Building is one of the United Kingdom's oldest business-to-business magazines, serving the construction and building industry. It was launched as The Builder in 1843 by Joseph Aloysius Hansom, an architect known for designing Birmingham Town Hall and the Hansom Cab. The journal was renamed Building in 1966, a name it retains to the present day, and it is described as the only UK title covering the entire building industry.
History
The magazine's first two editors, Hansom and Alfred Bartholomew (1801–1845), held the position only briefly. Architect George Godwin (1813–1888) served as editor from 1844 to 1883 and is credited with turning The Builder into "the most important and successful professional paper of its kind," with a readership extending well beyond the architectural and building world. Godwin reportedly wrote most of the content himself with a staff of just five people. His successor, Henry Heathcote Statham (1839–1924), edited the journal from 1883 to 1908.
The rival publication The British Architect and Northern Engineer, founded in 1874, merged with The Builder in 1919, bringing contributions from architectural illustrator Thomas Raffles Davison (1853–1937).
Notable contributors over the years have included architects such as Robert Dennis Chantrell, Henry Clutton, Josiah Conder, James Fergusson, William Curtis Green, John Woody Papworth, Howard Morley Robertson, and William White, as well as the novelist Hall Caine, the engineer and antiquary G. T. Clark, and the journalist Charles Chaloner Ogle.
Recent history and current status
The magazine was named best-edited weekly business magazine by the British Society of Magazine Editors in both 1999 and 2001, and was business magazine of the year in 2002. In 2003, Aprovia UK sold Building to UBM plc as part of a £79 million deal, having acquired it a year earlier from Vivendi Universal.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), the magazine's circulation for the year ending June 2006 was 25,017. Circulation declined during the late-2000s recession, falling to 21,271 for the period July 2009–June 2010 (the last year the title was ABC-certified), and continued to decline, with the 11 November 2011 issue having a print circulation of 15,474.
Building's website features industry news, jobs, and an archive of over 80,000 articles. In 2006, Building4jobs.co.uk was launched, focusing on industry jobs and careers.
In January 2018, UBM sold Building (along with Building Design, a venue directory, and various events) to a management team, Assemble Media Group, led by former editor Tom Broughton. As of the most recent available information, the magazine is published by Assemble Media Group, with Chloë McCulloch serving as editor, and is published on a monthly frequency.
