John van Haaren is stepping down as managing director for the Benelux region at listed property giant Unibail-Rodamco after three-and-a-half years in the job.

John van Haaren is stepping down as managing director for the Benelux region at listed property giant Unibail-Rodamco after three-and-a-half years in the job.

The Dutchman said he was leaving to pursue 'new challenges'. His duties will be taken over by chief operating officer (COO) Jean-Marie Tritant until a replacement is found.

Van Haaren will stay on as a consultant and assist Unibail-Rodamco on a non-executive basis with various projects until mid-2016. The organisational structure of the Benelux unit will not change, Unibail-Rodamco said.

Van Haaren joined Unibail-Rodamco in 2011 from listed retail investor Corio where he worked for 10 years, most latterly as CEO of the firm’s Dutch activities. Prior to that he held international positions with dairy foods group Campina and transport company Nedlloyd (now DHL).

Commenting on his departure to PropertyEU, Van Haaren said that the role of managing director had changed at Unibail-Rodamco since the organisation had been built up and that there were no longer any stimulating opportunities for him. ‘There isn’t much of a challenge anymore in my current job and I will decide in the coming period what my next step will be,’ he said.

Van Haaren said he was leaving the Dutch operations in good shape. ‘There’s a good team in place. The four Dutch shopping centres (in Amstelveen, Almere, Leidschendam and Zoetermeer, ed.) are reporting good figures and a number of major redevelopment projects are under way. I have every confidence that my colleagues will bring these to a successful conclusion.’