Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg

• Water infrastructure (hydroelectric power station Salzburg-Lehen) (issue resolved)
• Ground transport infrastructure (train station project outside the buffer zone) (issue resolved)
• Housing (urban development pressure, high-rise projects)
• Management systems/ management plan (integrated approach towards management; apparent lack of legislative and planning mechanisms)

N/A

On 12 December 2022, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/784/documents/ and reports on the following:

• The final design of the residential building ‘Schwarzstraße 45/Ernest-Thun-Straße 2/2A’ comprised a changed design of the roof-construction and of the colour of the material utilised in order to integrate the project more harmoniously into the buffer zone;
• The realisation of the ‘Nelböck Viaduct Rainerstraße/Bahnhofsvorplatz’ project followed the recommendation of the 2013 ICOMOS Advisory mission by keeping the height of the building two storeys below the neighbouring Hotel Europa;
• The southern façade of the ‘Paracelsus indoor swimming pool’, which faces the property including the park of the Mirabell Castle, has been finished with a curtain wall ceramic façade with smaller windows instead of the originally planned glass wall. Next to the swimming pool, on the former ‘Kurhaus’ plot, a new building is planned for the University of Salzburg, with a height lower than that of the swimming pool building;
• The final design plans, photographic documentation of the current state and its visibility from certain viewpoints have been included in the report for the development of the ‘Dr Franz-Rehrl Platz Residential Area (Residential Buildings City Life Rehrlplatz)’, which has already been implemented;
• The final planning documentation and photos of the implemented modification of the Mozarteum Foundation were also included in the report. The new Grand Foyer was opened in September 2022;
• A design concept has been included for the planned Salzburg Festival Building. The final design plans are still subject to modification; however, it has already been decided that the planned golden wall coating shall not be implemented;
• The original Priesterhausgarten housing project has not been pursued. The owner intends to develop a new project that will take into account the recommendations of the 2019 Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA);
• Brief updates were provided on the zoning and development plans currently in force for the property. The report highlights the close cooperation between the City of Salzburg and ICOMOS Austria in relation to building projects, as well as the expert advisory mechanism for the assessment of the impact of planned building projects on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property.

A draft Management Plan submitted by the State Party as an annex to its state of conservation report in February 2020 was subject to a Technical Review by ICOMOS whose final report was transmitted to the State Party on 10 March 2023.

The efforts of the State Party to mitigate the negative impact of the following projects: ‘Schwarzstrasse 45/Ernest-Thun-Strasse’, the ‘Nelböck Viaduct Rainerstrasse Bahnhofsvorplatz’, the ‘Paracelsus indoor swimming pool’, and the ‘Dr Franz-Rehrl Platz Residential Area (Residential Buildings City Life Rehrlplatz)’ on the OUV of the property, and the attributes that convey it, during their implementation phase, should be acknowledged.

However, it is regrettable that the impacts of these projects on the OUV of the property were not systematically assessed and a dialogue on these project plans with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies was not conducted early in the planning or design phase, which limited the possibilities to mitigate their recognised adverse impacts. While these projects individually do not impose a serious loss or cause a serious deterioration of the authenticity and integrity of the property and its OUV, their cumulative impact has negative effects on its inherent characteristics. The Committee should therefore reiterate its request to the State Party to carry out impact assessments (including visual impact assessments) for projects which may have a negative impact on the OUV of the property. The submission of the design concept for the planned Salzburg Festival Building is to be acknowledged as well, and the abandonment of the envisaged golden wall coating is a welcome decision. The information that the original Priesterhausgarten housing project has been abandoned is also a welcome update, as is the fact that a new planned projects will consider the outcomes and recommendation of the 2019 HIA. The State Party should be requested to submit the final design plans for both projects to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before building rights are granted or implementation is undertaken, and to approve only those project proposals for which HIAs, conducted in line with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, do not identify a negative impact on the OUV of the property.

Information on the status of the zoning and development plans that form the basis for planning decisions is noted, as well as the advisory framework developed to assess the potential impact of projects on the OUV of the property.

Concerning the draft Management Plan for the property, ICOMOS, in its Technical Review of March 2023, noted that it has significant gaps in the management system and needed to be better aligned with the Operational Guidelines. ICOMOS therefore advised the State Party to define the attributes that convey the OUV of the property and to identify actionable activities, in particular to implement previous Committee decisions. The State Party should therefore be urged to implement both the Committee’s previous requests for the development of a comprehensive Urban Land Use Plan to further strengthen the protection of the setting of the property, and the recommendations of the ICOMOS Technical Review on the revised Management Plan. The Management Plan should serve as a comprehensive tool to support the planning framework for planned and proposed projects within the property, its buffer zone and wider setting, and should ensure that adequate management mechanisms are in place to protect and preserve the OUV of the property and its attributes in line with the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape.