BOSS Magazine #55 - A New Horizon: Housing for Refugees

MAGAZINE #55 MARCH 2016

A NEW HORIZON: HOUSING FOR

REFUGEES

Housing the Refugees by Frank Wassenberg | The Story of Gaby Abdalla by Heleen Luijt | Startblok Riekerhaven with Rienk Postuma | Refugee Housing Debate | Young Professionals Cathelijne van der Berg & Hilde Haverman 1

Colofon BOSS Magazine is a publication of BOSS. Published three times a year.

BOSS Magazine Nr. 55 A New Horizon: Housing for Refugees March 2016 BOSS is the student association of the department of Management in the Built Environment (formerly known as Real Estate and Housing) Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment TU Delft BOSS Magazine committee Editor in chief Sarah Heemskerk Editor Heleen Luijt Editor Luuk Gremmen Editor Joan Ruiz Pion Editor Britt van der Zandt Design and lay-out Astrid Potemans Contributors (in order of appearance) Hans de Jonge Anke van Hal Frank Wassenberg Linda Supheert Gaby Abdalla Ben Weihs Rowie Huijbregts AndrĂŠ Mulder Sake Zijlstra Rienk Postuma Cathelijne van der Berg Imardo de Blok Cas Bonnema Hilde Haverman Cover Luuk Gremmen Press O.C.C. De Hoog

From the editor

Sarah Heemskerk

War has always had a big influence on the real estate of any country in the world. For Europe this becomes especially clear when you are reading about the history of the housing sector in european countries. Most writers start their story from the Second World War. In the Netherlands the housing market experienced a huge change after that war. However, there has not been a war directly connected to the Netherlands in the past decades.

Therefore you would think wars do not influence the housing market so much any more.

This has changed, since also wars in other parts of the world are now drastically influencing the Dutch housing market. Thousands of refugees from the wars in the Middle East and especially Syria are coming to the Netherlands, which results in an enormous demand for temporary and permanent housing. It is one of the biggest challenges the housing sector had to deal with in the past century. That is the reason this BOSS Magazine is devoted to refugee housing. What is the exact challenge the industry is facing? How many people have to be housed? And on what locations can the refugees be housed best? Professionals from the industry, teachers form the master track Management in the Built Environment of the TU Delft and students

give answers to these questions and give their opinions on housing solutions. Besides that a refugee will tell about his experience in the Netherlands and a project of combining students- and refugee housing will be described.

This all has been made possible by the new BOSS Magazine committee members, who I gladly introduce to you. Joan is responsible for the contact with companies in the business field. Astrid is responsible for the lay-out of this and the upcoming two magazines. Thirdly there is Luuk, who makes sure the website is up-to-date with the newest magazines and previews of interesting stories.

Heleen keeps an eye on the latest real estate news in the regular and social media. Lastly there is Britt, who is responsible for the yearbook of BOSS that will be published at the end of 2016, but she also contributes to the content of the magazines. My thanks go out to this amazing group and all the work they have done so far. Together we will provide you with information about the actualities in the real estate sector, starting with this issue about the challenge of housing refugees. Enjoy!

Kind regards, Sarah Heemskerk Editor in Chief

Astrid

Joan

Sarah

Luuk

Britt Heleen

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Content

08

Refugees

09

Book tips

10

Housing the Refugees

14

Not in My Back Yard

16

The Story of Gaby Abdalla

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The Refugee Debate in Germany

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Refugee Housing Debate

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Refugee Housing Opinion

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Startblok Riekerhaven

by Hans de Jonge

by Anke van Hal

by Frank Wassenberg

by Linda Supheert

by Heleen Luijt

by Ben Weihs

by Rowie Huijbregts

with AndrĂŠ Mulder and Sake Zijlstra

an interview with Rienk Postuma

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Young Professional

31

BOSS Business Tour

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Real Estate Career Day 2016

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Young Professional Hilde Halverman

by Cathelijne van der Berg

by Imardo de Blok

by Cas Bonnema

by Joan Ruiz Pion

Tweets

anton newcombe @antonnewcombe Jan 24 2016 7.500 refugees requested asylum in Japan in 2015 - only 27 were accepted...

Aleteia @aleteiaEN Jan 25 2016 Cathoholic Institutions in Europe Housing 27.000 Refugees, Vatican Paper Reports ebx.sh/1Qultqy

follow BOSS on twitter @bosstudelft

St. Vluchteling @StVluchteling 21 Nov 2015 86% van alle vluchtelingen wereldwijd wordt opgevangen in een ontwikkelingsland opvanginderegio.nl #opvanginderegio 86% of all refugees worldwide is staying in a developing country

TED Talks @TEDTalks Jan 21 2016 Refugees spend an average of 17 years in exile. Stories of lives in limbo: t.ted.com/c5qnnud Metro Calgary @metrocalgary Jan 14 2016 Landlords step up to offer solutions for Syrian refugees seeking housing ow.ly/X1Niy #yyc United Way Ottawa @UnitedWayOttawa Jan 22 2016 @refugee613 announce community initiative @R4RCan, a website that will match refugees w/ housing Hilly Mast @hillymast Nov 9 2015 VU en RUG bieden voorbereidend jaar aan voor vluchtelingstudenten VU University Amsterdam and RUG University Groningen offer preperatory year for refugees

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Event diary What happened?

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July 2015 - KondorWessels Vastgoed and DanZep redeveloped the Scheveningen Pier an international hotspot.

November 2015 - Central Station Arnhem designed

by UN Studio as a part of the larger redevelopment of the area surrounding the station.

December 2015 - An extension of the ‘Stadstimmerhuis’ in Rotterdam designed by OMA. Developed by Heijmans.

December 2015 - The new Hilton Hotel is designed

by Mecanoo and developed by the Schiphol Hotel Property Company to attract international visitors.

2015 - A new laboratory for biotechnological research has been built in Delft. Lab 6 is part of the Fit4Future-programme: a refurbishment program for the Western area of DSM Delft.

2015 - The renovation of the ASR Headquarter with high standards regarding sustainability. Desgined by Team V and developed by Archimedes vof. (Ballast Nedam & Kuijpers Centrale Projecten)

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What is going to happen?

2016 - Beta Campus Leiden, the first laboratory building in The Netherlands that has received a BREEAM-certificate.

2016 - The Student Hotel by Sarafopoulos will be realized in the complex ‘Lichthoven’ next to the railway station of Eindhoven

2016 - Sustainable office developed by OVG for employees of Raboban Fellenoord Eindhoven, designed by UN Studio.

2018 - The new courthouse in Breda for the court, the Public Ministry & the Council for Child protection. Designed by InBalans.

2018 - The depot for the Boijmans van Beuningen museum by MDRDV will be the new entrance and eyecatcher of the Museumpark of Rotterdam.

2018 - Congress Hotel V Overhoeks by Team V. The design is part of ‘De Strip op Overhoeks’: an ensemble of six towers perpendicular to the IJ.

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Refugees

Hans de Jonge

Millions of people are on the run from violence in their own country. Many of them come from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan. The majority of these refugees is taken care of in their own region, but because of a lack of resources there is a growing number of refugees looking for a future in Europe.

In the slipstream young people looking for better lives, from an economic perspective, mix with the fugitives while blurring our judgement. The result is a humanitarian disaster at our doorstep. Many Europeans have fears and react impulsively on the basis of media information. Let us look at the facts: - In the past (in the nineties) in the Netherlands we accommodated more refugees than we do now, but the pace in which fugitives enter now has risen; - Within the EU The Netherlands has an intake that ranks in the middle of all countries; - About one third is highly educated, one third medium and one third low educated; - 15 to 20% of all refugees are children that need education.* Education is the basis for growth and wellbeing. Since we will need more educated people in our working population this offers opportunities. In the past our country had a reputation for taking in refugees and part of our wealth was based on that. My own ancestors were French fugitives on the run for religious persecutions. Now we are faced with people who are able to contribute to our society together with people who just offer a burden to our welfare system. So we have to be strict in investing in people, and at the same time require them to contribute to our common future. This could start with educating a proportion of them to build or transform accommodation. In that way they have meaningful activities and contribute to society instead of inactively waiting for their permits. How could our faculty contribute to this? *) Data from IND and COA

“In the past our country had a reputation for taking in refugees and part of our wealth was based on that. My own ancestors were French fugitives on the run for religious persecutions.�

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Books that changed my professional (and partly also private) life Anke van Hal

Happy City, Transforming our lives through urban design by Charles Montgomery

Predictably irrational, the hidden forces that shape our decisions by Dan Ariely

Published in 2013 by Penguin Books. Of course we know that the design of the built environment can influence people’s feelings. This book however shows, based on scientific research from all over the world, what really makes a good place to live. Every designer and building professional should read this book; we can make the world a happier place!

Published in 2008 by Harper Collins Publishers. We are educated in the belief that we make rational choices, but mostly we don’t. This book helps you understand and even predict choices that seem to be irrational on first sight. For me, it was my first acquaintance with the inspiring world of behavioral economics.

Want to share your book recommendations with us? Send us an email at magazine@ bosstudelft.nl and maybe your top three will be featured in the next issue!

Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman Published in 2012 by Penguin Books. This book by a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics turned the regular view on economical thinking upsidedown. It proves in a fascinating way that there are two systems that drive the way we think. A fast, intuitive and emotional system defines the borders of the slower and more rational system that we are aware of.

Anke van Hal Anke is a professor of Sustainable Housing Transformation in the MBE department of the TU Delft. Since 2008 she is also professor at Nyenrode Business University.

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Housing the refugees; challenges for the building industry Frank Wassenberg The big issue at present and in the next years in Europe will be migration, as all media show day after day.

An enormous influx of migrants floods over European countries in such numbers that the usual systems don’t function any more. This creates huge international and internal problems, also within countries.

How to receive all the refugees, how to provide housing for them and how to involve them in society?

This without creating too many tensions with local inhabitants and without spending loads of expenses.

In 2015, in total 58.880 refugees applied for a permit to stay in the Netherlands. In 2014 there were 29.891 refugees who applied for a permit, and 16.724 in 2013.

Figure 1 shows the rise of asylum seekers during the last three years. This increase means almost a doubling during last year and the year before. Politicians fear that numbers will continue to rise, which creates tensions in the society and decreases local support to receive refugees.

The 58.880 refugees in 2015 are not equally divided during the months. A quarter of them arrived in the first half of the year, the remaining three quarters since July, with an absolute peak in October. Earlier experience shows that entrances always are high during the warmer months (May-November), but the peak in October 2015 was extraordinary.

Figure 1: Cumulative development of total asylum applications in The Netherlands

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The 58.880 refugees can be divided into three groups.

The majority, 43.093, were first asylum applicants in the country. Some came with a family, others reunify later on. In 2015, 13.845 family members arrived later on during the year. The remaining part, (58.880 – 43.093 – 13.845 = ) 1.942, were repeated applications; people who try to get a permit after a first (or second or more) rejection. Of all asylum seekers, almost half (47%) is from Syria, followed by Eritrea (14%), Iraq (6%) and a range of other countries. Some 8% is stateless.

The reception of asylum seekers in the Netherlands There is a protocol for refugees to get their permit to stay. Once they enter the country, they go to an AZC (azielzoekerscentrum), where they can rest for a couple of weeks before entering into the formal procedures.

COA organizes this. At present, about two thirds of all refugees get such a permit and their application is granted, the remaining part has to leave.

Because all AZC’s are full and housing is short, some temporary shelter is provided by COA. In the late autumn, some 12.000 people were given shelter for some days up to six months before entering the official procedures.

Once they have got their application, they are divided

by COA among all municipalities, according to their size.

Thus, Amsterdam gets the most: 710 refugees in the second half of 2015, and 965 in the first half of 2016.

It is the task for a municipality to house the refugees.

These figures total up for the whole country to 14.900 in the second half of 2015 and 20.000 for the first half of 2016. This is roughly a bit more than one pro mille of the present number of inhabitants.

The permit holders can apply for housing similar to other Dutch people. As they mostly have a low income, and they are in high need (and don’t live short by), they get an urgency status to receive a dwelling in the social housing sector. This urgency status is in debate, but the task to provide housing stays with the local government.

Housing After an application is granted, housing is the first priority, and once housed, all other issues will follow, such as integration, language and social contacts.

We have to distinguish between those who enter the country, the asylum seekers or refugees, and those who receive a permit to stay in the country. The first group needs shelter, waiting for the decision to get a permit.

The latter group has the same rights for housing as any other Dutchman. In practice almost all of these apply for social housing, having a low income and a high need.

However, the amount of available social housing is limited, and next to the permit holding refugees, other citizens apply for this kind of housing as well. They see themselves confronted with increasing waiting lists, while those waiting lists have already grown because of the earlier economic crisis and the decrease of social housing in general. Local policy makers see the solution in the provision of extra forms of new housing, ‘to enlarge the cake’: new constructions, using vacant property, adding temporary or flexible housing units, intensifying housing uses etcetera.

Unorthodox ways of housing One of the challenges to architects, students, designers, developers and the building industry in general is to provide all new kinds of housing. New means other than the usual way to give refugees a social rented dwelling.

The large social housing sector – 32% in the country used to provide all necessary housing for the refugees in the past. However, with such high numbers of refugees, the system blocks, and other ways of housing are needed.

At present, there are some 48.000 people in the AZC’s of COA, while one third of them has already a permit, so actually should have left the AZC. However, there are not enough houses for them, so these 16.000 permit holders fill the beds of the next group of refugees.

What other ways are possible? One is to use vacant buildings. The numbers are impressive: 16% of all offices are vacant, 9% of all shops, a thousand churches, old schools, libraries, monasteries, houses for elderly, etc.

And these numbers will increase. Reusing this vacant property offers large possibilities. The challenge for the building sector is to make reuse easier possible and profitable.

Another way is not only permanent transformation, but also temporary. Last year, Platform31 had a pilot to stimulate municipalities and property owners for temporary use, with small reconstruction measures and temporary renting contracts. The conclusion was that technical, juridical, planning and even financial temporary reuse is easier than most professionals have in mind, but that in practice one actor has to take the overall lead.

Frank Wassenberg Frank Wassenberg is active at Platform31 and Platform Opnieuw Thuis.

He is also guest researcher at OTB, TU Delft.

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Flexible units, which are demontable, easy to transport, to break down and rebuilt are another solution. Platform Opnieuw Thuis gathers all these kinds of prefab housing at www.unitbank.nl. On this site, constructors are invented to present their prefab units, both for outside as for inside (so: little units within an old hall or church or so). Another way to house more refugees together is to house them into one single family house; Or to involve the commercial sector; Or to stay at houses of hospitable Dutch people; Or to involve (handy) refugees in (re) building their own houses (‘klushuizen’); Or……..: other unorthodox ways are welcome!

The government promotes creative ways as well. At 27 November 2015, the Central government and the (association of) municipalities (VNG) set an agreement, including two schemes to finance housing. The first is the ‘huisvestingsvoorziening’, a way to provide extra housing, with a subsidy of €25.000 for four refugees.

The other is the GVA, for temporary housing in vacant buildings and new prefab housing. Local governments can get €200 a month, while all other costs still are being paid by COA.

Competition Just recently, January 2016, the Rijksbouwmeester (an honourable title for a state architect) and COA launched a competition for the building sector to design creative new ways for temporary housing: “A home away from home”. The aim for COA is to create temporary ways of housing and to be able to react more flexible to changing numbers of refugees entering the country. New ways could be easy to transport, like caravans, easy to fold up and store, like tents, easy to store, to combine for smaller and larger households or groups, easy to reuse, etc. And for low costs. However, all these new creative ways of housing will be of use for normal housing as well.

The large influx of refugees offers opportunities and challenges for all who are involved in the (re) building industry, from students to developers. Take these challenges!

Links www.opnieuwthuis.nl www.nederlandwordtanders.nl www.unitbank.nl www.platform31.nl

Reception of asylum seekers in the Netherlands. An illustration by the Ministry of Security and Justice

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p

e ro op

nieuwe huisvestingsoplossingen voor asielzoekers en op

nederlandwordtanders.nl/openoproep

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Oranje, a village in the north of The Netherlands. Photographed by Sake Elzinga.

Not in My Back Yard Linda Supheert

As a part of the Design and Construction Management course students were asked to write a blogpost.

This blogpost should relate to at least one or more topics dicussed in the course. Linda Supheert chose the topic of stakeholder management and linked this to the challenge of refugee housing.

A big topic in today’s newspapers is the enormous amount of refugees heading to Europe. Most people welcome them in their country but there is mainly one important rule for everybody; not in my back yard.

Housing refugees is a hard job, but there has to be a way to handle it. In this blog I will relate a case about refugee housing to the literature about stakeholder management in the building industry because, in my opinion, these two topics have a lot in common.

In the building industry, stakeholder management is an important part of your job as a manager. By informing neighbours about what you’re going to do and by paying 14

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attention to the environment and sustainability, there is less chance that people will be against your project. It depends on how you act as a manager but as well what the purpose of the building is and how people will react on the new project.

“At a small rural village in the North of the Netherlands, called Orange, they planned to house 1400 refugees.

The village itself housed only 140 local residents. The villagers were shocked by the huge amount and started to complain” - Luyendijk, 2015

“Imagine all the stories of those people who are coming to our country to build their new lives, but don’t forget about all those who are already there. Make this frightening feeling into a new possibility to enrich daily life of both refugee and native resident.”

‘Keep informed’ is the term Winch (2010, p. 78) uses to manage the group of people who may be opposed to the project. Manage them carefully otherwise they might stick together and move up to the ‘ladder of importance’ to become a keyplayer in the project. Visualisation is one of the things Winch (2010, pp.

85-86) suggest as a tool to inform your stakeholder. But this delicate situation is not going to be saved with some nice 3D visualisations.

“At the end, 700 refugees started living in Orange for a maximum duration of three years. Some of the Dutch residents accepted the new neighbours, some did not.

They still complain about all the disadvantages they experience. But there are some exceptions. One of the residents opened a small shop across the street for the refugees. “My world expands”, he says. Besides making money for his family, he also gets to know the foreigners by person. Every week he comes over to have dinner at one of the refugees’ placaes. Every week he tastes another country.” - Luyendijk, 2015

See situations from different views, metaphors. Effective managers, as Morgan (1986) states, are able to do this.

Don’t hide this fertile information from your stakeholders, but enlighten them with your vision to avoid them from becoming against you.

References Hemel, Z. (2010). Soft planning. In: M. Hajer ed., Strong Stories. How the Dutch are reinventing spatial planning, Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, pp. 140-152.

Luyendijk, W. (2015). In Oranje ben je voor of tegen aziel zoekers, NRC Handelsblad, 14 august 2015.

Winch, G. M. (2010). Managing Construction Projects.

West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.

Morgan, G. (1986). Images of Organization. London; Sage

Storytelling is in this example maybe a better way of ‘informing’ your stakeholders. Some people manage to be positive themselves, think about the resident who started a shop. On the other hand most people can use some help to get another point of view. Zef Hemel, spatial planner, uses storytelling in his profession. Stories are open and acknowledge the complex reality of human life, Hemel (2010) explains. I think stories make it possible to see life from different points of view. The stories are open ended so people can use their own imagination.

They make the topic human.

Are there better ways to get the job done then doing it the hard way by just ignoring your stakeholders? I think so. Imagine all the stories of those people who are coming to our country to build their new lives, but don’t forget about all those who are already there. Make this frightening feeling into a new possibility to enrich daily life of both refugee and native resident.

Publications.

Linda Supheert Linda started the Master Track Management in the Built Enviroment in September 2015 and is currently interning at ProjectManagement Bureau Amsterdam.

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The story of Gaby Abdalla written by Heleen Luijt Gaby Abdalla, now active at the consultancy DWA, was forced to flee from Syria in 2001. In Syria he had already graduated in structural engineering but when he arrived in the Netherlands he had to redo his study almost from scratch. At the Eindhoven University of Technology he got the opportunity to do this and in the meantime he graduated, again. After his graduation he was a PhD candidate and in 2012 his thesis about sustainable housing was published. He also got married in 2005 and has two children now.

In March 2001 the Arab Spring arrived in Syria, a revolutionary wave of protest and demonstrations.

Assad had quelled these revolts with violence which led to even more discontent and conflicts. In the beginning there were conflicts between the government and his opponents. But meanwhile both parties had divided into several groups who also had disagreements with each other. From that moment on people were speaking about a multiple civil war. The situation in Syria has escalated due to the interference of other pro Assad players: such as Russia and Iran, as well as anti Assad: USA, NATO, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Because of this turbulence, there was space for radical resistant movements to operate freely like Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIS and some other smaller groups.

is just one face, with behind him a powerful horde of people with the same thoughts and mindset. If he would resign, a new president like Assad will show up in the picture. Beside this there are still so many disagreement and division among the conflicting groups in Syria that choosing a new president will be a hopeless case. Gaby argues that the most logical solution for the situation in Syria is a transition that will prepare the country for more democracy and freedom.

”Gaby argues that the most logical solution for the situation in Syria is a transition that will prepare the country for more democracy and freedom.”

In the meantime nobody knows who is on which side because there are so many parties with many different interests and issues. All these uncertainties and the violence that comes with it, have caused many Syrian citizens to be forced to flee. It is estimated that more than 4 million Syrians have fled the country and more than 7,6 million people are now homeless. Originally Syria had 23 million citizens. With more than 2/3 of the population on the run, this refugees crisis is the major crisis in almost 25 years.

At a new year reception in 2013 Gaby talks about his expectations for the future of Syria. According to him, a short-term solution is not in sight. Several people say that the main problem is the president, Assad, and that when he resigns everything will change. But Gaby says that if he will do so, still nothing will change soon. Assad 16

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Gaby and his family have fled from Syria in 2001 right after Bashar Hafiz al-Assad became the president of Syria.

When Gaby was forced to flee with his family, he was just 25 year old. He had just graduated at Aleppo University in structural engineering, finished mandatory military service and had worked for a year at a Syrian company.

After he and his family arrived in the Netherlands it lasted 2,5 years for them to get a residence permit. From the beginning his mother kept repeating how important it is to learn the Dutch language; “if you master languages, it will open a lot of doors”. When they were in court, they could talk Dutch themselves and according to Gaby this helped them a lot in getting the residence permit.

After Gaby and his family received the residence permit their integration journey really started. In Syria Gaby graduated, but his certificate was not recognized in the Netherlands. Because of that, he had to redo his study

almost from scratch and luckily the UAF foundation could help him do so. This foundation helps highly educated refugees to study at a Dutch university and gives them the possibility to find a job that matches their abilities.

Because of the assistance of the UAF, Gaby could start his study in 2003 at the Eindhoven University of Technology.

When he studied in Aleppo he had learned about constructive design, but in the Netherlands Gaby did not see many challenges for him in this work field. That is why he chose to do the study Construction Management and Engineering. In the beginning he had a hard time. Every day he had to travel from Eibergen, the place where he lived, to Eindhoven. Besides that he was in the middle of his integration process, didn’t manage the language well and still had doubts about his qualities. After all, Gaby graduated again in 2006 with a realistic view on the future. Despite his graduation, Gaby realised that he had to do more to distinguish him of the other graduates. In 2007 Ger Maas offered him the opportunity

to write a thesis about sustainable housing and he seized this opportunity with both hands. ”Sustainability is the future, especially in the Netherlands where the government has decided that everything has to be as sustainable as possible”. His thesis was published in 2012 and is named ‘Sustainable residential districts: the residents role in project success’. To finish his thesis he has spend many days in the company BAM techniek, where he learned a lot about sustainable technical installations and found out how sustainable a ‘sustainable building’ really is. An important conclusion of his thesis is that we do not design from the perspective of the occupants.

“Occupants use energy, buildings do not. We shouldn’t impose a certain lifestyle on people, it doesn’t work. We should design sustainable technologies that can be used by the occupants in a sustainable way”.

”Sustainability is the future, especially in the Netherlands where the government has decided that everything has to be as sustainable as possible.”

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Until 2015, Gaby has been working at BAM techniek as an innovation project leader and was responsible for innovation projects about modular developing and building. His interest about sustainable buildings remained and so he was responsible for European projects in the ICT field and energy reduction in the built environment. Some of his projects are CAMPUS-21, about energy-efficient operation of public buildings and spaces, and HOLISTEEC, about energy-efficient building design and construction.

�It has been fifteen years now since Gaby has fled from Syria with his family, and in the meantime a lot has changed. According to Gaby, life is about ups and downs. Ups you can enjoy and from downs you can learn a lot. �

At this moment Gaby no longer works at BAM techniek and is active at the consultancy company DWA. This company is known in the built environment, where energy and climate determine the agenda. At DWA Gaby is a program manager business development and innovation. In this company too, he contributed to several European projects about energy-efficiency.

Gaby is making business from research projects and implementing that in real projects.

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Besides his busy professional daily life, Gaby also works as a volunteer in several organisations in Enschede.

Gaby is a member of the St. Jacob Church council, he is chairman of a funeral assurance company associated with the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop and is involved in the new cemetery project in Glane. In the remaining time, Gaby is guiding Syrian refugees to find their way in the Netherlands.

It has been fifteen years now since Gaby has fled from Syria with his family, and in the meantime a lot has changed. According to Gaby, life is about ups and downs.

Ups you can enjoy and from downs you can learn a lot.

Gaby is not thinking about moving back to Syria. He might go there as a visitor to show his children the homeland of their parents, but he will stay in the Netherlands, where his future lies.

The current evolution of the refugee debate in Germany Ben Weihs

The refugee debate is dominating the news since boats overturned in the Mediterranean Sea. Hundreds, if not thousands, died there in dreadful conditions. First attempts were made by the European Union to support Italy and Spain in accommodating the refugees or sending them back.

These events created a rising solidarity towards refugees, but there were no direct consequences for these events within Germany.

Firstly, with the formation of the Islamic State, going along with the destruction of Syria and neighboring countries, a refugee stream was created that began to reach Germany in an increasing scale in spring 2015.

While other European countries were already closing their borders in the middle of 2015, mainly Sweden and Germany continued to promote to welcome refugees.

However Sweden recently announced that they will send half of the refugees back because they don’t meet the asylum criteria. Also in Germany, the enthusiasm is ebbing away since the end of 2015. Young immigrants are said to have caused sexual harassments during the New Year’s Eve night in Cologne. A rising insecurity towards the immigrants is dominating the public debate. Although Angela Merkel was gaining international popularity with her policy, e.g. person of the year in Times magazine, it seems like she gets punished all the more now. The reactions are accumulating, but this rising rejection has deeper-rooted fears than this event: - Often, Germans are skeptical towards the Muslim culture, and think it is a high barrier for their integration in the Western World (The Turkish immigrants are still not as fully integrated as the Polish, Russian, Greek and Italians who came altogether after the Second World War); - Many young immigrants have a low educational level that makes it hard to find jobs for them – and the society is afraid that many will slide into criminality if they do not get the chance for a sufficient education; - It is nearly impossible to distinguish between war refugees and refugees who are just seeking welfare and abuse the system of asylum;

Ben Weihs Ben started the master track Mangement in the Built Environment in September 2015. He was born and raised in Germany; this is also where he finished his bachelor in Architecture.

- The costs to run the refugee accommodation and integration until 2017 are estimated at 50 billion euros.1 As long as the fears are outbalancing the chances from the current emotional mindset towards the refugee debate, the right wing policy will continue to gain popularity.

The chances are obvious but often forgotten during the debate. The aging society of Germany is increasing. To keep the population at a constant level, it is essential to seek for immigrants. This is important to keep the economy running at the current standard. Furthermore, the costly pension and welfare system can be just preserved when young people are entering the job market. And also, it is important to establish a diverse and open-minded society in a globalized world.

Summing up, I can understand where the hesistation towards refugees comes from. Although I cannot support the general suspicion towards Muslims that arise because of rare harassments. Furthermore, Germany is highly dependent on immigrants. I believe that refugees who arrived here, shaken by war with their families torn apart, should be supported in a society that often forgets about existential fears and basic needs in the globalized world.

1 http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/fluechtlinge-kosten-deutschland-bis2017-rund-50-mrd-euro-14045355.html

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TENDER

Interview Equity DATING Operationalization Conceptual model Ronald, are you on Tinder again ?!

Quantitative Depreciation Critical path Moral Hazard

Management schools Monte Carlo Lifespan Qualitative Scope Residual value Homo Economicus NEW FUNCTIONS !

- M.E.A.T. selection - Lowest Price selection

No John... It‛s called Tender, and it‛s classy!

This is how I select contractors.

By Joan Ruiz Pion 20

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VERTICAL 1. The degree to which two products, programs, etc. can be used together 2. Cube, wherein every cost element can be unambiguously allocated to a cell determined by the task, the type of cost and the member of the project coalition responsible 4. A statistical tool to analyse and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project 6. Problem where an agent may have objectives that are not aligned with the objectives of the principal 7. Using multiple approaches to face the many components of PM 9. Method of planning and managing projects that emphasizes the resources required to executed tasks 13. Creating commitments to reach a high quality of the conception and description of a new project 16. System where labour is paid daily 18. The client releasing vital information to the design team, when there is a certain level of trust 19. Defines the need for the project and ensures that it is met

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HORIZONTAL 3. The construction process broken down progressively into all its constituent tasks 5. The time duration of tasks is estimated too short 8. Obtains the capital required to finance the project 10. Mobilises the most appropriate and capable firms to realise the project 11. Recurrent costs for the organization 12. Making only ready-to-start-tasks to reduce costs through increased efficiency and durations by eliminating uncertainty 14. Setting the target date for completion and fitting the planned sequence of tasks to that date 15. Research on the difference between projects 17. An inseparable connection between parties within a project 20. Representation of the characteristics of building project management, founded in the city we study in March 2016

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Refugee housing: consequences, responsibilities and challenges for the Dutch building industry - a debate Rowie Huijbregts On November 30th 2015, students and professionals debated about refugee housing and related consequences, responsibilities and challenges for the Dutch building industry. The debate was an initiative of platform Passion for Existing Houses and Neighbourhoods (linked to chair Sustainable Housing Transformation, Delft University of Technology) and study association BOSS. Invited debaters were Rutger Oolbekkink, working for Inbo, a design office. Sanna Schuiling, working for Vestia, a Dutch housing association and Ronald van Warmerdam, working for Delft University of Technology and the Project Management Office of the municipality of Amsterdam. Under the leadership of Anke van Hal, working for Delft University of Technology and Nyenrode Business University, the debaters discussed the topic of refugee housing with the public, persons present on behalf of Passion for Existing Houses and Neighbourhoods and BOSS. As an introduction to the debate, Frank Wassenberg, working for Platform 31 and 22

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platform Home Again (Dutch: Opnieuw Thuis), gave a lecture about the state of affairs considering refugee inflow, intake and housing in the Netherlands.

Dutch process of refugee inflow, intake and housing The current process of refugee inflow, intake and housing in the Netherlands is as follows. A refugee enters the Netherlands. Depending on where there is capacity, the refugee is provided shelter: - Regularly, in an asylum seekers’ centre (Dutch: asielzoekerscentrum); - Temporarily, in an emergency assistance building

in the Netherlands. The expectation is that eventually two third of the 40.000 refugees will get a residence permit. Thus, more than 26.000 residence holders are entitled to a house.

The Netherlands has the task to house 20.000 residence holders in the first six months of 2016. While organising living space for residence holders, a lot of questions come up. What is the role of Dutch housing associations in the search for affordable housing for residence holders? Does the living space have to be temporary or permanent? Does a house have to be suitable for family members who are later joining the first asylum seekers (Dutch: nareizigers)?

A classical way of housing seems no longer applicable for this housing task. Unorthodox solutions seem necessary to offer an affordable house to 20.000 residence holders in the next half year. What role does the building industry play in offering solutions? This is discussed in the debate.

(Dutch: noodopvang), in case there is not enough capacity in regular asylum seekers’ centres, for example in sport halls or in tents; - Temporarily, with a maximum of 72 hours, in a crisis emergency assistance building (Dutch: crisis noodopvang), for example in sport halls.

When the request for asylum is granted, the refugee receives a (temporary) residence permit. This person is called a residence holder (Dutch: statushouder). Dutch municipalities have to house the residence holders. This is possible by means of: - A self-care arrangement (Dutch: zelfzorgarrangement), at friends or family members of the residence holder for example, or at a host family (Dutch: gastgezin); - Sober housing, for example in vacant office buildings or living containers (Dutch: wooncontainers); - A house within the municipality, as soon as available.

40.000 refugees stay in asylum seekers’ centres spread out all over the Netherlands (situation end 2015). 16.000 out of the 40.000 people have a (temporary) residence permit. These residence holders are entitled to housing

Three debate propositions and their main output Three debate propositions provided guidance to the debate: 1. The living space for residence holders must be as “Dutch” as possible, in order to stimulate integration; 2. For residence holders an alternative living space must be designed, because they do not benefit from a normal Dutch social rented dwelling; 3. The building industry must take its responsibility within the refugee housing crisis, must develop alternative solutions and must place these on the market.

The main output of the debate per proposition is described.

Rowie Huijbregts Rowie stared the MBE track in February 2015 and has just started graduation. Besides that she works for the platform Passion for Existing Houses and Neighbourhoods.

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1. The living space for residence holders must be as “Dutch” as possible, in order to stimulate integration Residence holders have to be housed among Dutch residents. They must not be concentrated in just one building per municipality, but must be spread across different houses within the municipality. Scattered housing ensures the process of integration: inside his home, the residence holder is able to create his own living space, according to this own norms and values, according to this own cultural background and insight. Outside his home, the residence holder comes into contact with the Dutch society, the Dutch norms and values, and the Dutch culture.

alternative living spaces is not only interesting for refugee housing, but also to think of ways to solve the problem of skewed income-to-rent (Dutch: scheefwonen), for example.

”Within a short time period, it is necessary that 20.000 people get a new home. There is no time to discuss wishes and demands with (individual) residence holders.”

Within a short time period, it is necessary that 20.000 people get a new home. There is no time to discuss wishes and demands with (individual) residence holders.

Therefore it is important that government and authority think of what residence holders must be offered, primarily: a living space among “normal” Dutch residents, with public transport, education and work possibilities close at hand, in order to stimulate integration. Thus, the connotation “Dutch” in this proposition is not about a typical Dutch dwelling design or interior, this connotation is about the societal approach to housing residence holders: the housing of residence holders must be no different than the housing of “normal” Dutch residents.

2. For residence holders an alternative living space must be designed, because they do not benefit from a normal Dutch social rented dwelling This proposition is mainly about the availability of regular social rented dwellings in the Netherlands. Currently, residence holders and a big group of “normal” Dutch residents need small, affordable dwellings. These are not available on the Dutch market. Creating these dwellings is a task for government and authority on its own, apart from the refugee housing crisis.

The current context offers the opportunity to think out of the box: housing of 20.000 residence holders is not only a technical and a design task, it is primarily a broader, societal task. Thinking of new dwelling typologies and 24

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To house students together with residence holders could be an alternative way of living. For a concept like this, framework and boundaries must be set from start.

Questions considering this framework and boundaries for the short-term are as follows. Which students and which residence holders can live together? How can integration between students and residence holders be achieved?

Which activities can be organised for both target groups?

A commission with representatives of both target groups, a representative from the municipality, a social worker, etc. must manage such a project. Questions for the longterm are different. What happens if families from the residence holders which arrive later in the Netherlands (Dutch: nareizigers) want to live in the same house? Up till what age is the residence holder allowed to live in a student house? Does a next generation of students want to live with residence holders too? It is not that easy to think of new living forms. Adding new square meters is relatively simple, but designing a well-functioning housing concept in practice is quite difficult.

3. The building industry must take its responsibility within the refugee housing crisis, must develop alternative solutions and must place these on the market The responsibility for a societal task like refugee housing must not be the responsibility of the building industry only. The building industry is not by itself responsible for solving the problems. But the industry can take its responsibility more than it does now. This asks for creativity of the sector. Currently, it is not about waiting for a job from government, authority or other clients, it is about the building industry thinking of opportunities itself. The classical way of working is no longer there:

building for temporarily purposes, building for multiple purposes, building in terms of mass production, etc. are necessary right now.

Government and authority should challenge and facilitate the building industry and involved market parties more to take initiative. The building industry already has a lot of housing concepts that are finished on paper, but are still waiting for a green light. Finished designs do not enter the market due to financial issues and practical (governmental) regulations. Perhaps, the government is too hesitant and too bureaucratic in this context. It is necessary to switch on a new way of thinking: cooperation between market parties in the building industry and government is important. New housing concepts, developed and evolved from beginning to end, must be implemented in practice.

Interested in this topic?

- Check https://www.opnieuwthuis.nl/ for more information on housing of Dutch residence holders.

- Check http://www.nederlandwordtanders.nl/nieuws/ open_oproep_a_home_away_from_home/ for design competition “A Home away from Home”.

“It is necessary to switch on a new way of thinking: cooperation between market parties in the building industry and government is important.”

ivbnA5liggend2016_Opmaak 1 01-02-16 10:29 Pagina 1

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De bij IVBN aangesloten organisaties beleggen - zowel direct als indirect - voornamelijk in woningen, kantoren en winkelcentra/ winkels. Voor meer informatie inzake de verschillende thema’s en publicaties, zie de website.

De IVBN Scriptieprijs Deze jaarlijkse stimuleringsprijs is door IVBN in het leven geroepen in het kader van de verdere professionalisering van de vastgoedbeleggingssector. De prijs wordt uitgereikt aan de als beste beoordeelde afstudeerscriptie.

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Tel. 070 - 300 03 71 Fax 070 - 369 43 79 info@ivbn.nl www.ivbn.nl

SCRIPTIEPRIJS

2016

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DEBATE Refugee housing should be provided in shrinking regions; not in the Randstad

The reason behind this was that Poland had joined the EU in 2004 and many Polish citizens, especially young males, had seized the opportunity to move to England, where wages were much higher, in order to save money to start a family, or improve their family’s’ lives, either in England or back in Poland. They often chose places like Salford (Greater Manchester, England), that had by then gone through a long period of continuous economic and urban decline, to live. Simply because accommodation here was cheap and easily available. Although this was not recognised by all of the native white English that still lived in the area, the arrival of Polish immigrants was favourable to both the newcomers and the neighbourhood they settled in.

I don’t know what the word for Delicatessen is in SyrianArabic, and of course opening grocery stores is not the only way immigrants can contribute to their newly found land, but still, it can be a start. Many people in the Netherlands are prepared to welcome refugees from war zones, as long as they are not too many and as long as the process is orderly managed by government (or other) institutions. As far as the influx of immigrants from Syria and other war nations is concerned, it seems to go wrong on both counts.

André Mulder André is an assistant Professor of ‘Housing Policy’ at the TU Delft. He is involved in the bachelor, master and honours program and is currently researching the topic of shrinking cities.

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In cities like Amsterdam, up to one third of social housing will be needed to house refugees who have become so called ‘status holders’, meaning that they are allowed to stay in the Netherlands. Affordable housing is a scarce commodity in Amsterdam. Although the amount of social rented dwellings still is quite high, the number of dwellings becoming available for new tenants each year is quite low and definitely not enough to house the lower income segment of the growing population of the city.

If a large part of these social rented dwellings has to be allocated to refugees, they will be strongly competing with house hunters already living (or wanting to live) in Amsterdam, which may cause resentment. The waiting list is long enough as it is, the average waiting time for a social rented dwelling now being up anything between 7 and 12 years. So some people may feel that the refugees (who cannot stay with their parents, because they are usually not living here, like most Dutch people can) are jumping the queue.

in favor

IN FAVOR When I visited Salford again in 2007, a few years after my first visit, the place had much improved. The main difference was that many shops, that had been boarded up a few years before, had now reopened, quite often advertising themselves as Polski Sklep: Polish Delicatessen.

In shrinking areas, however, the pressure on the housing market is less, so refugees would not really be competing with native house hunters, at least not as much as they would be in Amsterdam and some other cities. At the same time, they could provide a social and economic basis to maintain services, like shops, schools, public transport, and the like.

Of course, it is not my intention to kind of imprison refugees in areas where they do not want to live. So the first dwelling they get allocated after becoming status holders may be in a shrinking area, but later they can exercise the same rights as all other citizens of the Netherland, including the right to move to another part of the country. But maybe they like it there, and maybe their arrival will have saved the essential services, so the area has also become more attractive to other population groups.

It is the longing for, or lack of, freedom that drove the refugees away from their “blut und boden”. The refugees expect to find freedom in another country. Freedom is exactly what characterises the countries in the west and therefore they come to western Europe. The freedoms in Europe are well protected (or used to be). Freedom of speech, choice, ownership, from surveillance, and many other forms of freedoms, that is what the refugees have lacked in their countries of origin. To find their freedom, they had to undertake a journey, in many cases a dangerous one. When, or rather if, they arrive safely, they expect to be able to enjoy the fruits of the “free” in the host country. How disappointing is the reality: the refugees are located in “emergency shelters” or “asylum centres” without basic privacy and with (permanent) surveillance. So much for the freedom in the west.

Fortunately, the residency in the refugee centres is temporary. At this moment, it seems to be rather busy with arriving refugees. As a result, the centres are (over)crowded. There is not much of a choice, short term solutions need to be found. To locate refugees temporarily in empty buildings, seems logical. Herein lies a valid argument to locate refugees in shrinking areas. However, can we expect that the refugees would voluntarily choose to live in a shrinking area given the choice? Did the people who used to live there voluntarily choose to leave?

They did. However, it is more than likely they left with a natural reluctance to do so. But the areas were and

are shrinking for a reason, it is a spiral of lost jobs, amenities, services etc. As a result the inhabitants choose to leave: disappointed, but as a free choice. For refugees there are just as few attractive aspects in the regions as there were for the former inhabitants: no work, no schools, no library etc. Once a refugee is granted “temporary permission” (status holder), they should be able to enjoy the freedom the country has to offer. That includes freedom of settlement: to choose a place of residence. By locating refugees in shrinking areas, we deny them a freedom again. Moreover, we hamper their ability to connect with our society: in these regions there are few inhabitants, few jobs, few facilities. Thus we deny them another form of freedom: the freedom to use public facilities. And thereby most arguably many other forms of freedom and the opportunity to integrate.

against

AGAINST The arriving refugees have sparked a media infested discussion. The search for an adequate place and sufficient space to locate the refugees, has met fierce debate and in some instances (local) opposition. The Editorial Board of the Magazine presented the proposition “The best option for refugees in the Netherlands is to house them in shrinking areas”, which I strongly oppose. My main argument is: freedom of choice.

Maybe, during the time right after arrival in emergency shelter or in the asylum centres, locating these facilities in shrinking areas is logical. For example, for reasons of availability of empty buildings. But once granted a temporary permission, we should give the opportunity of choice. The ‘status holder’ should weigh the options themselves: on a short term a cheap home in a shrinking area, or wait for a longer period to find a place in a more popular area. In other words, if we’d like to give the admitted refugees an opportunity to feel free, and over time maybe even at home, we have to provide them the opportunity to choose where to go. We should not rob them several forms of freedom by forcing them to live in shrinking areas.

Sake Zijlstra Sake is professor in the field of the housing at the MBE track. He is also a coordinator and mentor of several bachelor courses at the faculty of Architecture, TU Delft.

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Construction of the Startblok started in January 2016 and is planned to be finished in the summer

Young locals and refugees living, learning and working together: A new start in Startblok Riekerhaven an interview with Rienk Postuma by Astrid Potemans ‘In Startblok Riekerhaven 500 apartments are planned: 250 for young refugees and 250 for employed youths of the neighborhood, students or recent graduates. Together, with their different backgrounds and experiences, they form a community in which their own contribution is key’ (De Key, 2015).

We got the opportunity to speak to Rienk Postuma, project leader, who speaks with great enthusiasm about the Startblok. The initiative came to live quite spontaneously.

In 2004 Amsterdam-based housing association ‘De Key’ set up 700 temporary student homes in the Houthavens, former harbor on the IJ river. At this time the site was already prepared for permanent dwellings, but due to an appeal lodged against the land-use plan construction had to be postponed. Eventually the land-use plan was adopted and the temporary units had to go. De Key had to find a new location for its student homes. And so a great opportunity arose.

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The Municipality of Amsterdam proposed the Riekerhaven, a former sports centre located in the borough Nieuw-West. The Municipality initially appointed this location as housing for refugees, but the borough was more fond of a mix of target groups. This is how the idea was born to set up a temporary project of nine years for both young refugees and locals.

Postuma believes in the potential of young refugees and locals living together. They have common interests – they are both in the same life phase and are looking to expand their network – but can also benefit from each

other’s different background. An important objective of the Startblok is to improve the integration of refugees in Amsterdam. One could say that this is quite an ideal, but the ambitious Postuma remains realistic. ‘We will see what happens, eventually the project needs to be embraced by the residents. If this doesn’t happen, then people will just live there, it’ll be less successful than expected. So be it, we are not going to force it into an artificial project’.

“The Startblok Panel was set up to involve the target groups in the initiative and design process. (...) Every three weeks the panel and de Key discuss a specific theme, ranging from the program and design of the courtyard to concepts of integration.”

So far the process has been far from artificial. Much like the initiative, the cooperation between the association, the Municipality, the borough, future residents and other involved parties is pleasant and self-evident.

‘The residents of the Startblok will be involved in the so called ‘self-management’ of the complex. Everything that can be organized by the residents, will be organized by the residents. The members of the Startblok Panel think along on how to turn the concept of self-management into reality’ (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016).

The Startblok Panel was set up to involve the target groups in the initiative and design process. Many candidates showed interest in taking a place in the panel; eventually three students, two youths from the neighborhood and four refugees were selected. Every three weeks the panel and de Key discuss a specific theme, ranging from the program and design of the courtyard to concepts of integration.

The integration between refugees and locals is improved in a twofold manner: by involving the residents in the aforementioned self-management of the building and by complementary programs. Part of this program is the formation of ‘buddies’: a refugee and a local form a couple and are appointed a coach from business. This coach forms the entrance to the market and can open doors for an internship or a job opportunity. Currently De Key is brainstorming with other parties to set up a ‘future academy’, which is a concept of the foundation New

Dutch Connections, as a means to introduce residents to different branches of the market. The exact format of this academy at Startblok Riekerhaven is yet to be decided, but one thing is clear: all parties are enthusiastic and willing to participate. Part of the program of the future academy could be a lecture by a practitioner on what studies to follow to land on a certain job. Regardless of the exact format, the main objective of the future academy is for the residents to build up a network.

Who exactly are these residents then? De Key has placed a request with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) for refugees with a certain profile.

The most important requirement is that the refugee is under 27 and single. Concerning the level of education and job prospects, de Key is looking for a mix. The locals are selected on the basis of their motivation – first and foremost the concept should appeal to them. The 24 m2 rooms are equipped with a private kitchen and bathroom. Furthermore clusters of 25 residents share a common space in which they can dine together, host a party or organise other activities.

Rienk Postuma Rienk is project leader of Startblok Riekerhaven and manager Development & Construction at housing assocation The Key.

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The organisation of activities in the abovementioned clusters is dependent on two so-called ‘animators’ (gangmakers) – a pair formed by a refugee and a local.

SociusWonen facilitates the self-management of the building and terrain. De Key is considering to take over this role in approximately two years and is hoping to learn from this experience to integrate self-management into their portfolio. In total approximately 50 people are actively involved in the Startblok in one way or another; most of them as volunteers.

Construction of the Startblok started in January 2016 and is planned to be finished in the summer (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016).

References De Key. (2015). Startblok Riekerhaven. Retrieved from https://www. dekey.nl/#!PageID=4308&content=&contentid1=&contentid2, retrieved on January 16th, 2016.

Gemeente Amsterdam. (2016, January 7th). Bouw Startblok Riekerhaven van start. Retrieved from https://www.amsterdam. nl/gemeente/bestuurscommissies/bestuurscommissie-nw/

The Startblok is an example of how the involvement of the right parties and future residents can lead to an inspiring project, but also of how housing associations can operate within the restricting context of the New Housing Act. Postuma concludes that ‘it takes motivated people and a clear vision. The main focus is not bricks; the main focus is integration. In the end I hope this project will enable refugees to make a new start, to become successful, be it in Amsterdam, elsewhere in the Netherlands or in their country of origin’.

nieuws-nieuw-west/slotervaart/bouw-startblok/, retrieved on January 25th, 2016.

Artist impression of Startblok Riekerhaven by MUST

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Young professional Cathelijne van der Berg Early September 2015, Europe got a wake up call by a photo of a dead boy at the shore of Turkey.

But already since July of that year, the COA (English: Dutch Agency for Housing Refugees) has been lodging asylum seekers in big event halls and other emergency shelters for the ones who reach our country. My name is Cathelijne van den Berg and I have been working for the COA since March 2015.

In April 2014 I obtained my Real Estate and Housing Master’s at the TU Delft. My thesis focused on the performance and financing of Dutch housing associations.

During the last part of my graduation I went to an in-house day of Arcadis. This was one of the most interesting inhouse days I participated in. During that day, Arcadis also presented some vacancies. One of them focused on asset management for real estate, which I was really interested in. We started the application process immediately and a month after my graduation I was able to start at Arcadis as a consultant in asset management. Arcadis is a great company, which gives me a lot of opportunities since it is an engineering and consultancy firm for our entire habitat: water, environment, infrastructure and real estate. I work with both specialists and generalists, which entails a lot of variation during the works and projects that are executed. The first few months I was mainly active for the NAM. Arcadis is involved in the assessment of damages to buildings in Groningen caused by earthquakes as a consequence of gas drilling activities.

We also worked on the structural strengthening of these houses and we developed an arrangement to assess the potential loss of value of these houses. In addition, I also worked on various assignments for housing associations - my main field of knowledge.

Cathelijne van der Berg Cathelijne studied Real Estate and Housing (now MBE) at the TU Delft.

She graduated in April 2014. Cathelijne has been working for the COA since March 2015.

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At a certain point in time, I was offered to work for the COA through a secondment. For me this was a nice opportunity, since this organisation could be seen as the largest housing association in the Netherlands and is, at the moment, definitely the fastest growing one. Working for the COA offers a combination of all the subjects of the master Real Estate & Housing: project development, urban area development, portfolio management, project management, contract management and procurement.

Although the COA is an executive agency of the government, its policies are daily viewed and discussed in the media.

To elaborate more on my introduction above, the COA is responsible for the reception and guidance of refugees At the COA, I work at the department that is responsible for finding, developing and managing housing locations.

There are people working on long-term developments, but currently we are extremely busy with the short-term developments in order to open sufficient emergency shelter locations for the current high influx. Currently, we need a thousand extra “beds” per week. We have to be very creative since we house people in event halls, monasteries, nursing homes, offices, schools, bungalow parks, pavilions, tents etc. With only minor adjustments we create safe shelter. Safety is our main priority, the rest is flexible. Since everything has to be done fast, we work as quickly as possible.

In the news you hear a lot about municipalities being overwhelmed by the COA, but there always two sides to a story. Municipalities are governmental key organizations and the COA executes the policies of the government.

So in the end, we have to do this together. I also think that future neighbors of our locations are mainly afraid of the unknown. However, our already existing locations are actually doing really well. I think it’s fantastic to work for refugees every day. But the crisis is going on for a long time now. This makes it sometimes mentally tough to deal with. Nevertheless, it has especially increased my interest in the developments in the world. And, in addition, I am still investigating how I want to develop myself. Enough possibilities!

BOSS Business Tour Imardo de Blok One of the highlights of every academic year is the BOSS Business Tour (BT). A group of 30 students travelled two days through The Netherlands to visit four companies that operate in the broad field of Management in the Built Environment.

For students, this is the ultimate chance to meet companies in the field of their study and to gain insight in their daily practices. Every Business Tour is completely different; there is a lot of variety between the companies that are visited. So, what happened during the first Business Tour this academic year?

Firstly, we visited Aestate in their converted stable in Odijk. The mission of Aestate is to offer strategic housing solutions for their clients. At the start of the Business Tour we were immediately challenged with two cases: making a strategic housing plan for a fictive university and the functional program for a university building on that campus. This made us think about the future of universities and education, sustainability and social cohesion on a campus. My group proposed a campus that facilitated partnerships and collaboration to improve innovation and social interaction. This small and leading company was an interesting and nice start of the Business Tour.

The next stop was dvpc; a young and ambitious firm offering project management and consultancy. dvpc presents itself as an open and transparent company that offers independent and open-minded services in order to serve the interests of their clients. But what to do when you have to serve the interest of different stakeholders in one commission? This was the focal question during the case in the next part of this visit. The case challenged us to think from a variety of perspectives while designing a strategy for the renovation of an existing in-use office building. The case was followed by a presentation round and the discussion of all different strategies. After an informal part at dvpc, the evening continued with a diner and some drinks in the city center of Amsterdam.

Imardo de Blok Imardo is a student and started the master track Management in the Built Environment in September 2015 and is actively involved in the education committee of BOSS.

The Friday morning was spent at the head office of Royal HaskoningDHV; an independent engineer-, advice- and project management office that operates in more than 130 countries across the world. After the introductory presentation of this multinational, the case was explained and we were divided in smaller groups to start working on the case. The case was about the design of a strategic plan for the renovation and extension of the world’s biggest flower trade center, with the goal to make it future-proof. Our team planned a sustainable and flexible transport center together with a datacenter to deal with the ongoing trend of the online flower trade. Interesting to see was the variety of approaches and visions presented by the different groups. After a delightful lunch, our bus drove us to the last company of this tour.

CBRE, located at the Amsterdam Zuid-as, is a real estate specialist that works together with investors, financiers and end-users to create added value and solutions for their real estate. This was exactly what the case attached to this visit was all about; developing a solution for a former elderly home in Scheveningen. While working on the case, and afterwards during the presentations it became clear that, besides their corporate responsibility, the financial aspects of real estate are really important for CBRE’s work. After the presentations and a tour through their office, we joined the Friday afternoon drinks of CBRE, after which the Business Tour ended.

The BT is a very nice opportunity to meet new companies and people and to explore the different fields of MBE. I would recommend everyone to join the next BT! March 2016

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We all deserve a career.

Real Estate Career Day 2016: Change Matters Cas Bonnema On the 20th of April the twenty-second edition of the biggest national real estate event for students will take place at the faculty of Architecture at the TU Delft. On this day the main target of BOSS to connect students with a diverse selection of real estate companies will be pursuit by organizing a wide range of interactive activities; business cases, workshops, one on one interviews, a company market and a closing dinner. The RECD will count over 250 participating students from 8 different universities and academies, and around 25 participating real estate companies. The variety of the companies will range from big and small consultancy firms, financial advisors, real estate developers, (developing) contractors and start-ups in the field of real estate.

Besides the main target of connecting students with companies and vice versa, the RECD aims to be an inspiring event by bringing interesting future market drivers to the table. The papers, conferences and symposia mention for example the impact of big data, new visions on the economy, shifting markets and rapid urbanisation. To what extent these changes affect the real estate world in the future is interesting for us.

During the KICK-OFF of the RECD 2016 various real estate professionals are invited to shed their light on how practice defines its position with respect to these changes and its emerging trends. An open conversation with experts from different perspectives, leaded by a critical moderator, will be a motivating starting point for the day and your further career in real estate.

For a better picture a the day you can visit the RECD

website to view the aftermovie of 2015, and you can find the detailed program, description of the themes and participating companies for this year.

Students can subscribe for the event from the 22nd of February through the website, www.recd.nl. To keep updated with news don’t hesitate to follow the Real Estate Career Day 2016 on facebook as well.

Cas Bonnema Cas is board member of BOSS and chairman of the Real Estate Career Day Committee ’15/‘16.

Cas started MBE in September 2015.

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Young professional - interview with Hilde Haverman, project manager at dvpc Joan Ruiz Pion Hilde Haverman (30) is a project manager at dvpc. She studied Architecture at the TU Delft and graduated in 2011. Since January 2015 she has been working for dvpc (De Vier Projectmanagement & Consultancy), a company that consists of a young, but very experienced team working on various projects for different clients, for example: Stibbe Zuidas, Holland Casino, hotel Okura, new ING headquarters and European Boeing headquarters. As consultant, dvpc provides advice on real estate, development, housing and project management. Not only do they provide advice, but they are also involved in the implementation of their consult.

Since young professionals with a couple years of experience in the field can be an inspiration for all students of the master track Management in the Built Environment, we interviewed Hilde. Joan Ruiz Pion, editor and responsible for company contact, met Hilde at the dvpc office in Woerden on the 11th of December 2015 and asked her the following questions.

What can you say you learned at the TU Delft that is really of added value in your professional career?

At the University of Delft students are encouraged to be creative and to really think things through. Additionally I learned to work towards deadlines, to work together with other students and to express myself (for example: provide presentations to a group).

Are there also things you missed at the TU Delft?

During my studies I did an internship at an architectural office, but such internships aren’t mandatory, which to my opinion is a pity. An internship is a good opportunity in which you apply the things you’ve learned in practice.

With that practical experience, you look in a different way to the theory you are being taught during your study. In my opinion that’s real added value and I would advise everyone to do an internship.

So you graduated, what then?

In my case it was really ‘what then?’. There are a lot of students that exactly know what they want and in which direction they want to go after they graduate, but that

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wasn’t the case with me. I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted. And adding to that, when I graduated it was a time of crisis, so a lot of construction-related businesses were having a difficult time. Luckily, I had a conversation with an old roommate in which she asked me to visit her work and see what her working day looked like. At that time she was a project manager at Nieuw Holland project development. By then, I didn’t really have a clear picture of what a project manager actually does, but I was very interested in understanding what else I could do with my education in architecture besides becoming an architect.

I think that this already indicates that I didn’t necessarily wanted to become an architect.

I therefore accepted my roommate’s invitation and spent a day at her work and mainly listened and looked at what everybody around me was doing. The atmosphere in the company was very pleasant. The work they did really appealed to me and I noticed it was very dynamic.

I had the impression that my old roommate had a lot of responsibilities, what I thought was really nice to see.

After that day I thought: I want to work here! A few weeks later I joined the company for my first job as project manager. ” How did you experience project management while being educated as an architect?

I started as a junior project manager. As I did not have a background in project management I asked a lot of questions in the beginning, I looked at what my

colleagues were doing and started to figure things out.

In practice, you learn on the spot. For example, you have to react to situations as they come to you. That’s your training ground. You learn a lot during your studies, but that’s mostly theoretical. I think you’ll always start a new learning process when you start working somewhere, no matter how educated you are.

You are a project manager at dvpc, how do you like that?

I like it a lot! I already work here for almost a year now and I can honestly say that I really enjoy going to my work. It is challenging, the team is great and I get along very well with everyone. We do a lot of team activities, for example within two weeks we will go ice skating.

How did you come to work at dvpc?

At the end of 2013 I left for Singapore to live there for a year as my husband went there to pursue an MBA. Therefore I had to quit my job here in the Netherlands.

When I came back I began looking for a job again and just started by asking people I knew about possible job opportunities. Again, an old roommate (a different one this time) gave me a very good tip by mentioning dvpc. I had never heard of dvpc at that time as the company was just founded in 2013. I went online and checked their website and I really thought ‘wow, they do a lot of great projects!’ I saw that there was a job opening, so applied for the job and started working here in January 2015.

For me it is important that I have the feeling that I can grow and develop myself, and that’s the feeling I have here at dvpc. Every day I learn new things and we have great projects of which we are very proud. What I particularly like is that we don’t only give advice to our clients, but that we also implement our advice. Therefore we need to ensure that the provided advice is complete and well-founded as in the end we are the ones that have to deliver the result as well. In that way our advice doesn’t just remain a theory, but becomes a tangible result. I find that very satisfactory.

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What does your work as project manager consist of?

Working as a project manager at dvpc is very dynamic as I’m working on several real estate and housing projects.

Our tasks include for example setting up efficient and effective project organizations. We constantly monitor the progress (planning), budget and quality. In addition, we support the cooperation and coordination between multiple stakeholders and we coordinate strategic purchasing and tender processes to ensure good procurement results. Furthermore, we manage all parties involved to deliver what is agreed upon. We also frequently have client meetings to enable the client to monitor the process and their goals in terms of quality, budget, planning and risk control.

At dvpc, you always work together with at least one other project manager on one project. Therefore, you don’t have to do everything by yourself, what I really like.

The role of each project manager is different however, but you can always sit together and discuss things, complement each other and keep each other sharp.

How does a normal workweek look like for you as project manager?

I find this a bit difficult to describe. I think that the beauty of this profession is that it is very dynamic: your weeks are never the same. Sometimes you think on a Sunday ‘This is how the coming week will be like and this is how I’m going to plan my days’. But then you notice on Friday that the whole week was very different than expected.

Of course you will have to do things like writing an advice report, programs of requirements or make a budget control model in excel etc., but during the week, there are a lot of meetings and there is always need for an ad hoc approach of things.

There can be a change of plans for example, meaning you have to suddenly visit a construction site which you did not plan at the beginning of the week.

As a final question, do you have any tips for students regarding their professional life?

It is good to think about what you want to do after graduating during your studies, and how you want to accomplish this. I didn’t do this very well during my study, but I think it would have been a smart thing to do to be better prepared when entering the job market. I would also advise to orientate yourself on the job market, work on your connections and use them! Connections are very important; they help you to get useful inside information about opportunities. For example, during your visit to dvpc with the BOSS Business tour, students got the chance to chat with us, informally. That gives you the opportunity to ask questions directly to us. It also works the other way around, we recognize the people that visited us. That is very convenient.

The following answer was given by László Senden, junior project manager at dvpc. He joined the interview during this last question.

I would recommend all students to do internships! As many as possible! It’s a good opportunity to get working experience and it puts you into a network. I would also try to get an idea of what you want as soon as possible.

By doing so, you can focus on that during your education.

The sooner you focus on a subject, the better you’ll look during job interviews!

“Connections are very important; they help you to get useful inside information about opportunities.

For example, during your visit to dvpc with the BOSS Business tour, students got the chance to chat with us, informally.”

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Astrid

Britt

Luuk

Joan Heleen Sarah

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