Boat International – April 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY: CRAIG GREENHILL/SALTWATER IMAGES

of went downhill,” he says. “I thought maybe

A$10 million and 18 months to two years to get it

up and running. It ended up taking five years and

the budget went many, many times over.”

Walker is no stranger to complex regeneration

projects as he has spent the past half a decade

delivering thousands of construction ventures

across Australia, Malaysia, America and Canada.

“We are working on one of the largest commercial

projects in Australia to date called Collins

Square. It is very challenging; we started with a

terrible block of land with an old railway shed on

it. The other big project we are doing at the

moment is rejuvenating all of the commercial

precinct in Sydney at Parramatta Square,” he

says, pulling a pile of designs to show me from

across the table. “This is probably about A$2.7

billion upon completion.”

The Parramatta Square area is thought to be

one of the oldest parts of Sydney. It is where

Captain Cook and Captain Phillip went to look

for fertile land and it is no coincidence that it has

a nautical connection. “A lot of projects that we

have done over the years have been based around

water,” he says. “Either over the harbour or

around the harbour, or restoring and reclaiming

land.” One of his most famous projects in the late

1990s was the regeneration of Finger Wharf at

Woolloomooloo, which transformed the 400

metre long former wool processing port into a

mixed-use development including 300

apartments. It is now home for Walker and his

wife when they are not on board or visiting

the island.

Despite his experience in the construction

industry, Kokomo represents a completely new

challenge for Walker. “I have never run a resort

before. I don’t know the first thing about it and

we had a bit of a rocky road there,” he admits. But

as with superyachts, perseverance has paid of

and since opening in April last year Kokomo

Private Island has already established itself as

one of the world’s leading barefoot luxury resorts.

Walker has also been approached by multiple

chains to add Kokomo Private Island to their

“A lot of projects

we have done over

the years have been

based around water,

either over the

harbour or around

the harbour”

Walker Corporation

is developing

Parramatta Square,

top and left, and

worked on Finger

Wharf in Sydney

OWNERS’ CLUB

89