Eleven TU Delft buildings will remain cold for weeks

There is no heating at all in 10 buildings on campus, and part of one building (Applied Sciences) will remain cold. The buildings that are affected are the faculties of Architecture and the Built Environment, Technology, Policy and Management (TPM), Aerospace Engineering (AE), the Aula, the TU Delft Library, the Education and Student Affairs (ESA) service, the Delft Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory, and the buildings where the flight simulator, the Aerodynamics Lab and the Fellowship are located.

In an update from the Campus and Real Estate & Facility Management (CREFM) service, the cause given is a technical problem in starting up the combined heat and power plant, after summer. The plant is turned off in the summer to save CO2 emissions and is restarted in September. The message states that this did not go well ‘for a small number of buildings on campus’. Inquiries reveal that leaks were discovered in two places in the heat grid during the plant’s start-up. Repair work is in progress, reports a spokesperson, but it is not easy, as the leaks are underground.

Part of the solution is expected to be found at the beginning of November, and part in the middle of November. The buildings that are expected to stay cold the longest are Architecture and the Built Environment, the Aula, the Library, AS, TPM, and ESA.

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Staff are advised to dress accordingly, in layers for example. Heaters and blankets will also be distributed. Anyone still suffering from the cold is advised to work at home where possible. Building caretakers and secretariats strongly stress that, in relation to fire hazards, people should not bring heaters that have not been approved by TU Delft.

The heating works in the other buildings on campus, and, like last winter, is set at 19 degrees ‘where possible and appropriate’. This is one of the measures that should ensure that TU Delft is climate neutral by 2030.