Executives | Marketing | Sales | Technical

NBS in 2022: Key Highlights

19 December 2022 | By NBS

Here’s how NBS has helped the construction industry this year and a look ahead at what we’ve got coming up in 2023.

After another busy year, we wanted to reflect on some of the key highlights of 2022. Here’s how NBS has helped the construction industry this year and a look ahead at what we’ve got coming up in 2023.

1. Industry-leading research

2022 saw the publication of a number of reports that shed light on the key issues facing the construction industry.

The Construction Manufacturers’ Marketing Report aims to help you understand what your competitors are doing to meet industry challenges, and how your marketing strategy can capitalize on current and future trends. It covers the macro trends impacting manufacturers, the different approaches to marketing within construction and how construction compares with other industries, and looks at how marketing budgets are applied by manufacturers of different sizes.

This year’s RIBA CPD Report, 'The changing landscape of CPD' contains the results of NBS’s research with 300+ specifiers, highlighting what they want from CPD and how the RIBA CPD Providers Network can be a key part of your marketing strategy.

The Sustainable Futures Report provides valuable insight for all construction professionals, from designers or consultants to construction product manufacturers. It explores what sustainability means to the industry, monitors current behaviour and looks at the barriers to achieving sustainability in the built environment.

2. Updates to the NBS Platform

NBS Source customers now have access to greater insights and data, can update their product data in bulk, and can even integrate their Source product data with their own website – making it even easier for their products to be found and specified.

The new product verification feature allows specifiers to see how recently a product’s data in Source has been reviewed and verified – giving them confidence that all of the data is accurate and up to date. Another new feature is the Product Completeness Indicator, which advises manufacturers on how to complete the required information for each product. Our research has shown us that specifiers value products that have more complete and up to date information, and that those products are more likely to be specified on projects.

A brand-new ‘Inspiration’ area will be launched in NBS Source in early 2023, and will help increase manufacturer’s brand awareness and product exposure with specifiers. The new area will showcase examples of your products in use, and provide specifiers with fresh ideas in the early stages of a project.

Our partnership with our sister company Glenigan has continued to go from strength to strength, resulting in some exciting opportunities for construction product manufacturers.

3. Grow your audience with NBS Marketing Services

2022 also saw the launch of NBS Marketing Services, a new service offering NBS manufacturer customers exclusive access to our network of specifiers through a wide range of promotional activity – including sponsored webinars, emails, social media posts and much more.

Want to find out more about the opportunities available to your business in 2023? Download the media pack for more detail on each service we have to offer and the level of exposure you can achieve.

4. Webinars

This year's webinar programme has covered everything from new product features to key industry topics and everything in-between.

Here are our some of our most popular webinars from 2022, which you can now find on our YouTube Channel:

Marketing Masterclass for Manufacturers: Planning for 2023.
Marketing Masterclass: What specifiers want from CPD.
Third Party Certification Explained.
Construction Game Changers: Modern Methods of Construction.
NBS & the Golden Thread of Information.

Are you looking to brush up on a particular subject? Visit our events page to find upcoming and on demand webinars

5. RIBA CPD Providers Network

It was another great year for the RIBA CPD Providers Network. Delegates from across the country joined us for April’s RIBA CPD Provider Network Forum in London, and over 100 members registered for the online edition in November.

The forums are an exclusive opportunity for providers to join us for a day of shared learning about what specifiers want from CPD, how to promote their products and CPD offerings to specifiers, and how to get the most out of being part of the network.

We also continued to run several CPD Roadshows alongside RIBA throughout the year, with hybrid events proving to be increasingly popular amongst specifiers looking to further their professional development, and discover the latest products and systems. According to the RIBA CPD Report, 64% of specifiers go on to specify one or more of a manufacturer’s products after having undertaken their CPD.

Interested in joining the RIBA CPD Providers Network in 2023?

6. Our partners

We've continued to build and strengthen our partnerships with other organizations across the construction industry to provide a wealth of information, content and resources to help support throughout the different stages of a building project.

Our partnership with the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has been renewed for another year, following another successful year of working together, including creating content and resources for the industry and webinars on key topics such as information management and sustainability.

The construction and development group, Bowmer + Kirkland, became our first' contractor partner'. Innovative functionality developed in the Chorus platform will allow design managers to better collaborate with their design partners and manufacturer supply chain, speeding up the design process and reducing construction defects.

We've also continued working with the Green Roofing Organisation (GRO) and Quiet Mark, amongst other industry bodies, to help support manufacturers and specifiers throughout the year.

7. Sustainability – practising what we preach

This year, NBS were certified as carbon neutral across greenhouse gas scopes 1, 2 and 3. Through our carbon reduction strategy, which included switching all of our electricity supply to 100% renewable tariffs, implementing a digital first approach to meetings and shifting our platforms to the cloud, NBS also reduced our operational emissions by 56%. We also received three silver awards as part of the UN’s Climate Neutral Now initiative.

The UN grades businesses on their efforts with gold, silver or bronze awards, with silver being a high achievement for the first assessment. In signing up to the UN CNN initiative, NBS have pledged to measure, reduce, report and contribute (offset) with respect to its greenhouse gas emissions.

Our sustainable specification guides were launched to educate specifiers on different aspects of sustainability, with the aim of making specifying for sustainability easier. The information provided in the guides aligns with the UN’s sustainability goals and provides guidance to help specifiers make more informed decisions as part of their projects.

We’ll be continuing to build on the work we’ve done this year into 2023 and beyond through the development of our products and services to help our customers design and build a more sustainable environment.