Once you have clicked on a Project, you'll be taken to the Specifications page.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


If the project does not currently contain any specifications

To create a new preliminaries specification for the project, click the Add one button.

 


If the project already contains one or more specifications


To create a new preliminaries specification for the project, click the Add specification button.


Choosing your content


You will then be required to enter a Specification title and choose a preliminaries Content set (either ‘Australia - Uniclass Preliminaries’, ‘UK - CAWS Preliminaries’ or ‘UK - Uniclass Preliminaries’, dependent on your region and subscription).


Once one of the previously mentioned preliminaries content sets has been selected a further selection field for the form of Contract will be displayed (as shown above).


Note: If the ‘UK – CAWS Preliminaries’ content set is selected, you will additionally see an option to import a prelims or Office Standard prelims file (.prlm, .stdprlm, .lprlm or .lstdprlm) created in NBS Building or NBS Landscape.

The support article How to import NBS Building/Landscape files provides further details on how to import such a file into the platform.


Choosing the form of contract


Click into the Contract field and select the required option from the list. Care should be taken to ensure the correct form of contract is selected. For CAWS preliminaries many of the sections and for Uniclass specifications the sections PM_55, PM_60, PM_70 & PM_80 will be tailored to the specific contract form selected. The form of contract cannot be changed after the preliminaries specification has been created.


Note: If you see a padlock icon displayed to the right of a contract title in the selection field, it indicates that the preliminaries content for that contract is not part of your current subscription. It may still be selected and used, however all of the sections will be in the form of a blank template and no guidance will be available.
Details of which contracts are available for your subscription can be downloaded from our website: thenbs.com/nbs-chorus/scope-and-contents.


Once the required option has been selected click on the Save button. The preliminaries specification will be created and you will be taken into the contents list.


Video overview of creating a new preliminaries specification


The short video (no audio) below demonstrates how to create a new preliminaries specification.




Further information

For the ‘UK – CAWS Preliminaries’ and ‘UK – Uniclass Preliminaries’ content sets. Each have a number of forms of contracts available for selection from a variety of contract suites including JCLI, JCT, NEC, RIAI, RIBA & SBCC together with other forms of contract.


The preliminaries specification created will include all of the required sections for the chosen form of contract, for most contract forms these will be:


UK-CAWS – A9 (Home Owner contracts only), A10, A11, A12, A13, A20, A30, A31, A32, A33, A34, A35, A36, A37, A40, A41, A42, A43, A44, A50, A53, A54, A55 & A56.


UK-Uniclass – PM_10, PM_30, PM_35, PM_40, PM_50, PM_55, PM_60, PM_70, PM_80 & Ro.


Many of the CAWS sections and sections PM_55, PM_60, PM_70 & PM_80 for Uniclass preliminaries specifications will be tailored to the specific contract form selected. Please note that not all sections will be included for all forms of contract. For example, a homeowner form of contract in the CAWS content set may only include sections A9 & A20, and a demolition form of contract in the CAWS content set may not include the advanced procurement section A56. If in any doubt please contact our support team for further assistance.


Additionally for the ‘UK – Uniclass Preliminaries’ content set. There is a further contract ‘General information’ available for selection. When a preliminaries specification is created with this option selected it will include the general sections PM_10, PM_30, PM_35, PM_40, PM_50 and Ro only, i.e. excluding contract specific sections PM_55, PM_60, PM_70 & PM_80. Additional sections can be added into the preliminaries specification at a later time, please refer to the Searching for and adding preliminaries content article for further details on how to do this.


For the ‘Australian – Uniclass Preliminaries’ content set. There is only the ‘General information’ option available for selection. When a preliminaries specification is created it will include all of the required preliminaries sections with the exception of PM_55, i.e. PM_10, PM_30, PM_35, PM_40, PM_50, PM_60, PM_70, PM_80 & Ro will be added. Section PM_55 will need to be created from scratch in a template section.


Other Articles in this series

0- Setting up a preliminaries specification

1- Creating a new project 

2- Creating a new preliminaries specification 

3- Copying a whole preliminaries specification from another project or a master

4- Deleting a preliminaries section 

5- Searching for and adding preliminaries content

6- Copying a preliminaries specification section from another project or a master