An emergence not from the building owning the nomenclature, but in the minds of Iseeb Ur Rehman and his close-knit group of founding members in search of a name for their new enterprise. I personally had bets on a Nottinghamshire birthright or at least a fixation with Robin Hood in Lincoln green leggings, there again I failed to pick a single winner at the recent Dubai World Cup and my sixth sense of prediction should be deemed unreliable at best. However, the latter adjective cannot be applied to Iseeb who, along with his organization, are past and present masters of the property game and indeed vociferous and intuitive commentators on said sector.

Originally founded in the United Kingdom in 1988, opportune timing or otherwise, when UK house prices were at their most expensive before the property market crashed royally in the following year, Sherwoods Independent Property Consultants have progressed to offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, Woking and Birmingham, along with Doha and Bahrain. Locating to Dubai in 1996, they remain a one-stop emporium for anyone wishing to purchase property in the Middle East, India, UK, France, Spain or Morocco. Note the retention of internationality, in much the same vein as this very publication, for it is indeed the grasp of international markets that colours this particular meeting of minds between Mr. Rehman, Sherwoods´ Managing Director and I.

Ah yes we were at MIPIM in Cannes simultaneously, billed as the world´s property market; what were your impressions of the latest edition? By the way we missed each other on the ground in pursuit of our respective ends, so call this catching up!

´We actually got some good returns from this year´s event. I find that the chaps here (we are at Iseeb´s office in Emarat Atrium Building in Sheikh Zayed Road), as in developers, tend to see exhibitions as a shop front window in isolation. The nature of MIPIM is considerably different. The MIPIM conferences are focused on city and regional vision, ie where are we going as opposed to what we have for sale now. As you walk around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès and its various associated tents and annexes, you are struck by the number of city supported pavilions. Generally they operate under the aegis of government agencies, with developers and their associates, whether they are in competition or not, all rallying to the flag happy to coexist and present under the same umbrella.´

Do you feel that both Dubai and Abu Dhabi could benefit from this model?

´Most certainly I do. Taking Dubai as an example, we tend not to merge the message in this way; exhibitors adopt a more independently positioned approach. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry would be an ideal entity to take the lead role, perhaps in conjunction with the Dubai Land Department and the Real Estate Regulatory Agency. The end objective being to create a city specific pavilion and perhaps take things one step further to a UAE level. Dubai now sits within the fringe of the ten to fifteen top cities in the world, which undoubtedly justifies a more collective presence at MIPIM.´

´MIPIM is about government to government contact in many instances. The Baltic States present themselves in a collective format, Russia´s regions and major cities are the same. Well known entities like London, Liverpool and Singapore are on show as a single cohesive unit. It is logistically more economic and ensures a much higher incidence of visitor traffic passing through. It has to be more cost effective and transports the business case with considerably greater political weight behind it, directly into the face of serious investment entities, elevating the profile of all the master developers at the same time.´

I understand that Sherwoods will also be attending the next large real estate event of the European Calendar which is SIMA to be held in Madrid, Spain. What is your objective in that case?

´Yes we will be in attendance at Salon Inmobiliario de Madrid (SIMA 2008) which runs from the 8th to 12th of April. It is in fact the largest property show in the World, with 800 exhibitors plus attracting160, 000 visitors in 2007 and much more residentially oriented. We recognize that we are not going to be selling but we are actively trying to attract Spanish developers and investors to take a serious look at the UAE. It has security, infrastructure and most of all, serious opportunity. Their own market is saturated and our objective is to bring them to look at land and projects in our market. There are many seriously wealthy Spanish families who have made vast amounts of money in development and property who have to extend into emerging markets in Eastern Europe and South America. So why not offer the Emirates and Dubai in particular as yet another outward excursion? Our job is to expose the city to a whole series of Spanish institutions.´

Following this theme all the way home, does the credit crunch and ongoing mayhem in the financial services markets form part of your argument over in Spain?

´People do not actually comprehend that the fall out from the sub-prime mortgage scenario and the ensuing credit crunch has been an excellent boost for this region. Investors immediately think now where do we go to get over the distinct lack of options currently in evidence in Espagne? We still have very positive lending policies here, mainly through the Islamic format which doesn´t require banks to go out and securitize debt on the market. In terms of inventory, the amount that is mortgaged is running in single figures at the moment. This recent round of events also exposes the susceptibility of a banking industry running on Western concepts.´

´Elsewhere, the current spread of negative equity in the US has caused people, who are used to investing, to step back from established markets and they have taken an instant decision to visit alternative investment havens, which definitively includes Dubai. German open-end funds are seriously looking at this market; however this needs a government initiative to woo them further. Overall, the consensus of institutional viewpoints indicates that a series of funds will be entering this market in the near future.´

´Returning this to a MIPIM context, as I´m sure you´ll remember, that several show seasons ago, even though you sat down at length with seasoned investors to explain the possibilities here they were not entirely convinced. These days it is a different story, they want chapter and verse but with great conviction.

´I also feel that Cityscape Abu Dhabi, as the next significant local event, will be a good data platform for inbound investors, hopefully it will attract a large overseas contingent. The present strength of the Euro, at an all time high, will be a driving force, as will the impending US presidential elections when the dollar traditionally takes a tumble at the pre-election stage, although it generally recovers afterwards.´

We could have conceivably consumed a further forty eight hours deliberating market futures, however as daylight waned to the strains of a vacuum cleaner in the middle distance, domestic considerations prevailed. Mr. Iseeb Ur Rehman I thank you.