Nine out of ten PH+ UK readers have made decisions based on articles

Passive House Plus is published to meet a very specific need: to provide detailed technical information on how to build quality, sustainable buildings, at a time when the whole construction industry is required by tightening building standards to do precisely that.
We work hard to help designers and clients to specify the right materials and the right technologies, detailed in the right way, to deliver successful buildings – and to find the right products and service providers to make this happen. Our reader survey shows that our readers – the vast majority of whom are design professionals or self-builders – are responding to adverts and articles in Passive House Plus in exactly the way we would hope. The following survey results relate to our UK edition.

We work hard to help designers and clients to specify the right materials and the right technologies, detailed in the right way, to deliver successful buildings – and to find the right products and service providers to make this happen. Our reader survey shows that our readers – the vast majority of whom are design professionals or self-builders – are responding to adverts and articles in Passive House Plus in exactly the way we would hope. The following survey results relate to our UK edition.

Only 6% of surveyed readers bin or recycle the magazine once they’re finished with a given issue – with 71% filed away for reference, 6% shared, and 17% left on display. Eighty per cent of respondents read the magazine from cover-to-cover or read most articles and flick through the rest, while 18% read some articles and flick through the rest.

Almost 99% of respondents – 98.8% to be precise – find the magazine’s content relevant in light of tightening building standards.

The survey also indicates that the majority of readers are engaging with the magazine’s highly targeted advertisers. Over 90% of respondents said the adverts in Passive House Plus are relevant to them, with over 77% having made decisions on projects because of adverts in the magazine.

Seventy-two per cent of respondents pay more attention to ads in Passive House Plus than other magazines, and think a brand looks more credible when it appears in Passive House Plus – while 83% think of the brands that appear regularly in Passive House Plus as some of the main brands involved in sustainable building.

Thirty-nine per cent of readers are design professionals, 35% are self-builders, 5% are specialist consultants, 5% are contractors or product suppliers, and 6% are property developers or corporate/public sector clients.

Ninety per cent of design professional readers have made decisions on projects in direct response to ads, as have 71% of self-builders. Sixty-one per cent are involved in one-off house projects, 32% in multi-unit housing, 21% in commercial, 16% in public buildings, 18% in educational/healthcare buildings, and 10% in industrial projects. Given that most respondents are industry professionals, the majority are working on several project types.

Thirty-seven per cent of respondents read the magazine from cover to cover, 44% flick through and read most articles, 18% flick through and read some articles, while 2% flick through the magazine but read no articles.

The survey indicated there are 1.99 readers per copy of Passive House Plus. Forty-four per cent of copies are read by one person only – but this may be in part because of how closely they guard it – given that 71% of this cohort of respondents file the magazine away for reference after reading.

The online survey was conducted from September to October 2019. The survey was promoted via an email newsletter and a separate email to subscribers. 516 responses have been collected by the time this analysis was completed, including 170 from UK-based readers. Note that not all readers answered all questions in the survey – 86% completed the entire survey. The survey also included similarly positive results from Ireland-based respondents – indicating that the Irish edition is also making its mark on the construction practices in Ireland.

Commenting on the results, editor Jeff Colley said: “Passive House Plus is published to meet a very specific need: to provide detailed technical information on how to build quality, sustainable buildings, at a time when the whole construction industry is required by tightening building standards to do precisely that.

“We work hard to help designers and clients to specify the right materials, the right technologies, detailed in the right way, to deliver successful buildings – and to find the right product and service providers to make this happen. Our reader survey shows that our readers – the vast majority of whom are design professionals or self-builders – are responding to adverts and articles in Passive House Plus in exactly the way we would hope.”

To request the full reader survey results, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..