Recent examples being our BIM report and Brexit report.

For a little more background and a link to the survey, please click below:
- https://www.thenbs.com/about-nbs/press-releases/what-place-do-specifications-have-in-a-digital-construction-industry

Please distribute around colleagues and/or project teams if you are willing ;)

A new building for NBS in Newcastle

We officially opened our new NBS building in Newcastle this week.

The local media was at the launch...

Check out the following video from our Twitter account telling the story of the building and an amazing story of a couple who met in the building in 1942!
- https://twitter.com/theNBS/status/801459519037603840

Did you catch our new office space on @BBCLN last night? We had two very special guests come along to see the changes we've made ... pic.twitter.com/nvWiNJUQyW

— NBS (@theNBS) November 23, 2016

...and for all stories on our website on the building please see:
- https://www.thenbs.com/knowledge/nbs-old-post-office-refurb


...and the building model of course has been used in our recent promotional videos such as the 'NBS for BIM projects' story below:

Machine Learning demonstrated beautifully in a fun game

The website of the year winner has just been won...
- https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/

It is cool and fun for three year olds up to 103 year olds... and demonstrates machine learning beautifully. Lovely to play around with on a desktop with your mouse - or on a touch screen device with your finger.

Watch the video...

...and how did I do when I gave it a go?

It guessed four out of six of my sketches (you get 20 seconds for each).

A bit disappointed that my brilliant penguin sketch though. Come on a fire hydrant!!!???

Check it out,..

- https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/

Enhancements to the NBS plug-in for Autodesk Revit

A quick blog post below with some screenshots showing the functionality in our recent update to our NBS plug-in for Autodesk Revit.

The plug-in allows users to link their models and NBS specifications, view design guidance and drag-and-drop National BIM Library objects directly into their models.

1. Better integration into Revit
The National BIM Library panel and the NBS design guidance panel are now integrated into Autodesk Revit. This provides a better user experience and makes the NBS plug-in feel like an integrated part of Revit as opposed to just a floating window...

Dockable window

2. A more personalised experience
Once logged into the NBS National BIM Library you can add tags against your most used objects and also these will be easily accessible from the home page and from search results...

Logged into the 'My Library' area of the NBS National BIM Library

Viewing only the items tagged against a project or subject

3. Update functionality
It is now possible to check whether there are more current versions of the BIM objects you have downloaded from the library. In the example below, the object has been updated to include values for providing guidance on the positioning of the component with respect to the floor...

A report on which objects in the model are no longer up to date with the library

Details of the changes to the object are shown to the user

4. Assistance in aligning your objects to the NBS BIM Object Standard
By clicking the 'Add Properties' button the basic set of parameters specified in the NBS BIM Object Standard may be added to your objects...

Selecting a BIM object for modification

Stamping in the properties from the NBS BIM Object Standard

5. Accessible from the Autodesk App Store
Until now, the NBS Plug-in has only been available from the NBS website. But now the plug-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk App Store.

NBS on the Autodesk App Store

To download the plug-in for free please visit:
- https://www.nationalbimlibrary.com/nbs-plug-in-for-autodesk-revit

The Mining Institute

Today I was fortunate enough to have a tour of the North of England Mining Institute in Newcastle City Centre.

Two hundred years ago, the North East led the way in terms of engineering techniques around deep mining. In this building the lead engineers from collieries around the UK came together and shared knowledge so that the UK were world leaders in mining and so that safety and efficiency could be continuously improved.

Some photographs and links to further information below...

As featured in the RIBA love architecture series

The Neville Hall Library

"I advise and protect"

Marble statue of ex-chairman Nicholas Wood

Fantastic carvings and details everywhere

The historic steep sided lecture theatre - inspired the room in London's Royal Institution

Stuff lying about in the storage rooms - like a 200 year old map of Newcastle

If you are ever in Newcastle - I can recommend planning a visit.

Visit their website - https://mininginstitute.org.uk
Check out the Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_of_England_Institute_of_Mining_and_Mechanical_Engineers