FAQ

No. Neither technical and infrastructure areas – such as rooms for electrical systems, restrooms, and elevator systems (NUF 7 and 8) – nor passageway areas – such as hallways, stairways, and lobbies (NUF 9) – are included in the floor space calculations for individual organizational units.

For example: The North Campus includes buildings that were originally constructed as barracks for the Federal Border Guard but are now used by TU Braunschweig as office buildings. However, since the elongated office layouts there do not allow for the full-efficiency utilization of the available space, only 90% of the square meters are included in the floor space calculation. In such and similar cases, the reduction factor is always 10%.

We refer to the space included in these cases after a 10% reduction as usable space – it is represented graphically in the inventory as a light gray bar. The actual total square meters are represented graphically in the inventory results as dark gray bars.

The reduction factor is stored in our database for each building and is initially applied to all rooms within that building.

Yes, space requirements for students working on their theses are factored into the calculations for both office and laboratory areas.

The methodology takes the number of employees into account, not full-time equivalents (= relative job shares). This, in turn, means that all employees are entitled to their own workplace, and that the space allocation takes into account the full allotted square meters for all employees. See also the provisions on desk sharing (Staff Council Agreement No. 53), which are separate from the space management policy.

Employees with multiple positions can be technically identified using the "Cost Center” attribute and thus accounted for across multiple organizational units. If necessary, a brief review by the Managing Directors of the Faculties may be required. However, our experiences show that this situation affects only a small number of people at Technische Universität Braunschweig.

The purpose of space management is to document the current status. This is currently done once a year. Vacancies existing as of the reporting date (December 1 each year) are listed in the inventories as supplementary information, thereby aiding in the interpretation and analysis of the results.

This is calculated by institution and totaled by faculty. Only professorships are included in the analysis. Approximately five potential research associates are assigned to each professorship. As a result, the equivalent office space for a vacant professorship is “approximately 75 m²” of office space (!). No statement is made in this respect regarding potential laboratory space or other types of space.

Once the relevant positions have been filled or new personnel has been hired, these new employees are routinely included in the inventory as part of the personnel data.

In specific cases that can be clearly and comprehensibly described, special circumstances are taken into account in space inventorying.

In general, an inter-faculty allocation of space can also be useful and practical. However, this will become clear in future analyses of specific scenarios once the individual cases have been identified through space inventories. These issues are also discussed by the Space Utilization Advisory Board.

The main advantage here is that, for the first time ever, TU Braunschweig is able to provide a reliable overview of the space utilization of all its organizational units. Such a report can now be used to analyze and highlight both inefficient and disproportionate space uses as well as identify areas where space shortages exist.

Furthermore, and last but not least, TU Braunschweig can now, when specific situations arise, present and justify proposals regarding building expansions or specific new construction projects to the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony (MWK) in a transparent manner and using sound, methodologically rigorous arguments.

Yes, the full costs associated with space use are also a factor to consider when it comes to the prudent use of space as a resource.

Total space costs most recently amounted to €21.31 per square meter per month (as of fiscal year 2022; including utilities; based on gross usable floor space). This figure rose by approximately 31% between 2018 and 2022 alone.