As of now: European XFEL in AER19 – Outside the DESY fence, but inside the DESY network

AER19 is located directly behind the DESY fence next to the DESY side entrance at Luruper Chaussee. The two rented storeys are connected to the complete DESY infrastructure – except the pneumatic tube, which would be technically too complex to set up.

The number of DESY staff working mostly for European XFEL is growing. Currently, 15 vacancies are being filled within the EU project PRE-XFEL. And the European XFEL GmbH, which will take on further employees, is to be founded in a few months. In short: the need for an office complex with closely connected workplaces, which cannot be met on the DESY site in the long term, increases. Thanks to the EU funding, it now became possible to rent two storeys (for the time being) of an office building in a neighbouring business park: in the Albert-Einstein-Ring 19, 4th and 5th floor, DESY designation: AER19.

At the beginning of this week, the first 13 persons moved in, among them the four designated directors of the future European XFEL GmbH, Massimo Altarelli, Andreas Schwarz, Thomas Tschentscher and Karl Witte. Despite the building’s being located outside the DESY fence, the two rented storeys are fully linked up to DESY: for instance, all telephone numbers are unchanged, each office is connected to the DESY network (Intranet), AER19 is included in the internal mail and the technical emergency services, has a DESY caretaker and will appear in the DESY site plan.