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Go-it-alone architect rides post-Sars wave

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Judging by telephone calls to Andrew Shields' Wellington Street office, the second-hand property market is booming.

Inquiries from owners looking to rejuvenate ageing flats are coming in almost daily - a far cry from the handful of contracts the architectural design company secured last year.

The impact of Sars on local investment nearly drove the four-year-old Building Design Studio (BDS) to the wall.

'We were very close to not surviving,' says Mr Shields.

The firm turned to a business consultant for help.

As part of a restructuring that followed, BDS launched a new website (www.bds.com.hk) and published a coffee-table book on interior design that was distributed through local book stores. It also buffed up its media relations, soliciting project coverage on the pages of local home design and architecture publications.
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