Lumen Winter 2013 - Flipbook - Page 29
story by Ben Osborne
Building a Thai life
John Anderson’s advice to today’s university
students could not be clearer: there is much to
gain by experiencing life far away from Adelaide.
T
he BE (Hons, 1990) graduate
has spent the past 19 years in
Thailand, where he is now Director
of a company (Meinhardt) which has
300 staff and completed more than
1600 projects.
Some of the projects he’s worked on
in that time include designing Bangkok’s
second-tallest building, the 74-storey
‘River Condominium’, and four 50-storey
residential towers known as the
‘Millennium Residence’.
It seems a long way from the stately
plains of the Barossa Valley, where Mr
Anderson grew up.
After attending Nuriootpa Primary and
High schools, not attending the University
of Adelaide was unlikely – both of his
parents, as well as his twin sisters, all
graduated from the institution.
After graduating, Mr Anderson worked
in North Queensland and Adelaide for
four years. In 1994, he received five days
notice that he was headed to Bangkok to
work on a large oil transfer project in the
Gulf of Thailand.
“The prospect of going to Thailand
was pretty exciting,” he said. “I hurriedly
had to arrange things like my visa and
inoculations. I was pretty clueless about
what to expect when I got there or the
project that I would be working on.
“I spent six months in Bangkok,
working almost seven days a week, on
this job. It gave me a taste of real, largescale engineering. I was hooked on big
projects and also realised that I wanted
to be overseas. I returned to Adelaide
briefly before heading to Hong Kong – six
months after that I moved permanently
to Thailand, which has been home pretty
much ever since.”
Mr Anderson is currently splitting
time between Bangkok and Myanmar
(formerly Burma), where he is heading
up his company’s new office in its largest
city, Yangon (Rangoon).
“After decades of military rule, Myanmar
is now opening up to the outside world
and revealing both opportunities and
challenges”, Mr Anderson said.
“Yangon is a fascinating place, but it
is quite a step-back in time, having been
isolated from the world for so long”,
he said.
“There are many old heritage buildings
that were built during the height of
the British Empire that now need to
be restored.
“Right now I am working on restoring
the Myanmar Railway Administration
Building, which will become the Yangon
Peninsula Hotel.
“It is a great project and has probably
been one of my biggest challenges yet
in my career. The entire building is to be
underpinned and strengthened, and will
form the centrepiece of an ambitious
275,000sqm development consisting
of four new high-rise towers and
a shopping centre.”
Mr Anderson’s career path and
subsequent achievements were, in many
ways, accidental – but he said the ‘risk’ of
leaving Adelaide and Australia was more
than outweighed by the value of living and
working in another country.
“I think students of today would
greatly benefit from spending some of
their undergraduate degree time aboard
studying at another university, preferably
in Asia,” he said.
“This will help them to understand
the business environment and culture
outside Australia.
“In my case, I came to Asia pretty much
by accident, but was lucky enough to have
done so early enough in my career when I
was prepared to take a few more risks.
“Unfortunately too many Australians
come to Thailand and only ever view
it as a holiday destination – they never
get to see the enormous industry and
opportunities that are here.”
I was hooked on
big projects and also
realised that I wanted
to be overseas.
Left: Bangkok’s secondtallest building, the ‘River
Condominium’, which John
Anderson helped design.
Above: John Anderson
The University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 27
