- Business: emap
- Brands:Construction News
- Base Location: Fleet Street/Hybrid
- Employment Type: Full time, Permanent
- Salary: £28,000 – £33,000 DOE
About the role
Some of the biggest stories in construction begin with a question nobody has properly answered. Why has a major project stalled? What do a contractor’s financial problems mean for its subcontractors? Are safety reforms making a difference on building sites? Finding out means getting beyond official statements – picking up the phone, cultivating sources, challenging claims and following the evidence.
At CN, we scrutinise an industry worth billions of pounds, covering everything from major infrastructure projects and corporate collapses to politics, regulation and public safety. We’re looking for an ambitious senior reporter with the curiosity, determination and news instinct to uncover stories that matter to the people working in construction.
You’ll break exclusive stories, develop your own contacts and pursue original reporting that reveals what’s really happening across the industry. You’ll investigate issues that affect contractors and their supply chains, interview senior figures, visit major construction sites and produce journalism that goes beyond the official version of events.
Working closely with colleagues, you’ll help shape CN’s news agenda while producing a mix of breaking news, investigations, interviews, features and analysis. You’ll have the freedom to develop your own ideas, pursue promising leads and tackle substantial stories that can make a real impact.
This is a role for a journalist who loves finding things out, asking difficult questions and telling important stories – and who wants to make their mark at one of the UK’s leading specialist news publications.
Key responsibilities
Breaking original news
- Find and break exclusive stories through interviews, contact-building, investigation, and original reporting.
- Generate fresh story ideas, pursue promising leads and develop revealing follow-ups to the daily news agenda.
- Produce accurate, engaging news stories for CN’s website, newsletters and print magazine.
- Work closely with colleagues to help shape CN’s news coverage.
Features, investigations and analysis
- Research and write interviews, in-depth features, investigations and news analysis exploring the construction industry’s biggest issues.
- Pursue complex stories through interviews, documents and other evidence, challenging claims and uncovering information that is not readily available.
- Visit major construction projects and contribute to wider editorial investigations and research projects.
Contacts and wider contribution
- Build a strong network of contacts across construction, from senior industry figures to people working on sites and within supply chains.
- Attend external industry events to generate stories and build contacts, and participate in CN’s awards, conferences, webinars and roundtables.
- Contribute actively to the daily newsroom, sharing ideas and intelligence and making a limited contribution to AI-assisted news production.
- Maintain high standards of accuracy, fairness and editorial integrity, developing a strong understanding of the issues shaping the industry.
What we’re looking for
A strong news instinct. You can spot a promising lead, develop an exclusive and have a track record of producing original journalism.
Curiosity and determination. You enjoy asking difficult questions, challenging claims and pursuing stories others might miss.
Excellent reporting and writing skills. You can cultivate sources, conduct revealing interviews and turn complex information into clear, compelling journalism.
An investigative mindset. You’re confident interrogating documents, examining evidence and finding information beyond official statements.
Initiative and organisation. You can generate your own ideas, manage competing deadlines and collaborate effectively with colleagues.
Confidence and adaptability. You’re comfortable meeting industry figures, representing CN at events and learning new reporting tools and techniques.
You’ll ideally have at least two years’ newsroom experience and a record of producing strong original journalism. An NCTJ qualification or journalism degree would be an advantage but is not essential.
Experience covering construction, housing, infrastructure or related industries would be useful, but we’re equally interested in talented reporters from other sectors who can bring fresh ideas and perspectives to our coverage.
Learning & Development
At emap, we believe that employee learning and development are the key drivers of our success. To ensure continuous growth and meet the ever-changing demands of the workplace, we provide an environment that fosters continuous development for our employees.
Our employees are encouraged to identify their areas of personal and professional development aligned with our strategic areas, including management development, health, safety & wellbeing, sales, events management, marketing strategy, editorial, and information technology. We have a structured framework designed to help equip our employees with the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviours to excel in their job roles, contributing to achieving our organizational objectives.
To support our employees’ career development, we have designed specialised programs, as well as other stand‑alone role‑specific and generic courses, under the emap academy.
This excitingpositionis a full‑time hybrid role. 2 days in the office, 3 daysfrom home. This could change over time depending on business needs.
Benefits
emap is part of Metropolis Group. Together we are committed to providing a happy and healthy place to work, so we offer fantastic benefits and perks to our employees.
- 25 days of holiday per year (with the option to buy or sell)
- Health plan
- Life assurance
- Cycle-to-work scheme
- Discounted gym memberships
- Retail discount vouchers
- Rail season ticket loans
- Private virtual GP access
- Pension scheme
- Income protection and more
- Continuous learning & development opportunities
- Seasonal flu jabs on site
- One paid volunteer day per year
- Summer and Winter parties
- Work from home during August
- In-house Excellence Awards and other innovation projects
Privacy
Metropolis Group respects the privacy of every person for whom we have personal data. We comply with data protection legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation which regulates the processing of data and ensures that your data is processed fairly and lawfully, is kept secure and only that data necessary for any processing is kept. You can see our privacy policy at www.metropolis.co.uk/privacy.
Diversity and Inclusion
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity and inclusion. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, age, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or disability status.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and to being fair and inclusive. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates of all ages, regardless of disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or relationship status.
