PROPERTY UPDATE: MY VIEW:THE marketplace froze for the winter – both literally and metaphorically. The past 12 months were challenging for companies like us who supply the self-build market with renewable energy systems.

The good news is that this section of the construction market is still there, desperately trying to carry on.

There is an incentive for people to push ahead with their project because there’s much better value for money out there because the trades and suppliers have readjusted their cost base and reduced profit margins in order to stay in the game.

On the down side, the lack of credit from the banks, rightly or wrongly, depends on individual circumstances and is slowing the rate at which projects get to the point of starting, and in other cases is stopping the project from proceeding. In our experience the number of prospective clients who stated their project was not proceeding due to lack of funding or insufficient funding was 10 per cent in the early part of 2010 and this figure has risen to 20 per cent for July.

But again on the upside, a lot more projects have broken ground over the summer months and the autumn is looking good . We are optimistic.

We’ve continued to work very hard on product development, gaining a UK patent approval on our solar ventilation system.

We have also worked on getting new markets in Northern Ireland and and Scotland.”