New NBS LCA platform to transform construction project carbon reporting

21 May 2026

Today, NBS (part of Hubexo), the platform for connected construction information, launches NBS Lifecycle Carbon Assessment (LCA), a cloud-based carbon assessment platform purpose-built for everyday construction projects. NBS LCA is designed to help professionals understand, quantify and report on the carbon impact of building materials, products and systems as projects develop.

Tackling market pain points

Professionals have historically been forced to choose between time-intensive, spreadsheet-led approaches to carbon measuring, or complex, specialist software. NBS LCA provides an accessible, practical and reliable solution at an affordable cost, built specifically for UK construction workflows.

The platform addresses the shortfall in readily available, high-quality and easy-to-use carbon data, as identified in AECOM’s 2025 report for The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on ‘The practical, technical and economic impacts of measuring and reducing embodied carbon in new buildings’. NBS LCA provides high-quality data from raw material extraction through to system level and whole-building elements, for both generic and proprietary content.

With more than 50 years of industry experience connecting specifiers and manufacturers, and specifications with design decisions, NBS is ideally placed to launch a trustworthy LCA platform to market.

Construction’s carbon reporting revolution

Three-fifths of construction professionals now track upfront embodied carbon, while over half use digital tools for lifecycle analysis. Design teams are recognising the competitive advantages of providing accurate carbon assessments from project inception, with clients, regulators and investors increasingly valuing extensive sustainability data. 

Key features of NBS LCA (developed alongside partners BDP and Circular Ecology)

• Carbon assessments for generic materials and manufacturer products, which users can access, filter and compare
• Structured embodied carbon data for over 500 construction materials from Circular Ecology’s Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) Database, the UK’s leading source of trusted generic embodied carbon data
• Verified manufacturer-specific carbon data from NBS Source and published through the ECO Portal, including 12,500+ specification-ready construction products with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) 
• 1,300+ pre-calculated generic assemblies, developed by NBS and major international architecture and engineering firm BDP, with users able to instantly apply carbon rates to pre-configured common building elements such as walls, floors, and roofs
• Accessible, high-quality carbon assessments, reducing the need for complex software skills and enabling users to easily update assessments as projects develop

Built for everyday projects

Unlike specialist LCA tools for complex assessments, NBS LCA enables proportionate carbon evaluation across everyday projects, allowing design teams to make informed decisions early in the development process without relying on labour-intensive or manual calculations.

Dr Lee Jones, Head of Sustainability, Hubexo, says: “We often hear from architects and engineers that they’re spending hours manually compiling carbon data in spreadsheets or facing challenges with complex software for what should be the core part of the design process. NBS LCA puts carbon assessment capabilities into the hands of the professionals making decisions every day, providing tangible efficiency benefits alongside commercial advantages as the industry continues to take carbon reporting more seriously.”

Julia Yao, Associate, Sustainability Consultant, BDP, added: “A major factor in low carbon construction and design is the availability of transparent, consistent data, as well as carbon metrics that a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers, contractors and sustainability specialists can work towards. Without this, it is difficult to measure performance or have a meaningful impact. Collaborating with NBS on the development of this new platform, and the Guide to Embodied Carbon Calculations, has enabled us to establish that shared, cross disciplinary understanding of data benchmarks, and make real progress with access to quality data.”

Dr Craig Jones, Founder & Managing Director, Circular Ecology, says: “With a wealth of EPD data and pre-calculated generic assemblies, the NBS LCA platform empowers project design teams to find clear and actionable environmental savings.”

Regulatory winds of change

NBS has launched NBS LCA, as well as a comprehensive guide to embodied carbon calculations, at a time when new UK regulation on carbon reporting is fast-approaching. With the Government outlining its commitment to responsible carbon reporting through its Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan, NBS LCA offers a user-friendly solution for construction professionals preparing for anticipated regulatory shifts.

NBS LCA is available now, with flexible subscriptions designed for all professionals. For more information, visit the website here.