Jonathan Holt, director of South London practice Holt Architecture, started an online storm when he posted on LinkedIn that his NBS Chorus licence had risen by more than 400 per cent in a decade.
The software, used by 92 per cent of AJ100 firms according to its website, is used to create project specifications and comply with regulations and standards.
NBS (National Building Specification) was sold by the RIBA in two stages, in 2018 and 2020, with the Institute understood to have pocketed £172 million from the disposal of the tool it founded in 1970.
Holt wrote on LinkedIn that he had been quoted £7,350 for a Chorus licence that cost £1,385 in 2015. He claimed that NBS had: ‘No clear roadmap. No major product leaps. Just a tool we’ve all relied on — and helped shape — sold back to us at five times the price.’
The post received more than 400 reactions and almost 200 comments as sections of the profession piled in to complain about the situation.
irector at Ellis Williams Architects, wrote: ‘We would support any complaint to object to these rip-off increases.’
Paul McAlister, an architect who runs his own practice in Belfast, said: ‘Our experience is that [NBS] do not have a small practice rate, therefore you end up paying the same as practices with much larger turnovers. It’s thereby very expensive for occasional users.’
Defending the price rises, NBS owner Hubexo said that the current product ‘represents a completely different proposition as a sophisticated, cloud-based specification platform’ compared with the 2015 tool.
Dario Aganovic, Hubexo’s chief executive officer, said in a statement to the AJ (see below): ‘While prices have increased, this is to cover the significant investment in technology that we’ve made and continue to make.
‘The development of Chorus required substantial investment in cloud infrastructure, security systems, multiple platform integrations, and continuous content updates.’
As well as the anger at NBS for increasing its prices, fingers have also been pointed at the RIBA for letting the brand go into private hands.
Former RIBA president Paul Hyett, co-founder of sports specialists Vickery Hyett, said architects had ‘every right to be dismayed and disappointed’ because the hikes in costs had outstripped inflation.
He added: ‘The RIBA should, of course, never have ceded control. The returns might have looked good, especially pre-tax, but I think the institute lost overall sight of members’ interests in its obvious preference for financial gain over the ongoing provision of services in the interest of both members and the wider industry.
‘I doubt that these decisions would ever have curried favour with the first chairman of NBS, the great Sir Robert Matthews, who, back in 1973 at its launch wrote: “The benefits will come […] to the industry as a whole”.’
Russell Curtis of RCKa, a former vice-chair of RIBA London Region, also voiced dismay.
He said: ‘Years of loyalty to an outstanding product appear to mean nothing as, according to NBS’s terms, cancellation of ongoing subscriptions have to be made 90 days prior to the renewal date.
‘Small practices are especially penalised by this, with the uncertainty of ongoing project work meaning that it’s difficult to know whether NBS will be needed in three months’ time, or not.’
He added: ‘Let’s hope the RIBA – the only one that seems to have done well from the sale – spends its spoils wisely.’
The RIBA is currently carrying out its headline-grabbing House of Architecture programme, which is expected to cost at least £85 million figure and includes the revamp of its Portland Place headquarters and significant work on its collections and digital technology.
Former RIAS president Willie Watt said the reaction to Holt’s LinkedIn post ‘underlined how fed-up the profession is’.
He added: ‘We recognise many of the stories that other architects have recounted about NBS pricing via our first-hand experience and discussions with so many other architects we meet.
‘It is a subject we all talk about. We are all in the same boat, we all appear to be subjected to the same extreme levels of cost increases well above inflation, for a product which from a user’s perspective has barely changed.
‘We are all subject to the same extreme levels of cost increases well above inflation’
‘It is incredibly frustrating and is a result of a fundamental lack of choice. While it is easy to look at the mistakes of the past, what every architect wants is a much more effective form of NBS at a much more competitive price point. The status quo is simply not equitable. No doubt any architect would support initiatives to achieve that goal.’
Jerry Tate, director of north London practice Tate + Co, described NBS Chorus as a ‘vital tool’ but felt there was ‘little alternative’ in the market but to pay the ‘ever-increasing subscription fees’.
‘It does feel the profession would have been better off if it had being kept under the control of the RIBA’
‘The only alternative for us is to appoint external specification writer consultants but this comes with cost challenges as well.
‘It does feel, with the benefit of hindsight, that something so central to the profession would have been better off being kept under the control of the RIBA.’
NBS told the AJ it was about to launch a product aimed at ‘smaller architectural firms and sole practitioners’ and was also ‘exploring more attractive payment options’.
In response, a spokesperson for the RIBA said: ‘In 2018, RIBA sold a majority stake in NBS and since 2020 has had no role in its commercial strategy or setting prices.
‘The decision to sell NBS was made to allow RIBA to focus on its core mission and the proceeds of that sale have supported investment in member services, digital transformation, and the wider work of the institute.
‘We fully understand the concerns being raised about increasing costs and we are in discussions with NBS on behalf of our members.’
NBS statement on pricing and platform evolution – Dario Aganovic, chief executive officer, Hubexo
We understand the concerns raised about pricing changes over the past decade, which have been raised recently. However, these comparisons don’t account for the fundamental transformation of our platform and services over this time. The pricing discussion conflates different products across different eras. In 2015, our customers were using either physical binder systems, desktop or CD-ROM tools. Today’s NBS Chorus, launched in 2018, represents a completely different proposition as a sophisticated, cloud-based specification platform.
While prices have increased, this is to cover the significant investment in technology that we’ve made and continue to make. The development of Chorus required substantial investment in cloud infrastructure, security systems, multiple platform integrations, and continuous content updates. NBS employs a large number of technical content authors who research, author, and maintain the content sets, along with a sizable team of software developers to maintain and ensure ongoing improvements in functionality.
This support enables architects to work more efficiently and collaboratively in real-time, with seamless CAD integration, resulting in considerable time savings in preparation and a more robust specification.
Our product development is, in part, a response to feedback and input from highly engaged users, and we continually strive to ensure Chorus supports specifiers in the best way possible.
However, we recognise that smaller practices have different requirements to larger ones and that we need to do more to support them.
With that in mind, we will shortly be launching a product to provide an affordable domestic specification solution for smaller architectural firms and sole practitioners. We are also exploring more attractive payment options.
We have also reached out to several smaller practices, including some of those that publicly expressed their concerns, to gather feedback and inform our ongoing development strategy.
We understand that NBS holds a position of responsibility; as such we will be reviewing our renewal policies and licensing flexibility over the coming months, with a specific focus on ensuring our services remain fair and accessible to the architectural profession as a whole.