NBS Launches New Cloud-Based Product Information Platform

….. a powerful tool to present accurate product information to customers. Source will revolutionise construction specification.

Soon, new building safety regulation will have a direct impact on construction product manufacturers, and how legally they will be required to present product information. They will be expected to provide more detailed data, use standardised systems and adopt a transparent attitude to data sharing.

Beyond this, specifiers, contractors and clients will be required to keep detailed, robust records throughout a project’s entire duration. As a result, the industry’s attitude to the culture of ‘spec breaking’ is likely to dramatically change.
This new direction was highlighted at the NBS Construction Product Leaders’ Summit in February, where Dame Judith Hackitt, Chair of the Transition Board to establish the new Building Safety Regulator, called on construction product manufacturers to refresh their standards and processes, moving towards digital solutions. She said, “Product testing, marketing, labelling and approval processes are flawed, unreliable and behind the times.”

NBS Source will accelerate decision making for specifiers and provide manufacturers with peace-of-mind their product data is being presented correctly. Manufacturers will have to provide consistent properties and values, as well as performance criteria and show third-party certification for their products.

The platform is underpinned by a powerful product search engine that uses ‘natural language processing’ to comb through thousands of product lines from building product and materials manufacturers, allowing specifiers to make highly targeted searches to find exactly the right options for their project needs.

Source includes all the information previously available in RIBA Product Selector, the NBS BIM library and NBS plus – over 22,000 products in total. NBS will be working with thousands of manufacturers to populate the library with new structured product data which will be compiled in a standardised format, making it easy for specifiers to compare products and make accurate, informed choices at any stage of a project.

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