Ferdy Poppelier: from Real Estate Director to Strategic Adviser
He officially began as Strategic Adviser for Real Estate on 1 July. But in practice, Ferdy Poppelier, the current Director of Real Estate, will still mainly be the principal of construction projects. ‘It’s great to see that we as the Real Estate expertise centre have achieved so much.’
What are you going to be doing?
‘In the three days per week that I now work, I am going to focus on three big projects: expanding our campus in The Hague with the Spui building, constructing the University Sports Centre at the Leiden Bio Science Park and making the University Library more sustainable. I am acting as principal of these projects on behalf of our new director Chris Suijker. I will also be able to answer colleagues’ questions. I hope this will help make Chris’s work easier. These are incredibly busy times for our Real Estate department with many ongoing construction projects and us being slightly understaffed. I more than noticed that this past year as acting director. We are looking for a new deputy director who can hopefully relieve the pressure.’
Why did you choose the role of strategic adviser?
‘More than anything I’m at a juncture where I need to work less and have more free time. I have worked for Real Estate for 25 years, as director in the past year, and have thoroughly enjoyed it, but it is a really high-pressure job. We are giving a different name to the job I will do in the next year and a half until I retire: strategic adviser. It means I’m no longer on the management team.’
What do you think are the biggest challenges?
‘The expansion in The Hague is an intensive project in itself because apart from the investor, we are also dealing with four co-tenants of the property: our strategic partners Delft University of Technology, the Open University, LUMC and Universities of the Netherlands. We will need to pull out all the stops to open the doors in January 2026. But the Sports Centre too, on which construction will finally start at the beginning of July after years of delay, is an unusual project because the Sports Centre is a foundation.’
How do you look back on your time as Director of Real Estate?
‘It’s great to see that we as the Real Estate expertise centre have achieved so much. Take, for example, all the completed construction projects from this past year: the completion of all the student accommodation, the fantastic Faculty of Science building and the Campus Square. What also stands out is how well organised our Facility Management and Maintenance team is. This became clear when fire broke out in a medium-voltage substation at the LBSP last year. I myself had to go to my daughter’s graduation but everything ran really smoothly. That really gave me a lift.’