This month saw the well known UK luxury motor yacht builder, Fairline Boats, embark on a major human investment into its engineering capability as it prepares for an extensive new product introduction program.

Fairline's Headquarters in Oundle

Continuing to focus on high quality engineering and boatbuilding excellence, Fairline has invested in two new appointments to support the upcoming programme. Stefan Whitmarsh joins as Head of Engineering and Ben Harrison as Engineering Manager, both based at Fairline’s Headquarters in Oundle.

Stefan and Ben have joined existing team members, Gary Smith, Fairline Technical Manager and Andrew Pope, Design Director, to underpin the outstanding engineering and design expertise at Fairline.

Stuart McCullough, Commercial Director at Fairline Boats, commented: “Our new-look engineering team provides us with the necessary skills and expertise to deliver cutting-edge design and drive forward our new product development plans. The new appointments will further strengthen our innovative design and high quality engineering capabilities.”

With a lifetime in the boating industry, Stefan brings a wealth of global boat industry knowledge and experience gained with leading distributors and manufacturers across the world. He is widely recognised as a leading authority in shipbuilding, construction, manufacturing methods and the operation of large yachts.

In recent times Stefan has worked with Princess Yachts and Sunseeker International where his last role was as Project Manager on the build of former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan’s ‘Sunseeker 155 Yacht’ superyacht BLUSH. He also has many years’ experience in high performance GRP vessels and currently races in offshore powerboat championships, winning the 4-day 800 mile Venture Cup Race in 2013. In his new role at Fairline Stefan will be responsible for driving the new product introduction programme and developing the design and engineering systems across the product range.

Ben will be working alongside Stefan to deliver the engineering design, development and validation of new and current products. Ben’s previous experience includes engineering and program management roles at Nissan, Perkins Engines, Land Rover, Visteon and Caterpillar, where he undertook a two-year assignment in Qingdao, the People’s Republic of China as part of a Joint Venture engineering team.

Stefan commented: “I am looking forward to working with this talented design and engineering team to deliver Fairline’s vision for the future. This is an exciting time in its growth and development and the new team has ambitious plans in the pipeline to underpin Fairline’s position as a world class company, offering premium luxury motor yachts manufactured using state-of-the-art technology.”