The loss of four senior staff in three months at AJ (Architect's Journal) is a "perverse situation" but not a sign of crisis at Emap's award-winning B2B title, according to its managing director.
Ben Greenish, the managing director for Emap Construct, said the departure of the AJ editor, publisher, news editor, and this week the resignation of art editor Sarah Douglas (pictured), represented the end of an era for the title.
"I absolutely understand why people might be sceptical, but I can confidently say that this is one of those perverse situations where you had a really stable team, a really high performing team that comes to the end of its natural life," Greenish said.
"It's slightly unfortunate that four of them have moved on within three months of each other, but actually if you're going to start putting a team together to pick up this brand and be the custodians for the next X years, it's very exciting."
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Douglas's departure follows the resignation of editor Isabel Allen and news editor Edward Dorrell on the same date in February. Publisher Jonathan Stock — Allen's husband — resigned in April. The couple both returned to architectural projects — Allen moved to Hab, which is dedicated to building sustainable housing, while Stock joined the architectural model and projects firm Pipers.
Dorrell, now news editor at NewMedia Age, has been replaced by Max Thompson, former editor of online title QS (Quantity Surveying) Week.
Ruth Slavid is currently acting editor, with editorial director of Emap Construct Paul Finch overseeing the title until a new editor is appointed.
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Douglas will leave AJ to join IPC's Wallpaper* magazine as art editor. She joined the Emap title as assistant art editor in August 2003 and was promoted to art editor in February 2005, helping AJ win a string of awards including overall magazine design of the year (business and consumer), relaunch of the year and B2B magazine of the year at the Press Gazette Magazine Design Awards. Douglas won PPA designer of the year in 2006.
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