Empirical research is at the heart of all good analysis. Researchers in property are blessed in that it retains that bricks and mortar quality. The ability to see what is going on - to touch it and smell it - is crucial if research is genuinely to inform the investment process. This holistic view of the commodity underpins all good data collection.

Satisfaction surveys, location surveys, surveys of availability, traffic surveys (pedestrian and vehicular) are all best informed by an understanding
of the product fundamentals. This can only be acquired
over time through being there - seeing a development
from the turning of the first sod to the production of
output.

I have been fortunate to have been able to "be there"
throughout Europe and North America, interviewing
key players, genuine visionaries and horny-handed pragmatists all of whom
contribute to a better informed industry.