This Summer, the Great Hanze Relocation Begins, Are We Ready?

Half of Hanze is moving this summer. Zernike is about to play a giant game of musical chairs. Are we ready for it? And, by the way… what are we going to do with Berend?

‘We’re moving up in the world,’ laughs third-year student Marnix Bleker, ‘we’re getting a window!’ Indeed, the window in the current office of student association Homerus barely deserves the name. To make matters worse, it overlooks an entirely ordinary internal corridor.

The office that Homerus, the student association of the Business Administration programme, will move into after the summer, room B2.058 in the Van OlstBorg, does have a proper window and it can even be opened by hand. An improvement, then, although there is already little wrong with the current base on the second floor of the Marie KamphuisBorg. Cosy, Marnix calls it. But then, if Business Administration is moving, the student association (which boasts no fewer than 750 members) is naturally moving too.

The Hanze is setting aside half a million euros for the mega-relocation

Business Administration is not the only programme on the move this summer. From the start of the new academic year, the effects of the so-called Hanze reorganisation will also become visible in its accommodation. Degree programmes and research units that belong to the same cluster will be located close to one another. That means that approximately half of Hanze employees (equivalent to around one thousand full-time positions) will have a different workplace after the summer from the one they had at the beginning of June. A mega-relocation for which the Hanze is setting aside half a million euros, according to Director of Real Estate & Facilities Renate Coumou. In addition, as Renate notes for the sake of completeness, the Hanze has reserved €1.3 million for the ‘transformation of spaces’ after the relocation. Spaces that have until now served as offices will need to be adapted for educational purposes in the new academic year.

‘Moving forces you to take a look at all the things you’re keeping that you don’t actually need’

But first, the move itself. ‘It is what it is,’ says Swanhilde Joling, who will have to leave her spot at the Education Office of Human Resource Management, room G2.39. ‘I like this building. But we’ll have a good location in the Van OlstBorg too.’ A few weeks ago, Swanhilde and her colleagues already went to have a look at the new office space. ‘The Education Office needs a permanent room, students and staff need to be able to find us easily (the office consists of three women, ed.). I actually quite like moving. It forces you to take a look at all the things you’re keeping that you don’t actually need.’

How did she know they were moving? ‘We were already aware of the organisational changes, of course. It wasn’t a surprise when Coby (Operations Manager Coby Schoonhoven, ed.) came to tell us. She also asked what we needed to make sure the relocation went smoothly. That was a good question, because it depends on the possibilities offered by the new space. That’s what led to the visit.’

‘On paper, everyone is in the starting blocks to make sure everything runs smoothly. Whether it will work out that way in practice…’

Homerus heard about the new location through the grapevine. ‘We have our connections,’ says chairman Marnix, pointing towards Lauren Bodde, chair of the Hanze Student Interests Association (HSV) faction in the University Participation Council (HMR). Lauren has also been following the relocation plans. ‘On paper, everyone is in the starting blocks to make sure everything runs smoothly. Whether it will actually work out that way in practice remains to be seen, of course.’

‘On 10 July the doors here will be locked for the weekend and the summer holiday. On Monday 13 July the removal company will arrive,’ says Leo Siepel, Operations Manager of the Primary Teacher Education programme (Pabo). He has been working on the operation for a year already. ‘And actually even longer, because we’ve been thinking about relocating for several years. The BrugsmaBorg is due for a midlife refurbishment, after which the building should be fit for purpose for at least another twenty years.’

Pabo staff have been preparing for the move since January

Leo is looking forward to the relocation. ‘We’ve organised the operation with military precision.’ Since January, Pabo staff have been preparing. They have been clearing out cupboards, deciding what needs to come to the new location and labelling everything. ‘Pabo lecturers use a lot of physical teaching materials. Classroom blackboards for handwriting lessons, all sorts of primary school teaching methods, children’s books to encourage reading, Bee-Bots for digital literacy, all of it has to come with us.’

Staff themselves indicate what they need in their new workplace. ‘They’re all things that are needed to create the distinctive Pabo atmosphere, the atmosphere of a primary school.’

After a great deal of puzzling, calculating, measuring and fitting things in, it turned out the music room cannot move just yet

The departure from the BrugsmaBorg will not be painless. The new accommodation is smaller than the current premises. ‘The standard is five square metres per full-time equivalent (the equivalent of one full-time position, ed.). In the BrugsmaBorg we are above that. That means we’ll have to make do with less.’ After a great deal of puzzling, calculating, measuring and fitting things in, Leo concluded that the music room cannot move with the rest for now and will remain in the BrugsmaBorg. ‘Of course, I would have preferred a different outcome.’

From September onwards, the BrugsmaBorg will become an overflow building for educational activities for which there is no space elsewhere on Zernike.

There is also something to be said about the naming of the buildings. After the summer, the Pabo will be located in the Marie KamphuisBorg. Will the BrugsmaBorg keep that name once the Pabo has left? Its namesake, Berend Brugsma, is inextricably linked to the Pabo (just as Marie Kamphuis is synonymous with everything related to Social Studies). Leo Siepel does not have a ready-made answer to that question. ‘But Berend’s portrait… that’s definitely coming with us.’

Illustration: Yateesha van Loon