{"id":116372,"date":"2025-09-05T13:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/116372\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:20:10","slug":"nbs-and-riba-under-fire-as-architects-lament-cost-hikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/116372\/","title":{"rendered":"NBS and RIBA under fire as architects lament cost hikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Holt, director of South London practice Holt Architecture<\/a>, started an online storm when he posted on LinkedIn<\/a> that his NBS Chorus licence had risen by more than 400 per cent in a decade.<\/p>\n

The software, used by 92 per cent of AJ100 firms according to its website<\/a>, is used to create project specifications and comply with regulations and standards.<\/p>\n

NBS (National Building Specification) was sold by the RIBA in two stages, in 2018 and 2020<\/a>, with the Institute understood to have pocketed \u00a3172 million<\/a> from the disposal of the tool it founded in 1970.<\/p>\n

Holt wrote on LinkedIn that he had been quoted \u00a37,350 for a Chorus licence that cost \u00a31,385 in 2015. He claimed that NBS had: \u2018No clear roadmap. No major product leaps. Just a tool we\u2019ve all relied on \u2014 and helped shape \u2014 sold back to us at five times the price.\u2019<\/p>\n

The post received more than 400 reactions and almost 200 comments as sections of the profession piled in to complain about the situation.<\/p>\n

irector at Ellis Williams Architects, wrote: \u2018We would support any complaint to object to these rip-off increases.\u2019<\/p>\n

Paul McAlister, an architect who runs his own practice in Belfast, said: \u2018Our 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\u2019s thereby very expensive for occasional users.\u2019<\/p>\n

Defending the price rises, NBS owner Hubexo said that the current product \u2018represents a completely different proposition as a sophisticated, cloud-based specification platform\u2019 compared with the 2015 tool.<\/p>\n

Dario Aganovic, Hubexo\u2019s chief executive officer, said in a statement to the AJ (see below): \u2018While prices have increased, this is to cover the significant investment in technology that we\u2019ve made and continue to make.<\/p>\n

\u2018The development of Chorus required substantial investment in cloud infrastructure, security systems, multiple platform integrations, and continuous content updates.\u2019<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Former RIBA president Paul Hyett, co-founder of sports specialists Vickery Hyett, said architects had \u2018every right to be dismayed and disappointed\u2019 because the hikes in costs had outstripped inflation.<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018The 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\u2019 interests in its obvious preference for financial gain over the ongoing provision of services in the interest of both members and the wider industry.<\/p>\n

\u2018I 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: \u201cThe benefits will come [\u2026] to the industry as a whole\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n

Russell Curtis of RCKa, a former vice-chair of RIBA London Region, also voiced dismay.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018Years of loyalty to an outstanding product appear to mean nothing as, according to NBS\u2019s terms, cancellation of ongoing subscriptions have to be made 90 days prior to the renewal date.<\/p>\n

\u2018Small practices are especially penalised by this, with the uncertainty of ongoing project work meaning that it\u2019s difficult to know whether NBS will be needed in three months\u2019 time, or not.\u2019<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018Let\u2019s hope the RIBA \u2013 the only one that seems to have done well from the sale \u2013 spends its spoils wisely.\u2019<\/p>\n

The RIBA is currently carrying out its headline-grabbing House of Architecture programme, which is expected to cost at least \u00a385 million figure and includes the revamp of its Portland Place headquarters and significant work on its collections and digital technology.<\/p>\n

Former RIAS president Willie Watt said the reaction to Holt\u2019s LinkedIn post \u2018underlined how fed-up the profession is\u2019.<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018We 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.<\/p>\n

\u2018It 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\u2019s perspective has barely changed.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are all subject to the same extreme levels of cost increases well above inflation\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jerry Tate, director of north London practice Tate + Co, described NBS Chorus as a \u2018vital tool\u2019 but felt there was \u2018little alternative\u2019 in the market but to pay the \u2018ever-increasing subscription fees\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018It does feel the profession would have been better off if it had being kept under the control of the RIBA\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The only alternative for us is to appoint external specification writer consultants but this comes with cost challenges as well.<\/p>\n

\u2018It 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

NBS told the AJ it was about to launch a product aimed at \u2018smaller architectural firms and sole practitioners\u2019 and was also \u2018exploring more attractive payment options\u2019.<\/p>\n

In response, a spokesperson for the RIBA said: \u2018In 2018, RIBA sold a majority stake in NBS and since 2020 has had no role in its commercial strategy or setting prices.<\/p>\n

\u2018The 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.<\/p>\n

\u2018We fully understand the concerns being raised about increasing costs and we are in discussions with NBS on behalf of our members.\u2019<\/p>\n

NBS statement on pricing and platform evolution \u2013 Dario Aganovic, chief executive officer, Hubexo<\/p>\n

We understand the concerns raised about pricing changes over the past decade, which have been raised recently. However, these comparisons don\u2019t 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\u2019s NBS Chorus, launched in 2018, represents a completely different proposition as a sophisticated, cloud-based specification platform.<\/p>\n

While prices have increased, this is to cover the significant investment in technology that we\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

However, we recognise that smaller practices have different requirements to larger ones and that we need to do more to support them.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonathan Holt, director of South London practice Holt Architecture, started an online storm when he posted on LinkedIn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-116372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}