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A length of a construction timeline varies from project to project, but what each project has in common is the stages in the process. From the initial brief to research, modelling, and specification and beyond, the timeline follows a structure set out by the RIBA Plan of Work.

The RIBA Plan of Work segments and organises the construction timeline into eight simplified stages; (0) Strategic Definition, (1) Preparation and Brief, (2) Concept Design, (3) Developed Design, (4) Technical Design, (5) Construction, (6) Handover and Close Out, (7) In use. Each NBS Product is tailored to provide manufacturer information to architects, in the right format, for the appropriate stage of the timeline. Download our comprehensive guide.

NBS Chorus is a fully online specification platform for construction professionals, launched in 2019, it is the future of specification writing, connecting the model and specification across the entire life cycle of a building project. Over 3,500 architectural practices are creating their specifications with NBS tools, that’s over 300,000 active users making specifying decisions for their projects. They are using the NBS National BIM library to source objects for their models, and they are picking their products from NBS Plus, all connected through NBS Chorus. 

NBS Source incorporates all the current content from RIBA Product Selector, NBS Plus and the NBS National BIM Library into one single platform. This means there will be over 1,110 manufacturers and 22,000 products in NBS Source from launch. It’s also fully linked to the RIBA CPD Providers Network.

The current websites for these products will continue to run alongside NBS Source for a period of time before eventually being retired as NBS Source becomes established. To take full advantage of NBS Source functionality, customers can upgrade to a single NBS Source contract at any time, or when their existing contracts expire.

Listing your systems and products on Source is the best method of being discovered by specifiers at the point of specification. However, it's now possible to strengthen this position even further by offering a full specification writing consultancy service from the point where your systems and products are being considered.

This will allow you to better advise on which products are suitable for a specific project need and how they should be installed to ensure that the required performance is met. On more complex projects, the expertise of construction manufacturers is vital and being able to collaborate digitally on the same specification can ensure the best outcome and also eliminate the chance of being substituted at a later stage.

Simply - Source helps you get discovered by the wider industry and you can be added to spec with a click of a button. Chorus for Manufacturers - builds on Source so that specifiers and manufacturers can work collaboratively on more complex requirements.

NBS Source is all about making the process of finding construction products better, by helping manufacturers meet the drive for high-quality digital product data, supporting specifiers in making the right product choices for their projects and helping the industry work towards delivering a ‘golden thread of information’.

We conducted research with specifiers and product manufacturers showing that people were frustrated with aspects of the specification process, in particularly finding products. Specifiers want accurate, up-to-date product information in digital form. Increasingly they require more structured data along with proof of product performance, such as sustainability information or third-party certification. Manufacturers, some of whom are managing thousands of product lines, wanted a more targeted way to provide this information to specifiers. People across both groups wanted a more unified approach, with well-structured digital product data which they can access wherever they need it, across the whole project timeline.

Specifiers also wanted to be able to bring in the manufacturer spec teams at a more detailed level, inviting them into the spec so they can easily get answers to their detailed questions and avoid specifying the wrong product.

Through NBS Source, we intend to put these ideas into practice, ensuring that the right products are specified.

No – your new NBS Source subscription will replace your previous subscriptions for RIBA Product Selector, NBS National BIM Library and NBS Plus. Manufacturers will subscribe according to their needs and the costs will be tailored accordingly. Get in touch with your account manager if you have any concerns; otherwise, we will be in touch closer to your point of renewal.

We will contact you at your point of renewal to work with you on enhancing your data. If you wish to enhance your data earlier than this date, then please contact us to discuss bringing this date forward.

NBS Source is interoperable and API integrations will be available for customers to access and use the product data held within NBS Source. We will work with prospects and customers to understand what product data they want access to and how they wish to use it.

NBS Source has been developed from the ground up to be aligned with existing standards and also to be ready for standards that are currently in development. Please see the following technical article for further information: https://manufacturers.thenbs.com/resources/knowledge/nbs-source-and-industry-standards

NBS Chorus is our cloud-based specification tool which is used by architects, designers, engineers and other specifiers to develop their project specifications. NBS Chorus helps them work faster and gives them all the content they need to write specs, including manufacturers’ product information. This manufacturer product information comes from NBS Source, and allows manufacturer products to be dropped instantly into a project specification, along with all the associated properties.

Yes, please log in to your self-service My Account, click on 'Analytics' and you will be able to see how specifiers are interacting with your company and products.

If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it on the forgotten password page.

Once your products have been reviewed and approved by our team of specialists, you can download your logos from My Account.

Please email manufacturers@thenbs.com with the title of the certificates to be removed and provide updated certificates to be uploaded, and we’ll do this for you.

You can log your upcoming CPD events via My Account, and click on 'Register of CPD Events'.