Philip Ryan, the chairman and managing director of Sheffield-based JF Finnegan, was last night crowned Property Personality of the Year at the Insider South Yorkshire Property Gala Dinner 2009. The prestigious event, held at the Mercure St Paul's Hotel in Sheffield, attracted an audience of 150 people and provided a chance for the region's property community to celebrate some of the excellent work that is still ongoing in South Yorkshire despite the economic climate. Asked about the state of the property market, Ryan said: "This is the fourth recession I've worked through so I'm fairly well practised at it. The significant feature about this one is how quickly we have gone into recession and the blow to the banking sector. We need events like this where people go out and we talk ourselves out of recession." The dinner was sponsored by Bond Bryan Architects, DLA Piper, Homes & Communities Agency, ICT Active, Lambert Smith Hampton and Mercure.