Builder Group launches niche title

The Builder Group has launched a magazine targeting the growing

pounds 74 billion-a-year facilities management business.

The Facilities Business - which hits the newsstands this week - is a

monthly magazine aimed at decision-makers within the senior white-collar

management sector.

Ben Greenish, publisher of the new title, believes the Builder Group has

struck advertising gold by finding an unexploited niche within a growing

market.

Over one-third of the 90-page launch issue is made up of paid-for

display advertising, and a further 14 pages comprise recruitment

ads.

’Facilities management is a huge and rapidly growing market that

accounts for pounds 74 billion. Only ten years ago facilities managers

tended to be blue-collar operatives dealing with the lights and company

cars, but today it is a much bigger concern, sometimes accounting for up

to 10 per cent of turnover,’ explained Greenish.

He also suggested the market would expand further, predicting larger

companies would increasingly outsource facilities management tasks to

specialist companies.

’The Facilities Business was launched after extensive research involving

dozens of focus groups from around the country,’ said Greenish. ’The

groups gave us an idea of what different people in different roles

wanted and how good the print media was at delivering information on

this sector.’

As a result, the Builder Group concluded there was a large gap in the

market that could be exploited by the new publication.

On the advertising side, Greenish is particularly attracted by what he

regards as a reservoir of recruitment ads just waiting to be snapped

up.

’Recruitment advertising for this sector is only found in the national

press and some construction and property media. Our first edition has

pulled in 14 pages of recruitment ads and we expect to see ad revenue

grow dramatically over the next year,’ said Greenish.

The magazine is served by a three-strong display sales team comprising

advertisement manager Neil Presland, Southern sales executive Andrew

Pert and Northern sales executive Jonathan Bibby.

A further six sales staff from the Builder Group’s classified

advertisement department sell the classified section of the magazine,

but not on a full-time basis.

Big-name advertisers in the launch issue include Honeywell, Amec, Knight

Frank and Group 4.

The new publication is aiming for a circulation of 15,000 with some

5,000 registered prior to publication.

Editor Kate Lowe, who joins the magazine from Property Week where she

was deputy editor, leads a four-strong editorial team.

This article was first published on Campaign