Uniting work and passions

2 July 2008

AFTER years sailing around the Whitsundays, John Warlow has discovered a way to combine his weekend passion into his work.

The 46-year-old sailor first heard whispers about the Port of Airlie about a decade ago when he used to “do a lot of sailing coaching” at the Whitsunday Sailing Club and kept an ear out for its eventual development.

Mr Warlow, who won the Australian 505 Championships title on Hamilton Island in April, loves pursuing his passions.

He is the project director for Meridien, which is developing the $500 million Port of Airlie by reclaiming 30 hectares of seabed at Airlie Beach.

The development includes accommodation, retail spaces, a cruise/ferry terminal, marina and parklands.

“It covers all the interests I have in property development, building marinas and boats,” Mr Warlow said.

“The Port of Airlie is sympathetic to the needs of cruising people who need to use the marina. We’re going to have marine maintenance facilities and when I’m dealing with the marine side of things, it’s certainly good to have background knowledge, especially when you’re trying to interface with all those different items in the development.

“Most boaties can talk boats and marine stuff all day long and that’s what happens when I’m dealing with the marina, dredging or harbour guys, it’s fun.”

Mr Warlow said as well as bringing “a strong boating background” to the role, he has a perspective as a regular visitor.

“Having been to Airlie and the Whitsundays quite a few times over many years, I always knew about this project sitting in the wings,” he said.

“Airlie Beach is a fun town and always has been. We were having fun here 25 years ago just as people still do now. But when we want to come back to the area now, we don’t want to stay in backpackers. This development provides that alternative.”

Mr Warlow said the resort, apartments, harbour and ferry terminal would be built in stages with a target for completing the Port of Airlie by 2013.

“It’s very unique building 13 hectares of land out of seabed, all built from below water,” he said.

“We basically drove big metal sheet poles around the perimeter to lock out the water. We dig out the mud to make a big hole for the future harbour, compact the area that becomes future land and then pull out the sheeting to flood the harbour. It’s an unusual project ... it’s certainly not an average civil works project.”

Mr Warlow said he had worked in large subdivisions, inner-city renewals and redevelopments before his involvement in the Airlie project but he actually started in real estate.

“It’s a pretty diverse industry to be in.”

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