HAPPYCITY brings together a unique team of passionate professionals that leverage expertise from a variety of disciplines: classic real estate development is enriched with insights from architecture, engineering, sustainable development and business management. Each member of our team shares the desire to realize new, respectful and smart approaches to improving our cities. Together we are reimagining Rotterdam.

Chandler Hatton - partner

Chandler is a business leader whose work focuses on leveraging innovation to solve socially relevant challenges. Sustainable development has been a constant theme throughout her career, from conducting research into healthy and sustainable cities, to spearheading technology development for a clean energy provider, to developing strategies to reduce environmental impact for multinationals. As partner in real estate development initiative HAPPYCITY, Chandler combines her managerial skills and business acumen with her broad experience realizing sustainable interventions. She was trained in architecture and engineering at MIT and the Delft University of Technology and went on to obtain an executive MBA from INSEAD. She is currently the CTO of the Dutch technology company ZiuZ Visual Intelligence. One of her favorite aspects of her work is connecting individuals and organizations to one another to foster collaborative engagement, leverage technology and achieve impact.

Sander van Schaik - partner

Sander is an accomplished architect and real estate developer with a knack for resolving complex spatial challenges with remarkable ease. He translates rough ideas into lucid sketches – more often than not, upside-down and backwards and mid-conversation. As partner in real estate development initiative HAPPYCITY, Sander crafts clever plans that provide a strong sense of place whilst affording maximum flexibility to the building’s future occupants. As partner at architecture firm P·A, Sander ensures that each project fulfills the client’s needs and wishes, from concept through to technical detailing. Sander is also guest lecturer at his alma mater, the Delft University of Technology, and active in research initiatives investigating key aspects of future-proof cities. A master at spotting development opportunities in the built environment, Sander has a nose for sniffing out locations where a small intervention can create a vibrant impulse for the street, neighborhood, or city.

Maarten Polkamp - partner

Maarten is an experienced architect, construction project manager and developer. When it comes to real estate, Maarten strives to unlock the potential of locations and structures that cannot or no longer serve to the benefit of owners, occupants and communities. In addition to being a partner at HAPPYCITY, Maarten is partner and founder of the Rotterdam-based architectural bureau P·A. His friends will attest to his habit of taking detours to pay visits to the numerous community centers, offices, hotels, shops and residences that the firm has realized over the years. Maarten also served on the board of the BNA (Royal Institute of Dutch Architects) where his flair for numbers led him to chair of the BNA’s financial committee. He holds dual master’s degrees in architectural design and real estate management from Technical University of Delft and is accredited in construction management.