Student housing Toepad not scrapped after all, completion expected in 2027

The construction of 380 student homes on the Jewish cemetery at the Toepad has not been scrapped after all. Housing association Woonstad is still in talks with the Jewish Community Rotterdam, the owner of the land, but expects to deliver the homes in 2027.

In June, De Telegraaf wrote that the project had been completely cancelled, but that is not the case, both the Jewish Community and Woonstad emphasise. “There have been many discussions this summer between Woonstad and the Jewish Community. In the meantime, we are simply continuing with the preparations”, says a spokesperson for Woonstad. The project is being built on the Jewish cemetery, which belongs to the Jewish Community Rotterdam.

Business contract

The Jewish Community has set a number of conditions for the construction of the student complex, says chair Chris den Hoedt. What those conditions are exactly, Den Hoedt doesn’t want to say, except that the university should withdraw from the building consortium because of its positions on Israel.

However, according to the spokesperson for Woonstad, the university is not part of that consortium at all. “They do, of course, have students who need housing, so they support the assignment to build student homes there. But they are not at the negotiating table”, the spokesperson explains. A spokesperson for the university confirms that EUR has never been a direct partner in the construction project. “In legal terms, EUR is not part of the consortium. Our role is limited. We have indicated that we are willing, in principle, to house our students there”, says the spokesperson.

According to the Woonstad spokesperson, the discussion concerns the business aspects of the project, such as the finances and the technical feasibility at the site. “So that, for example, the cemetery section will not be disturbed by the residents of the student complex and the allotments surrounding it.”

Woonstad is currently working on the final design. The environmental permit is being processed. “If preparations proceed without new setbacks, we will start making the site construction ready in spring 2026”, the spokesperson says. “In the most favourable case, completion will follow halfway through 2027.”

Objections to university

The relationship between the Jewish Community and the university is sensitive at the moment, says Den Hoedt. “That has to do with the university’s positions on Israel, with the measures it has taken and with the way it deals with antisemitism.” He refers, among other things, to the freezing of collaborations with universities in Israel, the cancellation of a lecture by the French-Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz and the stance towards a professor at the Erasmus School of Law who is criticised because of her comments about Gaza on social media.

According to Den Hoedt, it is above all the selectivity of the policy that is problematic. “The university still maintains relations with universities in China, Turkey and Palestinian territories. Only Israel is on the sanctions list. So this has nothing to do with human rights, it is purely political.”

The university does not have a sanctions list, says the EUR spokesperson. “We follow the government’s agreements on this.” However, the university has frozen institutional ties with three Israeli universities because it does not want to risk becoming involved in human rights violations in Gaza.

Complex construction project

The project has long been facing delays, mainly because of technical challenges. “It is a complex plan in which we are regularly confronted with new issues”, the Woonstad spokesperson admits. “Now that the design is becoming more concrete, we have to make many detailed choices, for instance about the installation of utilities and the layout of communal spaces.”