North Harbour investor clears the way

18 August 2010

As a fresh faced teenager, Northeast Business Park investor Ian Holm worked to help build Sanctuary Cove, the development that sparked the transformation of the Hope Island area on the Gold Coast.

30 years later he dreams of creating a visionary master planned community that can transform the Caboolture region in a similar way.

As the owner of Holm Trading Company, Ian Holm spent 15 months on a bulldozer, painstakingly clearing the North Harbour site of more than 50 car bodies, tonnes of household rubbish and remnant pine plantation.

As each day passed, he became more convinced that the site had the attributes to be the next Sanctuary Cove.

He’s one of a number of small investors, who with Port Binnli and Laing O’Rourke are doggedly persevering with their vision for much more than a business park.

“The more I saw of the site, and I saw all 760 hectares in detail, the more convinced I became,” he said.

“People travel to Sanctuary Cove to work and play – it’s a place people want to be.

“Our site used to be a place that people treated like a dump, but I can see the potential, with the river and the open space.

“We have the opportunity to create a place that has a real aura about it and make a huge difference to Caboolture and the area around it,” Mr Holm said.

Mr Holm comes from a family of pioneers, living in a homestead built by his grandfather 124 years ago.

That pioneering spirit has served him well tackling the challenges of the North Harbour project - a master planned community offering employment, recreation and housing based around the marine industry.

He laments that so many can see the long term benefits, but that full approval has been so problematic.

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Peter Kelly

Associate | Three Plus

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