Category: Uncategorized

Architecture Writer of the Year

Frances Williams, Architects’ Journal, is a journalist with a distinctive voice who writes with style and confidence. This submission is packed with closely-observed details achieving an easy balance between technicalities, interviews and personal observation. Each feature demonstrates a sharp critical eye, making the reader almost feel as if they are at the scene. This writer highlights the importance of recycling buildings of merit, bringing historic architecture to life.

Construction/Infrastructure Writer of the Year

Thomas Lane, Building, produced three well-structured articles; packed with detail and delivered at pace.

The piece on ‘The drive for green machines’ being very much of our time, benefitted from in-depth research and close attention to detail.

The highly topical piece ‘What are we going to do about concrete’– was well structured and informative, drawing high praise from the judges.

The ‘Cornish’ piece completed a trilogy of interesting and insightful articles – which, the judges agreed, were simply outstanding.

News Reporter of the Year

Jack Simpson – Inside Housing, entered three powerful, investigative and still hugely topical fire safety stories that lead the way and were followed up by major national media coverage, bringing them to the wider audience they deserve.

Feature Writer of the Year

Martina Lees, The Sunday Times, entered three powerful and empathetic articles each engaging and insightful.

The comprehensive and hard-hitting piece on ‘Families trapped in fire risk flats they cannot sell’ – (appearing on the front page of a national newspaper) helped to further expose the true scale of the fall-out from the Grenfell fire – in the judges view an outstanding piece of journalism.

The piece ‘Footing the bill for the cladding crisis’ was praised by the judges for its detailed research and heartfelt portrayal of the human as well as material cost of this continuing tragedy.

Business/Financial Journalist of the Year

David Price, Construction News, submissions showed his ability to break scoops and identify trends. The variety highlighted his breadth. His explanation of why the pandemic had failed to produce a surge in bankruptcies – but why it would – was timely and analytical. His writing is crisp, tight, and had impact.

Housing/Residential Journalist of the Year

Peter Apps, Inside Housing, has a talent for finding fresh angles on big national stories but also unearthing stories on subjects away from the limelight and flagging up the wider implications for the housing sector.

New Journalist of the Year

Jennifer Hahn, Dezeen, delivered three very different stories, demonstrating versatility, maturity and an ability to dig out a story and raise awareness on subjects of importance. The writer avoids swallowing the PR line and digs deeper giving critical, balanced, provocative and revealing pieces. Design that produces carbon-neutral buildings runs through this submission.

Scoop of the Year

Martina Lees, The Sunday Times, winning article was an incredibly well researched piece which for the first time quantified the scale of the cladding crisis and how it was impacting 1.5 million households from across all tenures. It was a great piece of journalism and not surprisingly the journalists coverage of the issue has been frequently cited in parliament as the nightmare rolls on.

Editorial Brand of the Year

Winner: Architects’ Journal

On the foundations of its thoughtful, well-written and often brave B2B journalism, the AJ speaks with a passionate and eloquent editorial voice. The magazine and website offer complementary experiences, powered by clear and well executed editorial goals. The brand provokes and promotes its principles beyond its core audience, as is exemplified by the impressive cut-through of its ongoing Retrofirst campaign.

Highly commended: Inside Housing

Inside Housing’s trump card is its fantastic journalism, which displays campaigning zeal in a world where investigative journalism is a rare commodity. It provides its target audience with a wealth of information, and its relaunched “End our Cladding Scandal” campaign has successfully deployed this unparalleled specialist knowledge more widely.

IBP Journalist of the Year

Winner: Martina Lees, The Sunday Times

When a skilled reporter on a leading publication tackles a big subject, they deserve to be considered for a major award. The plight of flat-owners facing huge bills because of dangerous cladding is a massive story. The Sunday Times has the scale to present that story powerfully. But it requires a journalist who can match the owners’ massive problems and the magnitude of the newspaper’s circulation to do justice to the gravity of this calamity.

Martina Lees rose to that challenge. Indeed, splashing her reports across the front of the paper and on inside pages were key to turning a mere story into a major scandal. A market-leading Sunday paper may have the resources to allow such comprehensive reporting, but that is nothing unless the writer can make the most of such facilities.

Martina delved deeply into the detail of a national disgrace. By interviewing dozens of victims she accumulated the colour that made her features so compelling. And by analysing data she acquired the facts that demonstrate the effect the cladding fears are having on the property market. It is a winning combination of skills: she broke the news and could paint the wider picture.

Peter Bill’s continued contribution to journalism in the built environment was marked with the presentation of the first IBP Outstanding Contribution Award.

Peter is still in journalistic harness, having worked in the construction sector in many different forms, since leaving school at the age of 15 and starting to train as a surveyor in 1962.

A long-form career included 11 years with Wimpey, two with Anglo-American in Zambia, then eight years with a builder and housebuilder before his conversion to journalism, joining Contract Journal in 1983. After two years he was off to Building as features editor, rising up the ranks to become editor from 1990 to 1996, a highly  successful era for the magazine, when it won unprecedented numbers of awards including many IBP Journalism Awards.

A brief excursion in the City of London at Fleming Securities was followed by the editorship of the Estates Gazette, then a long period as a columnist on EG, but also in the general  public’s eye as the Evening Standard weekly property commentator.

An occasional columnist for Property Week, he also produces an acerbic daily twitter comment while working on his latest book.

The following nominations have been made in the IBP Annual National Journalism Awards for 2021. The nominations are listed alphabetically and the winner in each category will be announced at the Annual Journalism Awards presentations event, date to be announced.

ARCHITECTURE WRITER OF THE YEAR

Marcus Fairs, Dezeen
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Building Design
Frances Williams, Architects’ Journal

CONSTRUCTION/INFRASTRUCTURE WRITER OF THE YEAR

Stephen Cousins, Freelance for RIBA Journal/MODUS
Marcus Fairs, Dezeen
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Building
Will Hurst, Architects’ Journal
Thomas Lane, Building
Ian Weinfass, Construction News

NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR

Peter Apps, Inside Housing
Nathaniel Barker, Inside Housing
Lucie Heath, Inside Housing
Will Ing, Architects’ Journal
David Price, Construction News
Jack Simpson, Inside Housing

FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR

Peter Apps, Inside Housing
Lucy Heath, Inside Housing
Martina Lees, The Sunday Times
Tom Lowe, Building
Jack Simpson, Inside Housing
Ian Weinfass, Construction News

BUSINESS/FINANCIAL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

David Price, Construction News
Dave Rogers, Building
Alastair Stewart, Freelance for Property Week

HOUSING/RESIDENTIAL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Peter Apps, Inside Housing
Carl Brown, Housing Today
Nathaniel Barker, Inside Housing
Joey Gardiner, Building
Jack Simpson, Inside Housing

NEW JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Jennifer Hahn, Dezeen
Catherine Kennedy, New Civil Engineer
Joshua Stein, Construction News

SCOOP OF THE YEAR

Elizabeth Hopkirk, Building
Martina Lees, The Sunday Times
Jack Simpson, Inside Housing

EDITORIAL BRAND OF THE YEAR

Architects’ Journal
Building
Building Design
Dezeen
Inside Housing

THE IBP JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Will be announced from the winners of the individual categories

Harriett Hindmarsh, Chair of IBP and Gerald Bowey, CEO, ibp Services share the direction of travel for 2020.

Celebrating Success

This report, like so many things we take for granted, has changed in its key messages since we have all been affected by the fall out of the Covid-19 virus. We started our fiftieth year in good order and even better spirits with over a 120 members celebrating the landmark anniversary with a musical appreciation of the past five decades – A Musical Construction – which offered a rare and possibly the last opportunity for younger members to meet some of the surviving early trail blazing founders,

Perhaps the message. received from Brian Daniels, chairman in 1982 while heading the corporate affairs team at Redland, best sums up the feeling on the night: “It is wonderful that IBP has reached its fifth decade, As a member 50 years ago I am amazed how the various boards and committees have made IBP into the highly professional organisation it is today.”

A copy of the evenings programme can be view on the website, go to the menu: Downloads, Social Events.

50th Anniversary discussion – ‘Can Traditional Media cut it with Generation Z’

IBP and FTI Consulting staged the highly successful `Can Traditional Media cut it with Generation Z’ as part of IBP’s  50th anniversary celebrations, with the ambition of understanding how traditional media brands are winning new followers.

Chaired by Giles Barrie, Managing Director, FTI Real Estate team and former editor of Property Week introduced the Guest of Honour, Times Business Editor and former Property Week reporter Richard Fletcher and a panellist for the evening seminar held at FTI Consulting’s City of London office and attended by 100 guests. Other panellists, representing a new crop of journalist and communicators included Josh Spencer, Social Media Journalist, The Economist, City University graduate 2018, Ella Jessel, senior reporter, The Architects’ Journal and IBP Young Journalist 2018 together with IBP Young Communicator 2018 and FTI Director, Ellie Perham-Marchant explained how they are appealing to newer readers through a range of digital strategies, including Snapchat and Instagram combined with good-old fashioned news-getting and investigative journalism. This in turn poses new challenges for the communications world, as they interact with journalists posting on new platforms in real time.

The event was recorded and is available on the IBP website: https://ibp.org.uk/videogallery/can-traditional-media-cut-it-with-gen-z/ 

Futures Group – ‘Writing brilliant features with the FT and Wired’

The final Futures Group of 2019 took place on 9th December. Titled ‘Writing brilliant features with the FT and Wired’, the event was held in collaboration with City University and sponsored by Trilogy Property, hosted at their recently completed development, Republic, at East India Dock.

The event proved to be highly popular, with over 150 attendees ranging from students from City University to editors and journalists from built environment B2B titles together with architecture and property correspondents from the national media

Prior to the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to network and it was great to see so many new faces. For many of the student attendees, this event was the first time they had come across IBP.

The proceedings were kicked off by Nick Duxbury, Group Creative Lead at Redwood BBDO, followed by a warm welcome from the event host, Robert Wolstenholme, Founder and CEO, Trinity Property.

Three top feature writers were on the panel: Emma Jacobs, Features Writer at The FT, Matt Reynolds, Science Editor at Wired and Martin Fletcher, Freelance Features Writer for the Times, FT, Telegraph and New Statesman. Each speaker gave practical advice on feature writing and highlighted why some of their most well-read articles were particularly successful. This was followed by a Q&A from a highly engaged audience, and many stayed back afterwards to ask for further advice from the panel.

The event was recorded and is available on the IBP website: https://ibp.org.uk/videogallery/ibp-futures-group-2019/ 

Journalism Awards

We ended 2019 with an outstanding crop of awards, presented by Nick Ferrari, for both Journalists and PR Practitioners in a special joint event to reflect and celebrate our memberships best work. The full report can be found on the homepage with links to the awards bulletin. Special awards for Outstanding Contribution, over their careers, were presented to veteran editor, journalist and author Peter Bill and North West PR guru Clare Moody, bringing a very successful and enjoyable year to a close.

First Futures Group Webinar

In 2020 we held our first webinar, in association with City, University of London, with an outstanding panel of national journalists on the fallout from the Covid-19 Government briefings. They shared their candid views on government press officers toeing the departmental ministers line to hide the truth from “prying” journalists: https://mediaspace.city.ac.uk/playlist/dedicated/1_glbdffox

As each of us strive to regain a semblance of normal life and rebuild relationships IBP is working on this year’s journalism awards. Having celebrated 50 years of activity our focus continues to be to support journalists and good journalism. Now, more than ever, members should get involved and shape the organisation for the future needs of the built environment media and communications profession as we all emerge from isolation and plan for future growth. IBP’s clear message to members is to support each other by Celebrating Success.

I can only end by echoing Brian Daniel’s comments, I am amazed at how the members of the board continue to work tirelessly to encourage, support and reward outstanding journalism and communications in the built environment. Equally we are fortunate that our sponsors appreciate the role of IBP in delivering the annual awards and for their support in hosting categories.

Gerald Bowey
CEO, ibp Services

For AGM Papers click here

Please note the nominations are listed alphabetically and the winner in each category will be announced at the Annual Journalism Awards dinner at the Four Seasons hotel on Thursday 29th November. If you have not already done so, please put this date in your diary.

ARCHITECTURE WRITER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by BDP

Elizabeth Hopkirk, Building Design
Ike ljeh, Building Design
Manon Mollard, The Architectural Review
Isabelle Priest, RIBA Journal
Rob Wilson, The Architects’ Journal

CONSTRUCTION/INFRASTRUCTURE WRITER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Willmott Dixon

Lucy Alderson, Construction News
Binyamin Ali, Construction News
Thomas Lane, Building Design

NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Four Communications

Peter Apps, Inside Housing
Nathaniel Barker, Inside Housing
Luke Barratt, Inside Housing
India Block, Dezeen
Tim Clark, Freelance writing for Construction News and Drapers magazine
Zak Garner-Purkis, Construction News
Will Hurst, The Architects’ Journal
Charlie Schouten, Place North West
Katherine Smale, New Civil Engineer
Richard Waite, The Architects’ Journal

FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by AECOM

Lucy Alderson, Construction News
Peter Apps, Inside Housing
Nathaniel Barker, Inside Housing
Luke Barratt, Inside Housing
Alexandra Goss, The Sunday Times
Thomas Lane, Building Design
Martina Lees, The Sunday Times
Jess McCabe, Inside Housing

BUSINESS/FINANCIAL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Colliers International

Luke Barratt, Inside Housing
Judith Evans, Financial Times
Luke Cross, Social Housing
Steve Menary, Freelance
writing for Housebuilder and Highways magazine

HOUSING /RESIDENTIAL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Barratt Developments

Peter Apps, Inside Housing
Nathaniel Barker, Inside Housing
Hugh Graham, The Sunday Times
Martin Hilditch, Inside Housing

MULTI-MEDIA JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by IBP

Simon Aldous, The Architects’ Journal
Peter Apps, Sophie Barnes, Nathaniel Barker and Luke Barratt, Inside Housing
Marcus Fairs, Dezeen
Amy Frearson, Dezeen

‘NEW’ JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by The Built Environment Trust

Luke Barratt, Inside Housing
Eleanor Beaumont, The Architectural Review
Ella Jessel, The Architects’ Journal
Jordan Marshall, Building
David Price, Construction News

MAGAZINE (WEEKLY) OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Marley Eternit

Building
Construction News
Inside Housing

MAGAZINE (NON WEEKLY) OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Sidell Architects

New Civil Engineer
New London Quarterly
Planning in London
Social Housing
The Architects’ Journal
The Architectural Review

DIGITAL SERVICE
Sponsored by IBP

Construction News
Dezeen
Place North West
Social Housing
The Architects’ Journal
The B1M

SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by FTI Consulting

Peter Apps, Inside Housing
Peter Apps, Luke Barratt and Kate de Selincourt, Inside Housing
Luke Barratt and Sophie Barnes,  Inside Housing
Will Hurst, The Architects’ Journal
Zak Garner-Purkis, Construction News
Dave Rogers, Building

THE IBP JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by AECOM

See website homepage for full details of the Awards Presentation Dinner

IBP JOURNALISM AWARDS 2018 – JUDGES

Claer Barratt, Personal Finance Editor, Financial Times

Adrian Barrick, Editorial Consultant, former editor Building

Giles Barrie, MD, Strategic Communications, FTI Consulting, former editor Property Week

Peter Bill, Freelance Journalist, former editor Building and Estates Gazette

Mark Collins, Executive Director, CBRE

Tim Danton, Director, Danton Media, Consultant to Dennis Publishing

Peter Day, Correspondent, BBC ‘In Business’ programme

George Demetri, Technical Writer WSP, former editor World Tunnelling

Soraya Khan, Partner, Theis and Khan Architects

Mike Leonard, CEO, Building Alliance

Dominic Morgan, Director, Ing media, former deputy editor Property Week

Fiona Neil, Associate, Piercy Company, Architects

Richard Northedge, City & Business Journalist, former editor, Sunday Business

Alasdair Reisner, CEO, CECA, former journalist on Construction News

Peter Roper, Freelance Journalist, former editor New Builder

Dickon Ross, Editor-in-Chief, Engineering & Technology

Barbara Rowlands, Associate Professor of Journalism, City University

David Saffin, CEO, Second Opinion Experts Alliance

John Slaughter, Director, External Affairs, Home Buyers Federation

Ruth Slavid, Architecture Editor and Journalist, former editor AJ Online

Caroline Thorpe, Freelance Journalist (business, politics and social affairs) contributes to:

The Economist, The Financial Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph

Jenny Watt, Marketing Manager, The Built Environment Trust

James Whitmore, Tavistock, former City Editor Property Week

John Yadoo, Partner, Pryme Consulting

This list is comprehensive and correct at the time of posting

June 2018