How should developers react to a UK market in which, in response to the present recession, would-be tenants or buyers tend to be risk-averse and prone to haggle for a bargain?

It might not work for everybody – especially if they have vacant buildings notching up empty property rates – but Joe Docherty, the man responsible for overseeing the regeneration of vast tracts of land in Teesside, is adopting a phlegmatic philosophy on the downturn.