(UK) Waugh Thistleton Architects in collaboration with expert fire engineers at University College London, structural engineers at Buro Happold and cost consultancy from Gardiner & Theobald has developed the New Model Building (NMB) as a set of design principles and guidance for multistorey residential mass timber building in the UK, that have been pre-assessed by the national warranty provider NHBC. 

After a meticulous pre-assessment process by the national warranty provider, NHBC, the NMB provides a reference for organisations wanting to use mass timber for multistorey housing up to 18m, or 6 storeys. A suite of open-source easy-to-use documents produced by Waugh Thistleton explain the design principles and details of the New Model Building. 

The documents include:

• An overview guide describing the New Model Building and what it includes.
• A detail handbook describes the technical standards on which the New Model Building is predicated, including details, checklists
• Performance specifications on how to design using the New Model Building principles.
• An Evidence book including all pre-assessed documents.

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