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John Woodman knows better than to expect the best. The senior partner of building surveyor Malcolm Hollis gained his professional qualifications in 1989, 鈥渏ust as the market
went completely pear-shaped鈥�, which he describes as a defining moment in his career and something he has never forgotten. He has based his business decisions on preparing for the worst ever since: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not rocket science. You choose specialisms and services that will ride out downs as well as ups. It works.鈥�

So it might come as a surprise that Woodman is feeling pretty upbeat this year - particularly as he heads up a company charged with maximising the value of commercial property, which is hardly a service well aligned to recessionary times. He firmly believes the summer will bring with it a marked improvement in the commercial property sector and fresh investment. As a result, his current plan is to double the size of Malcolm Hollis over the next four years - upping turnover from 拢11m to 拢21m - before potentially moving into
overseas markets for the first time. Woodman, it turns out, is an optimist after all.

Sitting in the company鈥檚 Mayfair head office, the 48-year-old explains how the firm will grow, why Malcolm Hollis is a good barometer for what investors are doing and why, despite his optimistic streak, he doesn鈥檛 think we will see the 2005 levels of investment in the commercial market 鈥減otentially ever again鈥�.

The unlikely optimist

Woodman joined Malcolm Hollis in 1991 at the age of 27 and has been planning for the downturn ever since. 鈥淲hen the entire market disappears as soon as you start your career, you remember that. And you look back on it to try and work out what happened to destroy the work, and make sure you plan against it.鈥�

At Malcolm Hollis, Woodman put a strategy in place that focused on his field of expertise - dilapidations - an area of work that is likely to fare better in tough times than when there is a boom. This carried the firm through the nineties and again during the recent recession, although Woodman says he has ensured the company has diversified since he took the helm as senior partner in 1994.

鈥淲e wanted to make sure the market didn鈥檛 just see us as dilapidations experts. From 2000 onwards we have been using this specialism to build up greater technical due diligence and we have done much more refurbishment work over the last five years. Ten years ago we were 65% dilapidations; today it鈥檚 more like 30%, then 30% due diligence, 30% project management and 10% the rest.

WHEN THE ENTIRE MARKET DISAPPEARS AS SOON AS YOU START YOUR CAREER, YOU LOOK BACK AND TRY TO WORK OUT WHAT HAPPENED

鈥淚t鈥檚 so important to be diverse now as the commercial property world has changed so much - particularly in the last three years. You can鈥檛 just go off and buy a building now to sell it
two years later and make a good return. Most people are buying buildings looking to do some fairly active asset management to make their return.

鈥淐lients know they need to be very commercial in this market. It鈥檚 not about caning a tenant for all that he鈥檚 worth. It鈥檚 about making the right claim, getting it settled in a decent timeframe and then looking at the asset management side of things, which flows into refurb. And this process is what we have positioned ourselves to be able to do - from start to finish.鈥�

Woodman hopes that by operating in these sectors, and with the market steadying, now is the time for growth. He aims to double the size of the firm within four years by sticking to this work in London, as well as being well positioned in every major city in the UK through regional offices.

鈥淥ur offices are, quite simply, where the work is,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople say there is nothing happening outside of London. This may be true regarding development, but things need to be done to buildings if tenants are leaving - which is our bread and butter - and this remains an very active market in the regions. For us there are opportunities up and down the UK because of our very specific specialisms.鈥�

This focus has been so effective that Woodman is reluctant to shift attention elsewhere yet: 鈥淣ow is the time to keep things simple and stick with what you know.鈥� But in the future, things could look different: 鈥淚n a year or so鈥檚 time there are other things we will be potentially looking at. More active countries like Germany or Poland, for example. But not yet.鈥�

A change in the weather

The dilapidations work may be carrying Malcolm Hollis through the tougher economic climate.

But is there any good news for the industry and the market at large? Apparently so. 鈥淲e鈥檙e quite a good barometer for what investors are doing,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I can
tell you there is a lot of money out there. There are a lot of opportunity funds, sovereign wealth funds, private money, big property fund money. But there is still nervousness, and bank debt remains a huge problem. I think this is changing a bit this year and there is more appetite than there has been for a while.鈥�

How does he know this? 鈥淲e look at how busy our survey team is. That鈥檚 the barometer. At the moment they are reasonably busy, busier than they have been for a while, but by no means flat out.鈥�

THERE IS STILL NERVOUSENESS. I THINK THIS IS CHANGING AND THERE IS MORE APPETITE THAN THERE HAS BEEN

Unfortunately, this is about as far as his optimism stretches: 鈥淲e would like to see things become flat out. But I don鈥檛 think there will be the level of investment activity we saw in 2005 to 2007 potentially ever again. Maybe in 20 years鈥� time. But this is why we want the company to be diverse, so there are always other things people can do.鈥�

Woodman may have set out his stall for the next four years, but what about further in the future? This year marks Malcolm Hollis鈥� 21st anniversary but Woodman is clear on one thing - he won鈥檛 be sticking around for the next 21. 鈥淗ow old will I be then? 69. No, I won鈥檛 be here. I will be on a yacht somewhere relaxing.鈥� Now that鈥檚 something to keep positive about.