Mark Broomfield and family.

Director of Property Mark Broomfield discusses everything from the campus hot topic of car parks, to travelling up a fjord in the Arctic Circle to watch orcas.

Work stuff
I’ve been at Macquarie for…
Eight years.

In a nutshell, my job is to…
Direct and manage the development and delivery of the University Campus Master Plan, the ongoing maintenance, safety and upkeep of the campus, as well as multi-faceted stakeholder engagement with all of the faculties and offices to try to meet their physical space needs.

The question I hear most often in my work is…
“What’s happening to the car parks?”

The top three things on my to-do list today are…
(1) Attend and speak at the ACST LTX Soft Launch ­– Courageous Conversations
(2) Review the Capital Management Plan Forecast cashflow until the end of 2018 and five years beyond
(3) Review and finalise the Property submission to the Finance and Facilities Committee

If I could do any other job at Macquarie (with instant qualifications/knowledge) it would be…
I’m happy with the role that I am currently undertaking!

A Macquarie staff member who impressed me last week…
Kim Guerin from Campus Life.

I get my campus coffee fix from …
Taste Café in the Common and Cult Café in 10 Hadenfeld Avenue (Y3A), depends on where I am on campus at the time.

If you were given $50 million to create or build something at Macquarie, what would you do with it?
Given most of the current funds are allocated to teaching and research facilities, I would build the new entrance and pedestrian walkway from Herring Road into the University with some of the funds and use the balance on seed funding a new multi-disciplinary and collaborative research hub for FMHS, FSE and FHS.

Personal life
My ethnic heritage is…
English, but with an interesting Australian twist. I grew up in the UK and Germany. I migrated here from the UK in 1989.

My favourite subject at school was…
Geography.

Outside work, you’ll often find me…
Cooking and entertaining at home. Still being Dad to my three young adult children. Walking with Jo, my wife, on some of the wonderful coastal tracks and along the cliff edges, taking photographs of random subject matter.

I’m really looking forward to…
Our vacation in September traveling to the Croatian Islands and Sicily with a group of friends.

The most amazing place I’ve ever visited is…
I’ve been to many places around the world, but probably the most fascinating was the Arctic Circle in mid-winter, travelling up one of the fjords and watching orcas.

If I could have dinner with anyone (living or dead) it would be…
David Attenborough, he has had such an amazing and fascinating life, with so many stories to tell.

The last great book I read was…
I tend to consume vast amounts of fictional material but have great admiration for anything written by John Le Carré.

The last great movie I saw was…
Too long ago to remember!

In 10 years from now, I hope to be…
Healthy, retired and alternating my time between here and Europe.