In terms of bridging product and process innovation, I thought 2013 got off to a pretty sluggish start. My colleagues and I came back from the festive holidays full of expectation that the airwaves and press would be resounding to upbeat announcements from lenders boasting about our ‘new and improved’ offerings.

But it didn’t happen - we were treated to a few case studies reporting completions in record time or under eclectic circumstances, but the product front remained strangely subdued.

Not now though. We lenders have rediscovered our design and innovation mojo and are falling over ourselves to showcase the shiny new toys for brokers to play with – from invigorated buy-to-let products to freshly-minted hybrid propositions.

We’re no different at Omni Capital, of course, having just released a new three-year term facility designed with high-end clients in mind. I won’t bang on about the product here – that’s why we have press releases and websites – but it does represent the latest development from lenders that should be of considerable interest to intermediaries.

The fact lenders are now regularly rolling-out new short term borrowing options should come as no surprise. The bridging sector has been leading the pace in innovative lending for a good couple of years now. While the mainstream has struggled to rediscover its imagination and taste for lending, bridgers have taken full advantage to secure their reputations for flexibility, nimbleness and a strong desire to be active in the most positive of terms.

Flowing from this, brokers have never had such a wide choice of truly alternative solutions for their clients. Whether they need a conventional £50,000 bridge for a client in the West Midlands, or something more exotic in the multi-million pound region for a Russian property investor with an eye on Belgravia, short term lenders can provide the answers, quickly and efficiently.

This week provides the perfect opportunity for the industry to reflect on this. As we gather on Thursday evening at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s Holborn, the fifth annual B&C Awards will recognise and reward the huge strides bridging has taken.

Winners or losers, we should all bask in the reflected glory of the awards. Bridging isn’t about any one player or a single much-trumpeted proposition; it is the sum of its parts, and for that we collectively deserve to take credit.

So, with Venetian-style masks at the ready (and I hear Mo Mulki’s will be something to behold…), here’s to a splendid evening’s entertainment and more power to our short-term elbows!