Marketing to Architects

Downloadable Database of Architectural Practices

In order to support this feature, we have identified senior named contacts for over 1,350 of the architectural practices in the UK for our subscribers to download. It has been compiled with a focus on medium and larger practices and, consequently, smaller firms comprising a single practitioner have been omitted. All the practices featured in the June 2025 Architects’ Journal 'Top 100' league table (AJ100) have been included.

The new edition of the database (published in Spring 2026) has seen a considerable number of changes compared to the previous version, with many of the entries having been amended or removed to reflect mergers, address changes and cessations, etc. New entries have been introduced, where appropriate, and contact name changes have been checked and updated throughout. In addition to the contact name, the information also includes address, telephone number, website, email and LinkedIn address. This latest edition provides a high number of named email addresses, at around 91%, the balance being made up of generic addresses, such as practice@, info@, etc. If you are logged in, you may now access it, in Excel format, here. Non-subscribers may purchase the database separately for £95 + VAT from our Shop.

Profile of UK Architects

There are two principal bodies representing UK architects – the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). In order to offer services as an architect, it is mandatory for UK practitioners to register with the sector's regulator, the Architects Registration Board (ARB). 

According to Statista, in the “second quarter of 2025, there were approximately 54,100 people employed as architects in the United Kingdom; however, in a paper published in July 2025, the ARB said that there were 40,505 architects on the register.   Just to complicate the figures a little further, in April 2025, the Architects Council of Europe (ACE) published its report, The Architectural Profession in Europe - A Sector Study.  This detailed report estimated that there were approximately 42,300 architects and 9,394 practices in the UK in the previous year. Most architectural practices are small and there is no one firm which has a dominant market share. The ACE report breaks-down the practice sizes as follows:

• Number of practices with 1 member of staff 5,537
• Number of practices with 2 members of staff 1,443
• Number of practices with 3 to 5 members of staff 1,204
• Number of practices with 6 to 10 members of staff 719
• Number of practices with 11 to 30 members of staff 301
• Number of practices with 31 to 50 members of staff 132
• Number of practices with over 50 members of staff 57

In terms of gender, the ACE report identified that 70% of registered architects were male and 29% female (prefer not to say – 1%). In terms of age, 13% were under 35, 37% were aged between 35 and 49, 34% were aged between 50 and 64, and 17% were aged 65 or over (we assume the total of 101% is as a result of rounding up).

The ACE report also said that 17% were identified as sole practitioners, 32% were identified as partner/director, 13% were described as associates, and 22% were described as salaried employees in private practice. (Please note: as mentioned above, our downloadable database of 1,270 architectural practices does not include sole practitioner practices.)

Current Market and Size

The ACE report estimated that the value of the UK’s architectural market was €3,704,431 in 2024, and the percentage breakdown for new build, heritage and other refurbishment was 48%, 17% and 35% respectively. When analysing the proportion of the market’s involvement by type of project, the report found:

• Private Housing 54%
• Offices 4%
• Retail 9%
• Leisure and the arts 3%
• Industrial 5%
• Health 6%
• Education 3%
• Public Housing 7%
• Other Private 4%

Separately, the most recent RIBA Business Benchmarking Report, published in 2025, surveyed RIBA chartered practices and said that 30% of all revenue comes from private housing work.

The monthly Future Trends Survey, carried out by the RIBA, provides a useful insight into the prevailing sentiment amongst UK architects when looking ahead to future workloads. Construct UK provides regular summaries of these and most other construction industry surveys here. 

Marketing and Promotion

Throughout the ConstructUK Directory, we have detailed many of the communications channels open to suppliers targeting the architectural sectors of the UK and Ireland, and we invite you to explore these pages to discover many of the resources available to construction product marketers.

More generally, it is worth remembering that architects, themselves, will generally prioritise aesthetics and, consequently, respond to visually presented information. It is also important to recognise that architects are time-poor and, therefore, any contact attempt needs to be perfectly timed. On this point, according to construction sales support specialists, Crannull, architects are the second most marketed-to profession in the UK.

Published in 2023, the NBS’s survey, What Specifiers Want, considered the specification preferences of various professional disciplines and found that 92% of architects are more likely to include named manufacturers when specifying products. The resulting free-to-download report provides valuable information on the approaches and attitudes of specifiers in terms of product selection, and it is worth noting that some 48% of all respondents to the survey worked at architectural practices.

More recent research from NBS builds on this picture, highlighting a significant shift in priorities. Its 2025 sustainability survey found that 92% of specifiers now believe manufacturers need to provide more detailed sustainability performance data, particularly around embodied carbon and environmental impact. Crucially, nearly half of specifiers (46%) (rising to over half - 52% - for just architects) are more likely to select manufacturers with above-average sustainability credentials, underlining how environmental performance has become a key factor in specification decisions.

Unsurprisingly, the internet is often a starting point for architects seeking construction product information. Search engines, product directories and manufacturer websites all provide useful data. Research for the Construction Media Index shows that architects use product directories significantly more than contractors, yet contractors use YouTube more than architects, for example. However, architects are keen readers of industry magazines and journals.

More recent NBS research reinforces this digital-first behaviour, showing that internet search engines and supplier websites remain the primary sources of product information, followed by technical representatives and online libraries. The same research also highlights that architects place the highest value on technical, structured product data, particularly product data sheets, specification clauses and CAD details, reflecting a clear shift away from traditional marketing-led formats towards data-rich digital information that can be directly integrated into specification workflows.

In their article, How to Target Architects, construction marketing specialists, Time54, point out that architects will frequently specify products and brands with which they are comfortable and which they have used in previous projects because they know how to integrate a product into their plans and will be happy with the product’s performance, manufacturer’s support, etc. Therefore, it is important to understand how to break through this barrier, and the article explains ways in which this can be achieved, including becoming expert in the typical problems that architects experience in order to build awareness and trust in a particular product and manufacturer.

Most of the time, architects will try and avoid unsolicited calls from suppliers, unless the timing coincides with the point at which they need to specify products. When selecting products, they will, overwhelmingly, prefer to undertake their own research at the appropriate time. Research for the Construction Media Index confirmed that the preferred sources of product information and ideas for architects are manufacturer websites and online searches, and that their most trusted sources are CPD seminars, followed by the publications they regularly read, and then exhibitions and conferences.

Therefore, to summarise this point - passive marketing is key to generating awareness and we have expanded on some of the principal communication channels below.

Social Media Usage Amongst Architects
Recent research from USP found that “77% of architects use at least one social media platform for professional purposes, spending an average of 2.5 hours per week on these platforms.”   Their commentary emphasises that this usage is for networking rather than scrolling sessions. They also found that platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube, have seen an uptick in usage amongst architects “as they allow professionals to get in touch with clients or peers, showcase their work and learn about new trends”. 

USP also found that, for both UK and Belgium based architects, Instagram plays a central role, serving not only as a source of creative inspiration but also as a powerful channel for presenting projects visually. Meanwhile, in the UK, YouTube is becoming increasingly influential as a learning platform, where architects turn to tutorials, case studies, and specialist content to enhance their expertise.

For further reading, see USP’s article ‘From Specs to Social – the Architect’s 2025 Media Mix’.

Emerging Use of AI in Construction Product Specification and Research

Recent industry research and commentary from the US-based American Institute of Architects (AIA) suggests that architects are beginning to explore the use of artificial intelligence to support early-stage specification and product research, although adoption remains at an experimental stage. AIA studies indicate that only around 6% of architects currently use AI regularly in their workflows, with most applications focused on chatbots, text generation and image tools rather than formal specification processes. However, broader analysis highlights growing interest in AI for streamlining specification writing and assisting product research, particularly in managing large volumes of technical and performance data. 

Amongst the many findings in the AIA’s survey report, The Architect’s Journey to Specification: Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Architecture Firms: Opportunities & Risks, was that 51% of architectural professionals consider their firm inefficient at updating product libraries, yet only 4% have tried to apply AI to improve that process. This clearly signposts a significant gap between recognised workflow inefficiencies and current AI adoption in specification-related tasks. However, it also suggests that AI has substantial latent potential in this area, and given the rapid pace of development in generative and data-driven tools, adoption could accelerate quickly. As a result, the use of AI in product selection and specification is likely to become an increasingly important trend for architects and manufacturers to monitor closely over the coming years.

Publishers of the European Architectural Barometer, USP, survey architects each year.   In a recent blog post from Spring 2026, entitled ‘Most Architects Now Use AI: Here's What They're Actually Doing With It’, they posited that, compared to other construction professionals, architects are clearly ahead of the race in AI usage and that 55% of UK architects are now using it.  The research suggest that architects are using AI for a range of tasks, including generating technical documentation and creating automatic BIM objects.

More speculative industry commentary, largely from LinkedIn-based AEC technology discussions and construction AI platforms, suggests that AI tools are increasingly being positioned as “specification assistants”, capable of filtering and comparing building product information at early design stages. While much of this evidence is drawn from the US market, the implications are highly relevant to UK and European manufacturers, as global design workflows, BIM platforms and product data standards are increasingly interconnected, meaning AI-driven discovery and filtering tools are likely to influence specification behaviour across all developed construction markets.

Journals Read by Architects

In a summer 2025 article, construction research firm USP, said, “Despite the steady shift toward digital, traditional media is still alive and kicking - especially when it comes to journals, brochures and catalogues. These formats haven’t vanished; they’ve evolved.”  Their research of UK and EU architects found that 79% consult trade journals.  In their commentary, USP noted the change in how this information was being consumed and said that, in 2025, the digital vs. print preference for journals was now nearly even (42% preferring digital, 43% preferring print).

The enduring marketing value of journals to construction product suppliers is underlined by the independent ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) auditing of key journals, such as:

• RIBA Journal audited circulation around 21,515.
• Architecture Today audited circulation around 26,236.
• Architects Datafile (ADF) audited circulation around 10,000.
• Architecture, Building, Contracting & Developing (ABC&D) audited circulation around 27,076

Many of the rest of the industry's 300+ journals also reach architects, enabling sector-specific targeting through journals such as Healthcare Design & Management, the 2026 media pack for which cites circulation of 8,295, of which 20% are architects (this includes its sister title - MHDF); Hotelier and Hospitality Design - the 2026 media pack states that the readership includes 5,094 architects; and Education Design & Build, for which the 2026 media pack gives a circulation of 8,860, of which 30% are architects (this includes its sister title - HEE).

Needless to say, these represent just a fraction of the titles in the marketplace. In order to identify the most appropriate journal for your marketing campaign, our index of 330+ UK construction industry journals includes editorial and sales contacts and circulation, together with a short profile of the target audience for each title.

Exhibitions Attracting Architects

As our calendar of UK construction exhibitions demonstrates, the market now comprises around 200 trade shows of varying scale and focus, many of which attract architects either explicitly or as part of a broader specification audience. These events typically fall into two categories: large, multi-disciplinary exhibitions that target the entire construction supply chain; and more specialist or design-led shows where architects can sometimes form a core part of the audience.

Within the first category, the leading national events continue to position architects as a key attendee group. UK Construction Week* and London Build* both explicitly reference architects within their visitor profiles, alongside contractors, developers and housebuilders, reflecting the importance of early-stage specification influence. Similarly, regional events such as Construction Expo North*, identify “architectural and design firms” as a defined audience segment.

Alongside these sit events that are more explicitly aligned with the architecture and design community. Architect@Work, for example, is specifically curated for architects and designers, while Futurebuild continues to attract a strong specification-led audience, particularly around sustainable materials and building performance. Sometimes, architects are often grouped within the wider “A&D” (architects and designers) or “specifier” audience, reflecting the collaborative nature of design teams.

A further tier of exhibitions focuses on particular sub-sectors. Events such as the Surface Design Show and the Workplace Design Show are heavily design-led, with audiences dominated by architects and interior designers. Meanwhile, Digital Construction Week attracts architects as part of a broader digital and BIM-focused professional audience, and elementalLONDON* is for specifiers working in the areas of heating, cooling, water, air, and energy, and cites architects amongst its typical visitor profile.

Regionally focused events also cite architects as part of a broader professional audience. These include South East Construction Expo*, Construction Expo North and Kent Construction Expo. 

Overall, the current exhibition landscape suggests that, while architects are widely present across UK construction events, they are most clearly identifiable, and most actively targeted, at design-led, materials-focused and early-stage specification exhibitions. For manufacturers and suppliers, this distinction is important, as events that explicitly reference architects typically offer stronger opportunities to influence product selection at the design stage, whereas broader construction shows may provide greater reach across procurement and delivery audiences.

(* Construct UK acts as a media partner to these events.)

Market Research

There is a number of specialist market research firms who will undertake specific work on a project-by-project basis and we have provided an index of those with specialist construction industry knowledge and/or experience in our Construction Market Research Agencies feature.

Telephone Canvassing / Appointment Making

Whilst there is a number of routes to gain the attention of an architect, there is one simple method which is often forgotten - give them a call. A lot of time and money can be invested in various marketing and advertising campaigns by organisations who want to get their products or services specified by an architect, but sometimes it is just easier to pick up the phone and arrange a time to go and see them to discuss how you can assist with a project. The telephone is often the forgotten tool when someone is looking to market to a company and, as explained above, the timing is vital for success. One company which can help with this is Crannull, who specialise in creating opportunities with architects, via the telephone, for companies who don’t have the time or internal skill sets to do it themselves.

CPD

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) was given new powers in the Building Safety Act 2022 “… to monitor the training and development architects carry out throughout their careers”. This enables them to aid the continued learning of registered architects throughout their professional lives. Subsequently, they introduced a new CPD scheme, publishing a report, and details for the new scheme.

Separately, RIBA Chartered Member architects are required to complete 35 hours of CPD each year and we have covered the use of CPD by construction professionals and the consequent opportunities for suppliers in our CPD Certification & Marketing feature.

Consequently, for construction product suppliers, CPD represents a significant networking and brand building awareness opportunity because, by the very nature of their businesses, manufacturers and suppliers possess considerable expertise and are ideally placed to help architects by providing them with CPD approved material as well as one-to-one seminars.

In 2022, the RIBA CPD Providers Network surveyed 390 designers and specifiers to look at attitudes, usage and trends relating to how specifiers accessed CPD (via webinars, in-person seminars, digital materials, etc.). Around half of respondents were architects and, amongst many findings, it found that architects access CPD material in a variety of ways, but that 94% also do it digitally. Almost half of all respondents (47%) continued to undertake CPD in person. The report provides much insight into the topic and a breakdown of its findings can be viewed here. 

In a 2026 blog post, entitled ‘Delivering an Effective CPD to Improve Your Specification’, specialist construction marketing agency, Time54, explains that, “when delivering a CPD presentation to architects, your ultimate goal is to position your product or brand as a solution to the specific challenges they face during a build project.  This requires more than just listing features, showcasing technical performance, or referencing building regulations.  To improve specification rates and deliver an effective CPD, it must be structured around three key principles:

• solving real-world problems
• simplifying the specification process
• tailoring the content to your audience’s needs”

The comprehensive article provides key insights around these principles and can be read here.

Specialist organisations, such as Crannull, can make contact with architectural practices to organise CPD presentations on behalf of product manufacturers and suppliers.

Product Directories

Product directories represent an important communication channel for product suppliers seeking to reach architects. Not only do they provide architects and other specifiers with fast access to focused product information, but they also provide the opportunity to promote other content, such BIM Objects and CPD. Construction marketing specialists, Insynth, posit that building product directories are used in up to 76% of product research in the UK, whilst research for the Construction Media Index found that architects use product directories significantly more than other industry professionals, such as contractors.

In the UK, there are several major product directories which are widely used by specifiers and they include: Barbour Product Search; NBS Source; SpecifiedBy; Building Product Index; and The Building Centre Product Finder. Our index of Construction Product Directories can be found here.