Aurecon

About Carsten

Carsten Varming is Aurecon’s Ports & Coastal Leader. He has extensive international experience in a wide variety of port and maritime projects and works with our clients to deliver exceptional project outcomes in challenging environments.

Proudest moment in your career?

There are just too many to single out any one project in particular, but when our highly skilled teams deliver a project that exceeds our client’s expectations, then this is always a great moment and one that the entire project team can be proud of.

What drives you?

Motivated and empowered people drive me as we are in a people business. I enjoy working with excellent people.

Keys to a successful project delivery?

In my experience, the keys to success are strong client relationships, a motivated project team and solid technical solutions.

The most important lesson you learnt early in your career?

Those things that you design in an office environment need to be cognisant of the environment in which they are constructed. As a graduate engineer, I designed a concrete structure attached to a quay wall and I thought I had done a great job. I was then asked to go to site and inspect the works during construction and showed up one early morning on site where the 60-year-old foreman realised who I was and then proceeded to drag me to the work-site to show me the structure I had designed. He had spent the last two days trying to figure out how to construct what I had designed and asked me how to do this. This lesson has stayed with me through my entire career!

Where do you see ports and coastal over the next five years?

I see the industry becoming more and more demanding, seeking consultants who can bring a fresh perspective to their business and add real value.