Throughout his career Tom Van Puyenbroeck has worked for and with our faculty. Starting as an assistant professor in Leuven in the 90s, he went to teach in Brussels in the early 00s at EHSAL, whose programmes - long story short - became part of our faculty after the intense reshuffle of Flemish higher education due to the Bologna declaration. He was faculty dean as well as campus dean in Brussels.

Today, in addition to his function of academic director for Brussels, he is also adviser to the rector for the KU Leuven campuses and as such member of the Executive Board, representing the 5 academic directors of all ‘new’ KU Leuven campuses since 2013 in that body. His job is to facilitate cooperation, not only between the university in Leuven and its local entity in Brussels, but also with external partners in Brussels - both within the KU Leuven association (Odisee, LUCA) and outside of it (e.g. UC Louvain, BRIK, Brussels city services and administration…).

He still teaches an economics course and has a research background in public finance and economics, with most recent research into the Brussels economy.

“When we talk about this new building we are not just talking about a building” has become your catchphrase. Can you elaborate a bit on what you mean by that?

“Our university invests considerably in its new campuses, and particularly in Brussels. I prefer to look at this important investment with a 360 degree view. It is part of a broader narrative with many levels which evolves around the somewhat challenging question: ‘Why are we in Brussels?’ How does our presence in Brussels affect our people, both staff and students, our organisation, its partners and the city itself? It all boils down to an international, multilingual and diverse campus, which is reflected in its programmes, as well as its students and staff.”

“Brussels is in several ways a unique campus of KU Leuven, firstly because of its large and growing amount of international students. About 8.5% of all KU Leuven’s students and 18% of its international students study in Brussels. As a result about 40% of our Brussels student population comes from abroad. Our educational offer confirms our status of international and multilingual campus. All our faculties in Brussels – next to FEB also the Law, Arts and Architecture faculties – have at least one international programme.”

“Secondly, and just as important: we are a truly diverse campus. Brussels’ students and programmes are prominent in KU Leuven’s diversity reports. Nearly 1 out of 4 of the Brussels students has a non-Western European migration background. Brussels based programmes occupy most of the top 10 of programmes with students who are non-native or multilingual speakers. Mind you, these statistics exclusively measure local inflow, so international students are not even included. More and more students from the Brussels region enter higher education in Brussels. So our Brussels campus has a very diverse and specific public and mirrors the city’s cosmopolitan flair and challenges. Since I believe this to be a preview of what the rest of the country will look like in the future, you could consider us a vanguard in the evolution with the particular task of accommodating to that reality.”

“Finally, we have local higher education partners with whom we share this diverse student population. With Odisee and LUCA School of Arts we also share infrastructure. Outside the association we have the long-standing cooperation with UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, FEB’s partner in the successful Bachelor in Business Engineering programme. We will now literally become neighbours in Belgium’s capital. So I am very excited about the Pacheco project because, located in the middle between our other sites in the centre and Schaarbeek, it is a perfect space to settle in Brussels and accommodate all stakeholders – finally.”

Finally, indeed. KU Leuven has been looking for extra capacity in Brussels for almost 20 years, first with the Meyboom project. Pacheco was on the radar for several years as well before it was acquired. Why did it take so long?

“Brussel’s haphazard development in the second half of the previous century has raised understandable sensitivities. KU Leuven unfortunately hit that nerve after 2012, when it acquired the Meyboom building in the Broekstraat, near our campus at Stormstraat/Warmoesberg. The project never got past the planning stage because of continued local protests, mainly against the impact on the 19th-century building. Despite obtaining a building permit, KU Leuven decided not to expand its presence in the city without local support.”

“Around 2019 the search for alternatives started. In addition to finding more space for the Economics, Law and Arts faculties, we also wanted to tackle the infrastructural issues of the Architecture faculty on the site in Schaarbeek. When the Pacheco plinth came up for sale our interest was raised and when owner Belfius Insurance and the Brussels Bouwmeester Maitre Architect presented the new design by a2o and WIT architects, the Meyboom project was officially cancelled and careful preparations for the Pacheco acquisition started.”

“We provided the architects with a wish-list covering both the Meyboom plans and the needs of the Architecture faculty. Plenty of time went into that complex puzzle and many workshops were held during 2021-2022, especially with external partners such as public administrations, the fire department and other users of the site. Our programme was finetuned in view of obtaining a building permit ànd taking all stakeholders into account. It was a very constructive process. The acquisition was completed by the end of 2022. The thorough approach resulted in a project with a satisfactory outcome for many parties.”

So the building has been KU Leuven’s since a year. What has happened in the meantime?

“A2o and WIT architects and KU Leuven’s technical services have lead the way to adapt the plans to our needs in 2022. Throughout 2023 they have further consulted, both internally with user groups about special requirements, and externally with engineering bureaus and other technical experts on specialist matters such as acoustics and security. That allowed them to complete a draft procurement tender by the end of that year, quite a feat since both the building and our needs are complex.”

“You basically have to imagine the education of the future and try to fit that into an existing structure. It came with plenty of discussions and adaptations. You have to think through the optimal use of your infrastructure, so the goal has always been to design spaces for flexible use wherever possible. That also fits into the broader narrative and could mean opening up the building longer, not only to (international) students and staff, but also to external parties outside office and teaching hours.”