With interest rates at a rock bottom 0.5%, nobody is expecting that monetary policymakers at the Bank of England will pull any rabbits out of the hat to help the housing market when they meet this week.

However, while housebuilders continue to struggle, some building firms feel there is still lots of work to be won from public bodies. This week's SME Focus features one of a pair of art-school alumni who have discovered that focusing on the right public-sector niches can be a very rewarding policy. He has also learned that the business of running a company can be a lot more fun than the text books might lead you to believe.

Name: Scott Mason.

Age: 29.

What is your business called? Nomad RDC ltd.

Where is it based? The south side of Glasgow, but we work all over the UK and Ireland.

What does it produce? We're an interior design company that specialises in producing designs and ideas for universities and public buildings.

What services does it offer? In addition to our core offering we also offer graphic design, conduct feasibility studies, and develop navigation strategies. We believe that what sets us apart from other agencies is our focus on research.

Who does it sell to? Our clients are drawn from the public and education sectors in the UK and Ireland and we have recently completed a number of high-profile contracts with the University of Glasgow, the University of Bristol, and Royal Holloway, University of London.

What is its turnover? £190k.

How many employees? We have five full-time staff and one freelance designer, although we will probably have to grow this number at some stage in the near future.

When was it formed? 2006.

Why did you take the plunge? I launched Nomad with my business partner Val Clugston and there were a number of reasons why we decided to take the plunge. We first met at a company called Curious Oranj, where we worked as senior designers on public space projects, but we'd both previously attended Glasgow School of Art.

We really enjoyed working together and it became clear that we shared very similar ideas on research-led design, which differs from the typical approach to design as it involves using methods such as participatory workshops, field observations, questionnaires and interviews to gauge the needs of a client.

Research-led design is labour intensive and a lot of what we were doing at the time was experimental. We felt that it wasn't possible to evolve our ideas and give them the full attention we felt they merited while working for somebody else, so we took what at the time was a huge step and started our own agency.

What were you doing before you took the plunge? I started working at Curious Oranj straight after I graduated from Glasgow School of Art but at no stage did I harbour any intentions of running my own business. My main focus was on getting a job as an interior designer and building up my portfolio of work.

It was while at Curious that Val and I had the opportunity to work on Glasgow Caledonian University's £23m Saltire Centre project.

We were responsible for the interior design of the five-storey library, which was launched in 2007 and which has since been described as a building that rewrote the design book for academic libraries - something we're particularly proud of.

In many ways, the Saltire Centre project acted as the catalyst for the launch of Nomad and we haven't looked back since going it alone. We both had our reservations, but we knew that there was no other agency in the UK that specialised in university libraries and public buildings. It really is a niche market but there is huge potential. If you take England for example, the Higher Education Funding Council for England stated last year that £1bn will be spent on libraries and learning spaces over the next five years.

How did you raise the start-up funding? We were lucky as we did not need much funding to start the business. We had our own equipment and started very modestly, and took it from there. The small amount of funding we did pull together came from personal funds.

What was your biggest break? Our biggest break came shortly after our launch when we were selected as the interior designers for the University of Glasgow's Hub project, which is now called The Fraser Building. It was a £10m redevelopment project that involved the overhaul of a disused 1960s building and we worked alongside architects Page & Park on the interior design.

A lot of our work comes via referrals and word of mouth, so to have secured such a prestigious contract was a real coup for us and it has since helped us to win a lot of work.

What was your worst moment? Thankfully there haven't been too many, but the one moment that stands out was when I had my laptop stolen which contained all of the research relating to one particular project.

This was not long after our launch but having the laptop stolen wasn't the worst part, it was the fact that the back-up disc was also in the case.

Fortunately our client was very understanding and the laptop was recovered but the police kept it as evidence and they still have it! I had to redo the majority of the work but I did learn a valuable lesson.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

I have always really enjoyed my work and running Nomad has given me the opportunity to completely submerge myself in all aspects of my practice. I still love being able to bring a job through the doors of the studio and seeing it through to completion.

I also really enjoy the business aspect of running Nomad, the marketing and finance, which is something that I found quite daunting when we decided to start the business.

What do you least enjoy? When things go a little too quiet, I don't enjoy it when there's a lull in work. Thankfully that doesn't happen too often.

What is your biggest bugbear? When people mistake interior designers for decorators in a Changing Rooms-type way.

You'd be surprised at how often it happens but when you've spent over 10 years learning a trade and then setting up your own specialist practice, it can be pretty annoying when people assume that you're a "Colin and Justin" wannabe!

What are your ambitions for the firm? We have worked nationally since our first year and established a credible reputation but we would now like to replicate this success outside the UK and secure some international work for our portfolio.

We have a couple of interesting projects in the pipeline. If we win them, we may well open an office in the South of England.

However, we founded the company on the principle that technology could allow us to work from anywhere so we may opt to invest in quality conferencing equipment.

We have a great team at the moment which is truly multi/cross disciplinary and we would like to expand our base of expertise even further.

What are your top priorities? My main priority is to maintain our level of growth and deliver a good job for every single client. I want Nomad to be recognised as an innovator and leader in our field, but we can only do this if we continue to evolve, so remaining fresh and creative will always be a priority.

I also want to re-invest in the business. We currently rent our office space and although we are quite happy where we are, it won't take long before we outgrow them, so I'd like to invest in our own premises.

After three years of running the company, I've finally got used to being the boss, but I want to keep running a good team and for people to want to work for Nomad.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish Governments do that would most help? Like most businesses, we'd like to see more tax relief for small companies which could reinvest this money in growth and expansion.

We secure a lot of work from the public sector but find that the actual tendering process can be quite bureaucratic.

At times it's a case of ticking the boxes rather than expressing creativity and plans for the project in question. This can militate against businesses of our age and size so it would be helpful if this was addressed.

Although we may not be able to tick all the boxes, creatively we're more experienced than anyone out there.

What was the most important lesson you learned? Be a finisher: it is worth going that extra mile to really make sure that a job has been done correctly.

This and that you have to live in the day and not worry too much about what is happening next week, next month or next year.

How do you relax? Submerging myself in electronica, computer games, movies, music, etcetera. I get bored really easily.