As this month’s cover indicates this is our 200th edition, after 18 years of publishing this magazine since the launch back in 2002. At that time the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the USA was still dominating the news agenda, and we then had the second Iraq conflict. I can recall holding our first ever Conference in central London in June 2003 amidst fears being publically expressed that another terrorist attack was imminent. And within two years one sadly occurred in the capital.

In 2008 we had the Great Financial Crash and the subsequent period of austerity with cutbacks in public services. And now in 2020 we are enduring a public health crisis with the coronavirus and as we go to print, some 400,000 deaths worldwide, with 10% of those to-date having officially occurred in the UK.

As I write this column it seems the government are looking at a gradual ‘unlocking’ phase to reverse the lengthy shut-down which already has and will no doubt have huge implications for the economy in the next few years. Thankfully, in the last few weeks the housing market and building industry has reopened and a mini-boom seems to be occurring with some busy auctions and letting agents reporting ‘brisk business’.