‘Wageningen is not a very big city, so it is easy to get to grips with it. In terms of ambiance, it really reminds me of Nijmegen, where I studied and worked. The supply of student housing is diverse; Idealis has many different complexes, ranging from the star flats to Droevendaal. Personally, I’d prefer to live at Binnenveld. I’m not so taken with the flats, too claustrophobic for me. I need to be able to go outside. At Binnenveld you have five housemates and a communal room and in the summer you have wonderful areas to sit outside. Yes, I can imagine living there’.
Sylvie Deenen studied business administration in Nijmegen. Her previous employers include Ikea and a Nijmegen housing corporation. As director of student housing provider Idealis, she succeeds Hans van Medenbach. He was dismissed earlier this year following long drawn-out legal proceedings. One of the underlying reasons: the deterioration of relations between Idealis and the university.
You’ve been in your new job only a few weeks and you have already had to deal with your first disappointment: the university awarded the contract for building the new student complex Wageningen Campus Plaza to someone else. How does that feel?
‘Yes, that’s painful. We were really pleased with the plan we had submitted. It is a fabulous location, at the heart of the campus, so, yes, when we got the news, that was a hard pill to swallow. We understand from the university that it was a close run thing. We did in fact score higher than our competitors on sustainability, which was not what was reported in Resource and De Gelderlander. It’s an area we had invested a lot of time and energy in, because we care about sustainability. Unfortunately, DUWO scored higher on the short-stay facilities and on the design of the area with shops and service companies. You can mope about it but I’d rather look to the future. How can we do better next time around?’
In recent years there’s been some friction between the university and Idealis. Idealis delayed the construction of temporary units on the Haarweg, the university purposely sought other developers for Campus Plaza. Ultimately, the poor relations between the university and Idealis were the reason your predecessor, Hans van Medenbach, had to step down. Are you now waging a charm offensive?
‘I’m certainly doing my very best to restore trust. The University and Idealis have a common interest, namely good student accommodation. But we also have conflicting interests. The university wants waiting lists to be as short as possible. But that can lead to rooms being vacant, which is costly and reduces the funds we have available to invest. The way I see it, parties may well disagree but they should try to reach a mutually agreeable solution. This didn’t always happen in the past and I know it has left many people at Idealis with a nasty feeling. I have now spoken with Martin Kropff and Tijs Breukink and the positive trend has resumed. Student numbers are projected to continue growing strongly and housing must be available for foreign students when they arrive. In the coming period we want to work together to make that happen and I have every confidence that we will succeed.’
Lots of things have brought us to the point where Idealis no longer has the monopoly on providing student housing. Now DUWO is coming to the campus and STW is in the former Administration Centre at Duivendaal. Are these new housing providers making you nervous?
‘The arrival of more providers is only logical given that the market for student housing keeps on growing. You should never be afraid of competition. On on the contrary, you can learn from it. Competition makes you sharper; you start looking more critically at your own plans. Idealis will be the market leader in Wageningen for a long time to come, but we can no longer automatically assume that we will win a housing project. That’s why we will be revisiting our mission and vision in the coming year. Who are we? In which areas do we want to stand out from the competition? Idealis is doing well; we are a reliable club. That may sound boring but in the housing corporation world, you couldn’t wish for a better compliment. But it doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. As an organization, you always need a new challenge.’
Parties may well disagree but they should try to reach a mutually agreeable solution
Could a new challenge be to focus on temporary housing, as Wageningen’s new housing providers are doing?
‘Until now, Idealis has focused on permanent accommodation. But we are ready for a next step. We were recently at the opening of Duivendaal. It’s fantastic how they have managed to refurbish that as a student complex for a five-year period. The kitchens are simple – very different from, say, our Rijnveste – but they are efficient. And students are happy with the place. Temporary accommodation is completely different from permanent accommodation; you have to look at a premises in a smarter and more creative way. We studied how they did that in Duivendaal and we asked ourselves whether that’s something we could also do.’
And what was the outcome?
‘We’re putting the idea into practice, right now. The university has asked us to submit a plan for the Computechnion on the old Dreijen campus. Temporary accommodation is not something we are familiar with, so this is a project that we can learn a lot from as an organization. We are certainly going to look at whether this is something for us, but it is not yet definite that we will actually submit a plan. Either way, I am noticing that everyone is feeling energized by working on new things.’
Photo: Sven Menschel