Adler and Allan are one of the leading UK environmental risk reduction and emergency response specialists. They carry out assessments and design solutions to environmental risks on 22,000 sites each year across the UK.
Principally serving sectors such as defence, electrical and mechanical, facilities management, forecourt, utilities and waste, Adler and Allan boast 90 years of environmental risk reduction experience and over 500 professionals working across 50+ industries.
We caught up with Project Engineer, Jason Carter-Smith, to find out how the business have utilised NBS Chorus and the benefits it has brought them.
Before using NBS, Adler and Allan used to produce their specifications using word processing software. Thinking back to before the company adopted Chorus, Jason would spend around 80 hours creating mechanical specifications.
"Looking at the contracts we were entering into, I started seeing NBS Chorus being used. I thought that these specifications look a lot more detailed and more professional and that's when I started to inquire into moving to NBS Chorus" he said.
"Before NBS Chorus, I would spend about 80 hours completing a mechanical specification. Now it only takes about 20 hours, which is a massive reduction, meaning I’ve got more time to work on other projects and don’t have to work late into the night"
One of the reasons for the speed at which Adler and Allan's specifications are turned around is the ability to copy units from one specification in Chorus into another.
Figure 1 - Specification front page
"A lot of the specs I create are bespoke, and now each unit can be copied onto another project, so that saves us a lot of time."
Jason finds the cloud-based aspect of NBS Chorus to be a huge benefit - it doesn't require users to download or update anything onto the device they use to create specifications. Meaning everyone has access to the latest information, developments and security measures.
"We don't want to be downloading anything onto our computers because we work with protected networks so NBS Chorus being cloud-based makes everything a lot easier for our customers and us," he said.
“Our clients can also use the specifications as a check sheet to see exactly what is being installed as part of a project and whether the correct standards are being used.”
The risk management aspect of using NBS Chorus has also benefited Adler and Allan and its clients.
"It helps us to manage risk. We had a comment from one of our clients who said it's perfect because nobody can argue with it, they'll take these specifications that are created in Chorus and then submit them for tenders. It protects us, protects our clients and all the latest standards are always there."
Chorus's ability to enable collaboration means that you can work on a specification internally with your colleagues and externally with clients. Jason believes that this feature has helped ensure a high level of consistency on Adler and Allan's projects.
"I create all of the master specifications, and then the designs are checked by professional engineers, everybody's working off the same spec so we can't get it wrong." he said.
Jason has found the support NBS provides online to have been particularly helpful.
"I've used a lot of support videos and other online resources that are available in the Chorus support area and the NBS website. It’s all very straightforward and useful, I’ve also found the NBS webinars and masterclasses to be interesting and helpful”
NBS Chorus has had a significant impact on Adler and Allan's efficiency level and has provided benefits that have also extended to their clients.
Jason reported that his specifications are now being produced in 25% of the time, with an estimated reduction of 60 hours spent on each specification on a typical job.
As well as a faster turnaround on projects, Adler and Allan have benefitted from the collaborative functionality of Chorus. Clients now have access to every piece of information throughout the process, ensuring a high level of consistency and a lower level of risk on their projects.
Next steps
Find out how NBS Chorus works in more detail.
