NBS and Sustainability

It's clear that how to create a more sustainable built environment is one of the key challenges facing the industry today.

The UK and other developed nations must lead by example. Within the UK, organizations, such as NBS, that have influence over thousands (millions?) of specification decisions made each day on large construction projects must support the industry overcome this challenge.

Well over 3,000 design practices subscribing to NBS to specify the nations infrastructure (schools, hospitals, offices, train stations etc... ). Well over 1,000 construction manufacturers work with NBS to publish their technical information - which, in turn, is used in specifications. Small changes we can make will result in huge changes across the country.

In this blog post I'm highlighting three areas where we are trying to make a difference...

1.Education

Our NBS webinar series continues to be a huge success. But one of the webinars we hosted that had the most attendees (over 1,000!) was our joint webinar with the RIBA (Gary Clark HOK) on sustainable outcomes and the RIBA Plan of Work. This is still available on demand at the link below:
- https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6242990051854249487 

Throughout October 2021, leading up to COP26 we have a series of webinars on sustainability. Sign up for these now below (or watch on demand once October has past):
- https://www.thenbs.com/knowledge/nbs-sustainability-webinar-series

We are also running our sustainability survey now (throughout Q4 2021) - please click the link below to take part and then be one of the first to receive a copy of the final report.
- https://www.thenbs.com/sustainability-survey-2021

2. Product development

The NBS specification content we research and maintain allows for sustainable outcomes to be specified on projects. The article below gives specific examples against each of the RIBA sustainable outcomes that are aligned to the UN sustainable development goals.
- https://www.thenbs.com/knowledge/using-nbs-to-specify-sustainable-outcomes-on-projects

Brief examples of specification templates and guidance in NBS relevant to sustainable outcomes includes:

1. Operational carbon - Heating and cooling systems - in addition to the essential building fabric systems
2. Embodied carbon - Responsibly sourced timber and reusing and recycled materials.
3. Water usage - SUDs, reclamation, hot and cold water supply and sanitaryware
4. Connected travel network - Cycle lanes, cycle storage, EV charging points
5. Biodiversity - Meadows, bird boxes, green roofs
6. Health and wellbeing - Daylight strategy, natural ventilation, office layouts
7. Community - Playgrounds, landscape, contractor schemes and third party verification
8. Sustainable operation - Comprehensive system completion specification content - especially important to successful operation of MEP and ensuring 'soft landing' and reducing the 'performance gap.

Over and above our generic content, we encourage the manufacturers we work with to publish their environmental credentials in terms of associated literature (certifications) and technical data such as country of origin, % recycled content and embodied carbon.

3. Practice what you preach

We recognise that the biggest impact we can have is positively influencing design and specification decisions our customers will make on some of the largest construction projects in the UK * through encouraging sustainable decision making within our products and through using our platform to help with education. However, we need to practice what we preach too.

For this reason, we have signed up to the UN Climate Neutral Now initiative. Through this, we now (a) measure our impact as a business, (b) analyse what we could do better, (c) put into practice initiatives on how to reduce our impact and (d) report on this annually.

Our annual report may be downloaded below:
- https://www.thenbs.com/about-nbs/our-approach-to-sustainability

Furthermore, at NBS we are now part of the much larger Byggfakta Group of companies operating around the world. My NBS colleague Lee Jones has been key in terms of developing the sustainability approach at a group level and more on this approach is at the URL below:
- https://byggfaktagroup.com/sustainability/

Some of the NBS team on our recent cycle out in County Durham planting trees

* Due to current market profile of the majority of NBS customers, this blog post mentions 'in the UK' - but of course UK architects and specifiers use NBS for projects around the world (Africa, Middle East, South East Asia in particular) and we have rapidly growing businesses in Canada and Australia too.

Opinions - Sustainability

As a part of the NBS Construction Leaders' Summit we did a number of Microsoft Teams sessions where we asked questions of the industry around specific topics.

Two of these videos looked at the subject of sustainability. Watch them below...

1. How do you ensure sustainability is a factor on projects?

2. What are you seeing now on projects that you weren't ten years ago?

Solar powered paper house

Occasionally when in London I'll buy presents to take back for the kids.

At ecobuild earlier this week I found these nice little fun-but-educational gifts...

Our RIBA Bookshops stand at ecobuild

Back home in the North East, lots of fun assembling the structure and complex service engineering

Put them in the bright, bright north-east sun light for a few hours and then...

...renewable energy

Fill your boots at RIBA Bookshops online or at 66 Portland Place, London

http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/casagami-stars/84464/

New water turbine for Durham

My journey to walk each day takes me past the River Wear to Durham train station. It's great to see some of the exciting developments on the riverside, in particular the installation of a new hydro-turbine within the existing weir. There is a decent height difference between the upper and lower sections of the river so utilising the power of the water that comes through seems to make complete sense.

I took a couple of photographs last week (on a typical warm, sunny day in the North East)...

The water drops through the levels of the weir

The 13m, 20 tonne, Archimedean screw

Some of the facts I could find from the internet are as follows...

• A 100kw generator that will supply 75% of the energy to the new Freeman's Reach development
• Designed and manufactured by Spaans Babcock it is 13 meters long and 20 tonnes in weight
• The design also features a fish pass that will allow fish to more easily travel upstream (and will count them) 

...and some further info from the web...

• News story from June 2014 (intention)
• News story from Jan 2015 (go live)
• Construction Manager article

David Miller Architects and NBS National BIM Library

David Miller Architects have posted their excellent "using BIM tools" presentation to youtube.

Watch below to see how they explain how they design using generic objects and then swap in information-rich Kingspan Insulation manufacturer objects for greater value. The "i" in BIM.

Skip to 7m30s for the tech info section - or if you have time, watch from the start...

For more information on NBS National BIM Library see:
- http://www.nationalbimlibrary.com

If anyone has any videos or screenshots of our BIM objects in action on a real project - send them through and I'll pop them on the blog.

Edit - Apologies for the typo in the original post - this guy's fault :)

NBS Live - List of speakers now announced

The list of 80 expert speakers at our RIBA accredited double CPD points conference NBS Live is now published.

Delegate spaces can be booked for this event now at the URL http://www.thenbs.com/NBS-Live/

Peter Hansford

The conference's keynote speaker is Peter Hansford, Chief Construction Advisor to UK Government. This is an excellent opportunity to hear Peter's thoughts on where the construction industry stands today and the key challenges facing it.

The conference then splits into four main streams, delegates can choose a single stream or jump between seminars to get a flavour of many different topics. I am involved in running the BIM Room, more on that later - but first the other rooms.

1. The Design Room
The opening session looks at design, but beyond buildings, and in particular public space and interconnected communities. This session has speakers from Accenture, Argent and Farrells.

Brendan Kilpatrick

Following this there is a session on balancing cost management and design - how to get maximum value without compromising quality. Senior members of Gleeds, Faithful and Gould and Pascal and Watson will all present.

After lunch there are sessions on Housing with speakers from PRP Architects and Levitt Bernstein and then modern methods of construction and contemporary procurement with Edge Structures.

2. The Business and Practice Room
A chance to look at your practice from a business point of view. The first session is on winning work and

Rob Manning

communicating to clients. Speakers are from MarketingWorks and 3D Reid. This is followed by looking further than just the UK with a session on how to operate overseas. Speakers from Jones Lang LaSalle and AECOM discuss these opportunities.

In the afternoon BIS, BAM, Hoare Lea and Dyer take a practical look at the new RIBA Plan of Work 2013. Dale Sinclair the author of the new plan of work and associated documentation leads this session.

3. The Technical Room
The first session looks at what Part L means for design. We are delighted to have Ken Yeang, the founder of

Ken Yeang

Ken Yeang Design International as one of the main speakers for this session. Following this speakers from Bauman Lyons and Argent LLP will discuss the four "r's" Reuse, Refurb, Recycle and Retrofit.

Mott MacDonald and Aedas will then look at post-occupancy evaluation studies and evidence based design before the future of green buildings will be analysed by bere, John Robertson Architects and the Technology Strategy Board.

4. The BIM Room
...and last, but not least is the "BIM Room" - I've been going to many BIM conferences over the last 4-5 years, and I am confident to say that we have an amazing line up of speakers here from the world of BIM...

Session 1 - BIM for beginners

Casey Rutland

A selection of industry experts who know how to explain BIM to those new to the process...

• Steve Race - BIM regional ambassador for CIC and author of BIM Demystified
• Paul Woddy - White Frog and also one of the original Revit team from before Autodesk
• Casey Rutland - Associate Director Arup Associates
• Sarah Davidson - R+D Director at Gleeds and chair of East Midlands BIM Hub

Session 2 - BIM and sustainability

Elrond Burell

When it comes to BIM and Passivhaus, I have seen Elrond and James both present over the last couple of years and they have some excellent case studies to support their knowledge...

• Elrond Burrell - Associate at Architype
• James Anwyl - Director at Eurobuild

Session 3 - BIM in action

Malcolm Taylor

Case studies from notable projects - a chance to listen and question those involved...

• Matt Blackwell - Head of BIM, Costain
• Malcolm Taylor - Head of Technical Info, Crossrail
• Tahir Ahmad - BIM Specialist, Crossrail
• Chris Brown - Digital Engineer, Laing O'Rourke

Session 4 - BIM and the Government

Mervyn Richards

A fantastic selection from the people delivering the current Government and defining the plan to 2025.

• Dave Philp - Head of BIM at Mace Group and Head of Government BIM Implementation
• Neil Thompson - Principle BIM Integrator Balfour Beatty
• Nick Nisbet - buildingSMART international expert - one of the team that defined COBie
• Rachael Park - Cost Consultant Mace and BIM 2050 group member
• Tom Loader - BIM Director Balfour Beatty
• Mervyn Richards - Main author of BS 1192:2007 and PAS 1192-2 - the standards that define the BIM process

...and in addition to all of this, NBS experts from key topic areas such as sustainability, contracts and law, building regulations and BIM will all be present to facilitate with the discussions and help run the sessions.

So if you want a fantastic day of learning and a chance to network with a number of though-leaders in UK construction then book your ticket at the website below:
- http://www.thenbs.com/NBS-Live/

The potential of BIM to reduce waste during design and construction (part 2/2)

A few days ago I blogged about my presentation at ecobuild on the Tuesday.
http://constructioncode.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-potential-of-bim-to-reduce-waste.html

Also presenting at the same seminar were Ryder Architecture, Hilson Moran, Balfour Beatty and Kingspan Insulation. Some of the key slides below in this blog.

1. Richard Wise - Ryder Architecture

Richard was the first designer up to speak...

Fig 1 - Makes the point that we already do build with standardised components

Fig 2 - The Manchester Central Library is a great BIM case study

2. Nigel Clark - Hilson Moran

Following Richard's presentation from an architectural perspective, Nigel gave some thoughts from a service engineer's point of view...

Fig 3 - Making the point that you must get the fundamentals correct at the start of the project

Fig 4 - Great slide demonstrating both geometric and specification property set development

Fig 5 - Simple slide showing the benefits of BIM from the point of view of Hilson Moran

3. Kevin Lloyd - Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty then presented the contractor angle...

Fig 6 - Reducing waste through targets through 2013

Fig 7 - Learning lessons and standardising specification (NBS Create!)

Fig 8 - A big part of the waste debate is during demolishing - you must know what is in the building

4. Karen Jones - Kingspan Insulation

For the first year we are now seeing manufacturers now present on BIM too. Karen Jones from Kingspan Insulation explained that it is about product innovation and on the service that is given to construction professionals. Not just glossy brochures and a big stand at ecobuild - but delivering the BIM objects that the market needs. 

Fig 9 - Standard size insulation products with environmental impact properties on National BIM Library

Fig 10 - And more of a focus on BIM to come

The potential of BIM to reduce waste during design and construction (part 1/2)

Today I chaired and presented one of the Better with BIM seminars at ecobuild. Can BIM be used to reduce waste during design and construction?

Ultimately, in my opinion, this question boils down to the simple fact that with better information, more informed decisions can be made. Taking this away from construction for a moment, could you eat more healthily if the content of your food was labelled more clearly? The answer is clearly “yes”. And this is analogous to construction – the information about the objects that buildings are built from must be better. This will allow us to build better buildings, lower energy use, less waste and cheaper.

I include a few screenshots, below showing better information delivered to designers around recycled content. This is possible through well-structured information. Better information from manufacturers can be delivered. Information from different providers can link together to produce a more coherent information set.

Fig 1 – Standard guidance on recycled content

Fig 2 – Suggested values for each product on market values

Fig 3 – Actual values from product manufacturers

Where this standardised information becomes even more valuable is when analysing this content in the context of a building model. By performing digital take-offs from multiple objects the benefits of consistency of information become clear.

Software functionality can also help. Where standardised objects sizes are included then “clever apps” can instantly show information. If plasterboard is 2400mm high for example, then partitions can be highlighted where cuts will have to be made. Spaces can be optimised to ensure that waste is minimised.

Fig 4 – Standardised properties

Waste on site can be reduced further if whole assemblies can be fabricated off-site. Within the factory, the design of these assemblies can be optimised. This means that the construction process on-site has a greater proportion of “assembling” and less “building”.

The screenshot below shows a model representing a standard column assembly from the Laing O’Rourke manufacturing plant. Models, guidance and standard specifications such as these can be given to design teams early in a project. The time savings are obvious as are the environmental impact benefits. Waste on site is clearly only part of this overall picture.

Fig 5 – Standardised BIM objects

So in conclusion, the digital information revolution is happening. Where information is well-structured, designers can then make well-informed decisions that can help reduce the environmental impact of buildings. And finally, where factory built assemblies can be used then the information can be even better controlled and issues such as waste-on-site can be greatly reduced.

ecobuild 2013 - What to do each day

If you are attending ecobuild this year then it would be wonderful if you could find the time to come and attend one of the presentations at the RIBA Village (S1230 and S1330).

Mark Bew being interviewed last year at RIBA Village

There is space to have a sit down and grab a complimentary tea or coffee, maybe browse some books or meet  NBS staff for one-to-one software demonstrations and also there is the return of the successful "bite sized" presentations. Informal 15 minute presentations that you can just turn up to and listen to without the need to book.

Here are the NBS activities each day...

Tuesday 

14:00 - Richard Waterhouse

RIBA Village - S1230 and S1330

• 10.30 - Robert King and Lucy Wood, David Millar Architects - Real world BIM and sustainability in practice
• 11.00 - Andrew Soper, RIBA Insight - Tips for manufactures on how to get in front of specifiers
• 11.30 - Drew Wiggett, NBS - National BIM Library
• 12.00 - Chris Okure, RIBA Insight - The power of CPD
• 12.30 - Koko Udom, NBS - Achieving sustainability on construction projects
• 13.00 - Richard Wise, Ryder Architecture - BIM implementation on Manchester Town Hall
• 13.30 - Victoria Fleming, NBS - NBS Create
• 14.00 - Richard Waterhouse, NBS - Address from the CEO
• 14.30 - John Gelder, NBS - Sustainability 2013
• 15.00 - Stephen Hamil, NBS - Specification in a BIM world *
• 15.30 - Richard Watson, NBS - Future developments from NBS

And elsewhere for BIM fans...

I have the pleasure of opening up the ecobuild 2013 Better through BIM main seminar series (Seminar Room 2) by chairing the "Reducing waste through BIM" session at 10.45.

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/programme/better-through-bim.html

10:45 SR2 - Reducing waste through BIM

This session has excellent speakers from Ryder, Hilson Moran, Balfour Beatty and Kingspan Insulation.

* My 3pm session at the RIBA Village will be a live demo of the plug-in functionality we are developing linking specification with BIM. Disclaimer: NBS Create is not the only software application within a BIM environment :) - but there are also others like Solibri, Revit, ArchiCAD, Vectorworks etc... that our information must flow between.

15:00 S1230 - Two BIM apps communicating

...and finally, Drew Wiggett, NBS will also be presenting National BIM Library at 13:00 at the Vectorworks stand N420.

Wednesday

14:30 - Ian Chapman

RIBA Village - S1230 and S1330

• 10.30 - John Gelder and panel, NBS - Sustainability
• 11.00 - Victoria Fleming, NBS - NBS Create
• 11.30 - Stephen Hamil - National BIM Library
• 12.00 - Clair Hillier, NBS - Spec Master Online
• 12.30 - Belinda Beake, NBS - Specification for manufacturers
• 13.00 - Keith Wilson, NBS - Top 10 sustainable living standards and regs
• 13.30 - Paul Chappel, RIBA Appointments - Finding a job - standing out
• 14.00 - Joe Cilia, AIS - Environmental fit-out
• 14.30 - Ian Chapman, NBS - The future of construction information
• 15.00 - Bill Gething, FCBStudios - Designing in a changing climate
• 15.30 - Hugh Pearman and panel, RIBA Journal - Sustainable buildings by design

And elsewhere for BIM fans...

I am chairing a BIM seminar at the ecobuild 2013 Buildings in use seminar series (Seminar Room 6) by chairing the "Using BIM to measure, monitor and manage energy use" session at 14.30.

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/session/buildings-in-use/83/wednesday-06-march/seminar-room-6.html

14:30 SR6 - Using BIM to measure, monitor and manage energy use

The session has fantastic speakers from BIM Task Group, Architype and Rider Levett Bucknall.

* My session at the RIBA Village at 11.30am will be a live demo of the National BIM Library. I'll also be doing a National BIM Library presentation at the Vectorworks stand at N420 at 13.00.

11.30 S1230 - National BIM Library

Thursday

12:30 - Dale Sinclair

RIBA Village - S1230 and S1330

• 10.30 - Adrian Malleson, NBS - The National BIM Report 2013
• 11.00 - Victoria Fleming, NBS - NBS Create
• 11.30 - Stefan Mordue, NBS - BIM and Health and Safety
• 12:00 - Justin Bere, bere:architects - Passivhaus
• 12:30 - Dale Sinclair, Dyer - RIBA Plan of Work 2013
• 13:00 - John Tebbit, CPA - BIM and manufacturers
• 13:30 - Paul Swaddle, NBS - The future of training in construction industry
• 14:00 - Rebecca De Cicco, KSS Group - Quality information through the project timeline
• 14:30 - John Gelder, NBS - BREEAM and NBS
• 15:00 - Andrew Soper - RIBA Insight - Tips for manufactures on how to get in front of specifiers
• 15:30 - Simon Rawlinson, EC Harris - Contracts and Law

And elsewhere for BIM fans...
Not a bad day at ecobuild to finish off on with respect to BIM - you can listen to our Market Research Manager Adrian Malleson give his expert opinions on the survey behind the National BIM Report 2013 at 10.30. Then maybe listen to Stefan Mordue talk BIM and Health and Safety at 11.30. Then after a quick bite to eat it is the HM Government session in Seminar Room 2 at 12:30:
http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/session/better-through-bim/110/thursday-07-march/seminar-room-2.html
All the main players are in the room - Mark Bew, Dave Philp, Simon Rawlinson, Mervyn Richards, Jaimie Johnston and Roy Evans. Find out all you need to know about the latest processes and protocols and the fantastic labs area of the BIM Task Group website.

And if this is all not enough, I'll be on the Twyford Bathrooms stand S320 demonstrating the fantastic new SpecMaster Online tool that our NBS R&D team have developed. Web technology is advancing fast and we think that this is possibly the best online specification tool out there. You will be able to see all of the things you'd expect from an NBS specification tool (template clauses,  guidance and suggested values) - but also linked spaces and systems and products to ensure robust model that can then be exported to a number of formats. I'll be there at 10:30 and 14:15.

14:15 - Twyford Bathrooms SpecMaster Online tool

And to top it all off, we'll also have a ecobuild 2013 blog and our marketing team will be blogging and tweeting throughout the three days. It should be a great event!

- http://www.thenbs.com/blogs/ecobuild2013/

ecobuild - Better with BIM

The line-ups for the ecobuild "Better with BIM" seminar series are now online. I went to a few of these last years and they were all "standing room only".

- http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/session/better-through-bim/108/tuesday-05-march/seminar-room-2.html

We have...

Tuesday 5th March:
http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/session/better-through-bim/108/tuesday-05-march/seminar-room-2.html

• Chap called Hamil from NBS
• Richard Wise, Ryder Architecture
• Nigel Clark, Hilson Moran
• Kevin Lloyd, Balfour Beatty
• Alan Garbutt, Manchester City Council
• Andy Radley, Laing O'Rourke
• Liam Brady, Manchester City Council
• Peter Chambers, Emprise Services
• Kate Fletcher, Arup Associates
• David Hammond, MACE

Wednesday 6th March:

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/session/better-through-bim/109/wednesday-06-march/seminar-room-2.html

• Professor David Greenwood, Northumbria Uni
• Adam Mactavish, Sweet Group
• Peter Barker, BIM Academy
• Alan Clucas, Explore Industrial Park
• James Middling, Mott MacDonald
• Professor Jennifer White, University of Reading
• Paul Zuccherelli, Davis Langdon
• Bill Davis, MofJ
• Malcom Taylor, Crossrail
• Professor Steve Lockley, BIM Academy
• Chris Boyce, Capita Symonds
• Nick Tune, BRE
• Dries Hagen, Circle

Thursday 7th March

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/session/better-through-bim/110/thursday-07-march/seminar-room-2.html

• Alastair McCapra, Landscape Institute
• Martyn Horne, Vectorworks
• Mike Shilton, Key Traffic Systems
• Mark Bew, buildingSMART UK
• Dave Philp, Cabinet Office
• Simon Rawlinson, EC Harris,
• Jaimie Johnston, Bryden Wood Association
• Mervyn Richards, PAS1192:2
• Professor David Greenwood, Northumbria Uni
• Richard Shennan, Mott MacDonald
• Andy Glyde, Bentley Systems
• George Mokhtar, BIM Academy

I am also chairing a BIM session on the Wednesday as part of the buildings in use seminar stream with Roy Evans (UK Gov), Elrond Burrell (Architype) and Brendan Patchell (RLB).

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/session/buildings-in-use/83/wednesday-06-march/seminar-room-6.html

So the best free three days on BIM anyone could ask for - sign up now...

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/register.html

NBS Green BIM Conference

Today, for the third time NBS teamed up with New London Architecture to put on a free BIM conference. The theme this time was BIM and sustainability. The NBS speaker was our "Head of Sustainability" John Gelder - so I had the pleasure if sitting back and enjoying the morning whilst eating biscuits and drinking cups of tea.

Peter Murray, chair of NLA, and our own NBS CEO Richard Waterhouse started the day by asking the questions that we'd explore through the conference, can we reduce environmental impact without increasing capital costs? can we pass information to building operators and occupiers so that operational costs can be reduced? can BIM help with these challenges?

Fig 1 - Waterhouse and the Wedge

Fig 2 - Unfortunately not all occupiers understand how services operate

All presentations will soon be up on our website - so for now in this blog post - selected slides and pictures...

Casey Rutland from Arup Associates was first up and he looked at using BIM in new build and refurbishment work to lower environmental impact.

Fig 3 - Property sets associated with the geometry

Fig 4 - Simulation during design-time to ensure optimal performance

Chris Boyce of Capita Symonds looked at one particular project St Silas School and went through the design stages from sketches on paper through to construction.

Fig 5 - The sustainable school example as featured in Nov AJ

Elrond Burrell from Architype then gave a super presentation on Passivhaus and BIM. Elrond worked on the first BREEAM excellent Primary School in England and 3 of the first 4 Certified Passivhaus schools in the UK. He believes we should push much harder than the targeted 20% savings the Government are looking for - "we can achieve this just by building what was designed". In his example school, the savings on heating were 80%. See image below...

Fig 6 - The energy savings possible

After the break we heard about FM from the public and private sector. The biggest environmental impact by far is in the operation of a building. It was only right that we had a decent session from an FM point of view. Roy Evans represented the UK Government's BIM Task Group and then Marilyn Standley from BIFM gave the private sector view.

Fig 7 - The UK Government Hypothesis

Fig 8 - We must learn from every building and continue to get better

Brendan Patchell from Rider Levett Bucknall did a presentation that was strengtehened by slides showing many detailed figures. The work they are doing benchmarking different types and constructions of buildings for the Cabinet Office was particularly interesting.

Fig 9 - How much a school costs to build in the UK

At NBS we already work very closely with BRE, examples of this are in NBS with the third party certification specification choices and the comprehensive BREEAM guidance. Daniel Doran from BRE showed how they are experts in environmental impact data. This was demonstrated nicely with their IMPACT dataset that is being released as a module within IES in the next few weeks.

Fig 10 - BRE - delivering structured environmental impact data into BIM software

And finally.. John Gelder from NBS wrapped up the conference. Three key messages from John:

1. Operational and embodied carbon are important - but sustainability is much more - material waste, water usage, pollution, health...
2. We need structured information so that BIM can best help with environmental impact
3. Manufacturers need to structure their environmental credentials in a way that they can easily be imported into BIM tools

Fig 11 - NBS Head of Sustainability John Gelder walked from Newcastle to London to
minimise his environmental impact contribution with respect to attending this conference

Final thoughts from me...

It was nice to have a BIM conference around a particular theme. Of all the current construction topics of interest (eg. contracts and law, health and safety, regulations, standards etc...) I think sustainability is probably the one that works best for me. I am by no means a sustainability expert, but I cannot help thinking there is an analogy here with the food and drinks industry. We make our own choices with what we eat - but all food now is clearly labelled - we can see what the sugar, fat, carbohydrate, alcohol etc content is in a standarised form.

In construction, we have fantastic technology now. But the structured information is way behind. What is a products embodied carbon content? How many miles from the quarry has this product travelled? How does the energy efficiency of manufacturer A's insulation compare with manufacturer B? Has this got third party approval? Until this information is structured and provided free to industry by the manufacturers then life will be difficult for the many construction professionals who want to make a difference.

And finally, it was a slight shame that we didn't have a presentation from a Landscape Architect (kicking myself a bit here). In addition to embodied carbon and carbon in use - planting can of course provide a positive contribution. A contribution that grows over the years as the plants and trees mature.

But all in all, a really interesting day - good to see some familiar faces. As always, please feel free to add comments in response to this post.