Passionately building strong brands - building is teamwork

Project manager Laurien was part of the construction coordination team on the Loop5 site and managed the construction process of this project. Over 250 people from more than 65 different companies worked on Loop5 on peak days. It was often a tough job with many challenges.

You were a fixture on the site as a female project leader. Do you think that was an advantage to lead a project as a woman? 

LAURIEN:  I don’t really let it get to my heart, but I think people sometimes have their own judgments about that. From a few conversations afterwards with contractors, it seems that at the beginning they had some doubts about me being a young woman in that role, but afterwards they did think I handled it well. So is that about being a woman? I think not always. On the other hand, there are recruiting meetings where you are the only woman among eight men who then often have that ten years more experience than you. Then you have to be strong and not let it appear that you yourself sometimes have doubts and can change your mind. 

What was the biggest challenge here for the construction team during a site of such scale? 

LAURIEN: It is the first time the company built such a large project and the same goes for the people involved in the construction team. Everyone was very excited when the construction permit was there. We immediately started enthusiastically and had a good idea of what was to come. But the construction process itself was impossible to prepare down to the smallest detail due to the scale of the project. Adjustment during the site phase proved to be a must. We were faced with unexpected situations as a result of covid 19. Some materials were subject to extremely long delivery times and prices rose enormously. The whole market situation was one of the big challenges during the construction process, though. Contractors have been very flexible to adapt to the direction needed to move forward. If it wasn’t at site A, there was always site B or C where they could make strides. 

How do you keep in touch with Upgrade Estate colleagues when you’ve been on a site for so long? 

LAURIEN: I think I’m a social person who chats easily with everyone. Meanwhile, we’re a company of more than a hundred people and since I’m often on site for months I can’t possibly know them all as well. When I see someone for the first time, I do try to introduce myself so that you can have a short conversation the second time around. All our colleagues thought that was very far away from the office, but it’s only a 15-minute walk. So I did go there regularly when I needed focus time, for example. Then you get back in touch with colleagues regularly. You also have to report on budgets, so you sometimes have a meeting with finance. Our sales ambassadors here occasionally organized site visits in which I was also involved. During the last few months, colleagues from other departments took turns cooking every Tuesday for the team here on site. That way we felt a connection with them, and they could also see the evolution and experience the final spurt. Because of the structure of our company, you come into contact with many departments.

Were there times when you thought you wanted to quit? What helped you come out on top then?

LAURIEN:  It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve always maintained the mindset that I wanted to see it through. Currently, we're wrapping up the final details of the meeting rooms in the other building. We're also preparing for the handover to our facility department, and I aim to ensure everything is delivered smoothly. When you commit to something, you persevere and deliver. This project presented a significant opportunity. We began in June 2021, and I had been with the company for less than two years. You don’t turn down a project of this magnitude. I anticipated there would be challenging moments. The camaraderie played a crucial role. Organizing events like having a chip van for French fries and treating contractors to soup, even baking 200 pancakes in one evening, was genuinely appreciated and helped us navigate tough times. The Upgrade colleagues were also eagerly anticipating the move. Everyone knew we were coming here one day, so there was always a lot of enthusiasm when they came here. That did motivate me to push through as well. It gave a nice feeling to be able to donate our own floor to colleagues.

What feeling do you retain from this project? 

LAURIEN: I still look with the eyes of a project manager when I work here. It couldn’t be more different. I think the end result is very clean and it’s mega awesome what we built here, but I have to give myself the moment to look at it as a regular user. Often you are busy with that mealstrom in your head and what remains to be solved. It is especially successful to put on those other glasses when people make you aware of it, for example during moments when you receive visitors. You know so much. When a colleague tells you that the hand dryer in the restroom no longer works, I think, “Still, too bad I know where the fuse box is” (laughs). Yesterday I was walking through the garden and I ran into a group of employees from another company that is in the building next door. They were saying to each other that it’s crazy that they can just walk through the site anyway. That’s nice to hear.

What is the most valuable thing you learned during this project? 

LAURIEN: One of the things I learned here is to try to let go more. It was so big here that it was overwhelming at one point. I still think there’s 95 percent in my head of everything we did here, but I had to let go of that last 5 percent, because you just can’t get a handle on everything that happened here. It’s also about having faith in the team of colleagues and even contractors around you who follow up on those blind spots. Also having faith in the right outcome. It’s natural to lose control at certain times. For someone who likes and needs control, that can be challenging. I also learned a lot about communication. Learning to remain silent at important moments to see what is happening, for example (laughs). I always do say what’s on my mind and in most cases that works in your favor, but 20% of the times it doesn’t. Then twisting your tongue a few times is often a better idea.

How proud are you of the result on a scale of 1 to 10? 

LAURIEN: Yes, I do think it’s super awesome what’s here. That pride will continue to grow, but because it is such an eye-catcher, the reactions you get back are also very pronounced. That also makes it easier to realise that what you did was really punishing. I would say a ten, because I am super proud of what I did.