From 21 December 2020 until 19 January 2021 the opening hours of the buildings have been adjusted: 

• Main building and HSL: Mon to Fri 7.30 to 18.00 
• Fellowship: Open until 18 December only for teachers and students of practical education. The Fellowship will be closed from 21 December to 19 January.
• The labs remain open for necessary location-specific work.
• The catering points are closed. From 16 December there will be a food truck at the Fellowship. 

     Stricter corona measures 

This week, the Cabinet announced stricter measures to fight the coronavirus. This has also led to stricter measures at TU Delft and thus at our faculty. Fortunately, educational activities will not be further restricted. In the coming period, however, we will all have to work from home and hold online meetings, unless there is really no other option. The same applies to welcoming external guests: only if there is no other option. At the moment, the university does not impose any obligation to wear a mouth mask in the buildings. It is, of course, allowed. Read the update of the faculty corona plan. All measures will be in place for a period of three weeks.

More guests welcome at graduation sessions

At Aerospace Engineering, there is more room to invite family and friends for graduation sessions. From now on - but only if it fits in with the staff occupancy of the faculty on that day and if it fits in the room - a maximum of five external guests will be able to attend. Read the instructions for this on slide 25 in the faculty corona plan. This guideline has been adapted to fit in with TU Delft's central policy.  The TU central guidelines specify that maximally 30 people are welcome at graduation sessions etc. In the AE building this is not possible.  

Occupancy faculty remains 20% for now 

In the faculty corona plan we communicated that the faculty continuously evaluates whether the occupancy of the buildings can go up. This is unfortunately not yet the case. For now we will therefore stick to the occupancy of 20% in the faculty/department/section. Please read the entire faculty corona plan. Working from home will remain the norm. Your supervisor is your point of contact regarding both your presence at the faculty and in case you have questions or worries.

Early July we informed you about the faculty Covid-19 measures. As a faculty, we will stick to a  phased approach whereby we continuously weigh up the possibilities and (health) safety with the measures. We will still closely follow the national and TU Delft guidelines and are able to meet the criteria set by the Delft Safety Region. On 31 August phase 2 of our plan will start. The standard will stay the same: work from home whenever you can. But there will be more students in the faculty building and there will be more room for staff members to work in their offices. An overview of all the Covid-19 measures can be found in this presentation. 

As a faculty, we opt for a phased approach. This allows us to respond flexibly when circumstances demand it. The virus can revive temporarily or it can go better. We can also take into account all the measures around us, such as the use of public transport by students and hustle and bustle on the campus. This is our way of being able to work flexibly for a while without major adverse consequences. We will do all we can to provide students and staff with a safe working environment. We will also scale up or down the measures as soon as circumstances permit. An update will, of course, follow if that happens. If you have questions or worries about the faculty approach? Please talk to your manager. 

The AE buildings are becoming more accessible again

With the relaxation of national Covid guidelines on 1 July, there will also be room for the faculty to widen access to the buildings. In this update we provide information about the approach we have chosen as a faculty and what this means for the staff members.  

Faculty approach 

As a faculty, we opt for a cautious and phased approach in which we closely follow the national and TU Delft guidelines and are able to meet the criteria set by the Delft Safety Region. We want to be able to scale up or down the Covid measures - temporarily - without any problems if the situation so requires. After all, now that there are currently several regional and local lockdowns in Europe, this scenario is also quite conceivable in our busy region. 

How are we going to relax? 

• In two phases: 1 July to 31 August and from 31 August onwards. In this update we’re talking about  phase 1 until 31 August. 
• For students, access to our buildings will not change until 31 August. I.e. presence on campus only if this is necessary for graduation work (experiments in a lab) in consultation with the supervisor or for other compelling reasons after consultation with the academic counsellor.
• For employees, we will be able to increase the occupancy to 20% per department/section from now on.
• The coordination of the occupancy by employees lies with the managers.
• The managers/coordinators tune the staffing of support services with the Faculty Secretary.
• The 20% rule also applies to the other occupants of our buildings. Think of the startups of the Aerospace Innovation Hub and the study association VSV Leonardo da Vinci. Coordination by respectively the manager of the Hub and the chair of the VSV board.
• It will be possible again to hold meetings, but staff members need to adhere to the Covid rules per meeting room. The Service Desk knows what the maximum number of colleagues is per meeting room.
• To receive external visitors, please notify the Faculty Secretary Joyce ten Berge (k.j.tenberge@tudelft.nl) in advance. If too many departments receive external visitors at the same time and compliance with the Covid rules is no longer possible, we may ask to postpone the visit or organise it elsewhere.
• In the course of August we will announce the guidelines for phase 2, effective August 31st. 

A complete overview of faculty measures can be found in the presentation:

English (pdf)
Dutch (pdf)

Further restricted access to AE buildings for students

Students have been instructed to work at home as much as possible, unless they need the lab facilities for their graduation project. Unfortunately, we have witnessed that students still choose to work at their workplace at the faculty. In doing so, they do not always take the 1.5 m guideline into account. That is unacceptable. 

We are therefore forced to further restrict access to the AE buildings, also for this group of students. The new directive is: 

• All students will be obliged to work from home from 24 March 2020. Access to the buildings on their campus cards will be blocked from that moment on. 
• Only students who have to carry out experiments in relation to their thesis work, using faculty facilities, will be allowed inside. 
• They will have to request special permission for this from their graduation supervisor. After permission has been granted, we can (temporarily) put the access to the building on their campus cards. 
• If necessary, we will check whether the incoming student is the rightful owner of the relevant campus card. 

Communication to students 

This new guideline was communicated to the students today via BrightSpace.They will take the initiative to contact their thesis supervisor to discuss whether they need to do experiments in the coming period and if so, they ask permission from their thesis supervisor. The students will also contact their supervisors if they experience problems as a result of the Corona measures. 

How do you give permission? 

For all thesis supervisors, you can be approached by students asking for permission. You can give permission by sending an e-mail to the faculty Service Desk at Servicepunt-LR@tudelft.nl. Provide the following details of the student: 

• In the subject line: permission for experiment + student name 

In the mail: 

• Name (first name and surname) student  
• Student number 
• End date of the access period 
• Name of the supervisor 
• Mail address of the student 

The Servicedesk will then authorise the student’s campus card remotely. They do not need the card to do this. The supervisor will receive an e-mail when the call has been closed.

Obviously, students who come to the faculty for their graduation session must also be admitted. In this case, the graduation supervisor can pick them up at the service Desk.

Restricted access to buildings

This morning the central Corona crisis team of TU Delft decided, following the guidelines of the Dutch association of universities (VSNU), that access to the buildings on the campus will be restricted. The Fellowship, building 66, has been completely closed since Monday 16 March. For all buildings of  Aerospace Engineering, buildings 61 up to and including 64, the following new measures apply:

• Changed opening hours: Mon-Fri 07.30 - 18.00 hours, starting Wednesday 18 March 2020 at 18.00 hours. During the weekend, all faculty buildings will be completely closed.
• The bicycle cellar will also be closed. Bicycles that cannot be parked outside may be placed in the central hall of building 62.
• All previous permits to work in the building outside opening hours will be withdrawn.
• If there is an urgent need for access outside opening hours, a substantiated request must be made again. These can be sent to Joyce ten Berge, k.j.tenberge@tudelft.nl.
• Access main building only via the main entrance, Kluyverpark side. All other doors are locked. Also for people with a campus card. Only in case of an emergency these doors may be opened from the inside. This will also be indicated at the relevant doors.
• Attention: anyone who abuses this must answer to the dean. Opening the doors is not without consequences: the alarm will go off and the emergency service must come. You are therefore endangering the safety of yourself and others.
• All visitors (students, staff) are obliged to register at the registration point in the central hall at the entrance. They will be asked for name, the exact location where they will work from,  telephone number and campus card number. The arrival time will be noted.
• External visitors (people who do not work or study at Aerospace Engineering) are welcome in urgent cases provided that the host/hostess registers them in advance at the registration point, picks them up in person at the reception desk and also returns them. Visitors must also register.
• For HSL and LSL staff there is a registration form at the entrance. Please fill it out on arrival and departure.
• Upon departure, you are required to deregister at the registration point at the entrance to the central hall. Your time of leaving will be registered. 
• The building remains accessible only to employees and students who are working on their graduation.  
• Non-experimental graduation projects can continue without restrictions. However, we do ask students to work from home and to maintain digital contact with their supervisors.
• Experimental graduation projects can take place after consultation with the supervisor.
• For all other students, the AE buildings will no longer be accessible from Wednesday 18 March 2020 - 18.00 hours until further notice.
• Extra surveillance will be arranged centrally by the TUD.