Emap’s Construction News to switch to subscriber-only access

UPDATE 11.10: Emap has also moved Architect’s Journal behind the paywall

Emap’s building industry title, Construction News, is the latest to plan a switch to a subscriber-only web service as its owner continues with its drive to move all its websites to paid-for access.

Editor Nick Edwards told paidcontent.co.uk: ‘We think it is right that as we develop our services, we provide them exclusively for the benefit of our paying subscribers as part of their subscription package.”

Most Construction News articles are now inaccessible to non-subscribers browsing the site – but, by virtue of using Google’s First Click Free scheme, can be read for free by readers coming via Google search results.

A subscription to Construction News costs £129 for a year.

Last month, David Gilbertson, chief executive of Emap, offered assurances about the publisher’s prospects following the revelation that failure to renegotiate its banking covenants could place “significant doubt” on its future.

In an effort to branch out, Emap had formed a partnership with online medical network Doctors.net.ukin November after Gilbertson told the Association of Online Publishers that supplying news alone was unlikely to provide as successful a digital future for business-to-business publishers as providing market intelligence to customers.