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In 1988 in Australia, a young boy was thrilled to be at the six-month-long World Expo 88 hosted in his hometown, Brisbane.
The Expo was a fascinating window to the world for him and his sister, and after their three-day Expo pass expired, the brother-sister duo insisted on a season pass from their parents. From then on, they dashed off to the Expo every weekend and throughout the school holidays, eager to get their Expo passports stamped by every exhibiting country.
The young boy grew up and earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Queensland University of Technology and later, a master's degree in construction management from the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. At the age of 25 he left the city and has remained abroad since then, pursuing roles as a civil engineer and planning engineer across the Middle East and the United Kingdom.
Cut to now, years later, Jason Quick's Expo 88 passport and the season pass are safe with him as memorabilia!
Meet Jason, Programme Director for Expo 2020 Dubai, the first World Expo in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region, transforming a 4.38km2 site into a lasting urban legacy. After the event, more than 80% of the infrastructure and built environment will be repurposed for a future human-centric smart city, District 2020.
“I completely admire Jason’s way with all the team, consultants, clients, contractors alike – his voice of reason wins everyone over, as well as Aussie good nature (or maybe it's the donuts that he supplies)! Expo is very lucky to have Jason at the helm, and on a personal level, I'm very lucky to count Jason as a friend and will always have fond memories of working in Al Bidda Tower, with the other Precinct Leads having our meetings overlooking Doha Bay – plus the many social events that followed!”
Suzanne McCormack
Previously, as the Project Director and part of the extended Project Management Consultancy (PMC) leadership team, Jason led a team responsible for developing the master plan for both Expo 2020 and District 2020 and delivering the public realm landscaping across the Expo 2020 master plan. In his current role as a Programme Director, Jason is responsible for program delivery while leading the team through to the end of the project, all the way to the opening day of the Expo.
Jason was excited to be part of Expo 2020 for two main reasons. First, the chance to relive the excitement he felt years back as a kid at Expo 88 and second, the opportunity to be part of one of the largest capital works projects in the world, taking place in a world-class city, where they faced an exciting challenge – transforming an area that was essentially sand dunes and home to camel farms to a whopping 4.5 million square meter world-class attraction, with a thoroughly defined legacy district.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world, Expo 2020 wasn't immune to disruptions. Talking about the safety protocols of the new normal, Jason says, "We have robust COVID-19 guidelines and any suspected interactions with a COVID-positive individual mandates strict adherence to our guidelines as well as those from Expo."
Reflecting on the most memorable moments to date on Expo, Jason recounted the recent site visit by the United Arab Emirates' top leadership. To witness the reaction to some of our recently completed stunning attractions, including the mammoth Expo 2020 Water feature and the Garden in the Sky observation tower was something special, and he saw what the success of this event meant to Dubai.
Recently, Jason took his wife, Claire, four-year-old son Charlie and six-year-old daughter, Alexandra, to the Expo. Sharing how amusing the visit turned out to be, he said, "I took them to the opening day of the Expo Pavilions Premiere, and after coming across all the fun things there, they think that playing games on site all day is all that Daddy does!”
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34
years since he visited Expo 88 in Brisbane
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5
years working on Expo 2020 Dubai
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192
participating nations at Expo 2020 Dubai
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2
children