Year-End Closure from 23.12.2023 through 7.1.2024

To all staff and students at TU Berlin

The year is now slowly drawing to a close and the winter holidays are approaching. To help save energy, TU Berlin has decided to close its buildings at the end of the year and to power them down. This step represents a significant contribution towards managing the energy crisis as well as actively protecting the climate.

The Executive Board at TU Berlin would like to express its appreciation for your understanding and support!

Specifically, the year-end closure means it will generally not be possible to access University buildings

from Saturday, 23 December 2023 through Sunday, 7 January 2024.

Information about exclusive mobile working during this period can be found in the TU Berlin/Staff Council agreement on year-end closure and the TU Berlin/Staff Council agreement on mobile working (see "Downloads") as well as the websites on mobile working.

Classes scheduled to take place during the closure period must be held online or else be rescheduled for a later date. Instructors are requested to not schedule any exam components or other required performance during the closure period.

The year-end closure affects all TU Berlin staff, students, and visitors. It will generally not be possible to access buildings from 23 December 2023 through 7 January 2024.

The heads of academic chairs and management will be informed separately by the Task Force Energy regarding the regulations for accessing buildings in case of emergency during the year-end closure.

In a few exceptional cases, managers can arrange access for official reasons or an exception can be made after first consulting the relevant staff council.

For further details, please refer to Section 1 (2) of the TU Berlin/Staff Council agreement on year-end closure (see "Downloads").

To arrange an exception, please contact the Task Force Energy?

It is planned to power down TU Berlin’s buildings during this period. This means that the buildings will have limited heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and lighting during the specified period. The central power supply will remain on.

The organization of the powering down of the buildings will be the same as for the year-end closure 2022/23. If your requirements regarding temperature and ventilation for the year-end closure have changed significantly, e.g. due to new test stands, laboratories, etc., please contact energie@tu-berlin.de.

From 8 January 2024 it will be possible to use the buildings once again during their regular opening hours.
Please be aware that year-end closures are likely for the coming years as well. As such, you should not plan any events, large-scale experiments, or the like for the lecture-free period over Christmas and New Year in the coming years.

The Main Library at Fasanenstraße 88 will close on 22 December 2023 at midnight and re-open on 2 January 2024 at 9:00. Normal opening hours will then apply.

It will not be possible to access the various department libraries, which are located in different buildings, from 23 December 2023 through 7 January 2024.

It is not possible to work on campus during this time.

During the closure period, employees, civil servants, and trainees are to work remotely 100%. The standard 40% limit for mobile working does not apply during this period. Individual exceptions apply to staff in certain sections, such as building operations and security, personnel, and financial accounting.

Mobile working during the closure period does not have to be requested individually or approved by your supervisor and also applies to any staff who have not previously submitted a request for mobile working. Management are requested to arrange tasks with their team that are suitable for mobile working. Exceptions apply for the groups referred to above. These will be arranged with the respective manager.

Full details about mobile working during the year-end closure can be read in the TU Berlin/Staff Council agreement (see "Downloads").

If you do not currently have flextime credit or vacation days left for this period, you can still take time off during this period and make up the hours by March 31, 2024. For units and staff with fixed working hours, it will also be possible to generate time credits by adjusting the fixed working hours according to requirements and circumstances (see Current Notice on Year-End Closure 2023/2024 in “Downloads”).

Staff who do not have an end device enabling them to work off campus during this period have the possibility to borrow one. The device for loan is Lenovo E14 Gen 4 with Windows.

You are required to register in advance if you wish to borrow a device. Please ensure that you do so by calendar week 50 (17 December 2023 at the latest) by contacting technikverleih(at)innocampus.tu-berlin.de. Computers will then be distributed in the following week (calendar week 51). You will receive a confirmation mail informing you about when you can collect your computer.

TU Berlin will be offering selected continuing education programs during the 2023/24 closure period. If you are interested, please register for each training separately. You can find an overview of the programs available at

TU Berlin continuing education offers during the winter closure period

You can also continue to take advantage of e-learning offers and attend fire safety and first-aid courses.

TU Sport will also be running courses during this period. Information is available on the TU Sport website.

Additional offers will be added in the coming weeks, so keep checking.

Classes scheduled for the year-end closure (23 December 2023 through 7 January 2024) must be held online or re-scheduled for a later date. Instructors are requested to not schedule any exam components or other required performance during the closure period.

If you are unable to submit your final thesis due to the year-end closure, you can request an extension for the duration of the closure from 23 December 2023 through 7 January 2024.

Students whose submission deadline is between 23 December 2023 and 7 January 2024 have been notified via email. Please check your inbox.

Detailed information about the deadline extension is available from the Examination Office.

As a supervisor, you should discuss with your new staff members at an early stage which form of virtual onboarding is most suitable during the closure period. Please also note the training sessions offered in the closure period:

 TU Berlin continuing education offers during the winter closure period

The mail room in building Z will remain open (please note that only the mail room and not the entire building will be open). Signs stating that all mail is to be delivered to the mail room during the closure period will be posted on all buildings. Internal mail will not be delivered during the closure period.

Please note: All packages and deliveries will be centrally delivered to the mail room, stored there, and distributed to recipients within the University beginning 8 January 2023. Packages weighing more than 31.5 kg, bulky goods, goods on pallets as well as freight forwarding deliveries cannot be accepted.

Distribution will take up to two weeks. It is also possible to collect packages or urgent mail during the closure period. You must present a valid University ID. Please note the opening times of the Mail Room.

Please avoid ordering packages or other deliveries after 15 December 2023 and in particular do not order perishable items or hazardous substances.

During the year-end closure, heating and ventilation will be operated at the absolute minimum (with consideration for frost and hazard protection) unless otherwise previously arranged. Lights will be turned off, but can be powered on (and off) using the light switches. The central power supply will remain powered on.

Please ensure that

• doors and windows are properly closed to prevent vandalism, among other things.
• lights are switched off when you leave a building.
• blinds are raised.
• heating thermostats should be set to level 1 as long as no special conditions have been agreed for the rooms.

Due to the very different infrastructure of the various buildings, it is hard to provide general guidelines and the regulations described require a high level of understanding and cooperation.

To achieve real savings by closing buildings requires the unconditional cooperation of all TU Berlin members and a strict application of the following decentralized measures. This way, we would like to build on the success of last year's closure, which resulted in nearly 60 percent savings in electricity consumption in some buildings including A, C, HL, KL and TEL when comparing December 2019 and December 2022, or around 50 percent of heat consumption in buildings such as EMH, HE, HL and TC.  Full savings can only be achieved through the following decentralized measures. Please also feel free to supplement these with specific measures for your own unit.

Take care to observe the following measures in your unit:

1. To minimize the risk of mold and condensation, be sure to ventilate (open all windows) for about 10 minutes before leaving the rooms for the last time and then close all windows.
2. Set heating thermostats to level 1.
3. Switch off room lighting.
4. Shut off computers, monitors, printers, and other electronic devices (unplug from socket).
5. Where possible, please unplug mains adapters from the mains socket.
6. Turn off and unplug de-centralized hot water boilers
7. Empty and unplug fridges; be sure to leave the door ajar. If applicable, thaw freezers in advance while monitoring them.
8. Shut down ventilation (in particular digestors, if possible to do so decentrally). You are not allowed to store chemicals in digestors.
9. Securely shut all chemical containers and store them in their designated place.
10. Ensure the safety of research facilities and equipment.

Please dispose of all perishable goods by 22 December 2023. For further information, please refer to Saving energy: TU Berlin informs staff and students

These regulations also apply to events.