I think it's all a question of approach, if you just pop out to clean the egr valve then it's is a nightmare, but if you set aside plenty of time and go at it slowly it's mechanically simple but tight
in space terms, there's only two bolts and the electrical connector, there is also the link pipe with two Allen bolts on the bottom and 3 10mm bolts on the top, the egr valve was fitted with two T30 torx, my inlet manifold literally had 3mm of gunk all over the inside and all associated parts, I cleaned them all back to as new and you can feel the difference, I think if it's preventative maintenance then the inlet valve, egr, manifold and pipe work should be done, if it's a fault rectification that's different, mines 6 years old with 74k and FSH until I got it and it was filthy internally, I doubt anything would break down the filth, I used carb cleaner on the egr and inlet butterfly but white spirit and the jet wash on my inlet, with sensor removed from inlet, it all came off but it took me two fairly solid days, I think I could do it in one session now but I was doing it blind to start with, I made a tool to allow the fuel pump to be removed keeping the timing belt in place,
this is a metal plate with wood attached, the FP sprocket could then be bolted to the backplate. If I did it again I could confidently not mark the timing, remove aux belt, crank pulley etc but I did just in case, the tool fits snugly and the sprocket didn't move at all( laterally I mean) so the FP went straight back, it has a roll pin not woodruff key so no falling out when taking it off, I have heard some have a key though, the whole fuel system self bleed on assembly on cranking, don't know much specifically about this turbo but understand the principles