Decision 45 COM 7B.184

Le Havre, the City Rebuilt by Auguste Perret (France) (C 1181)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decision 29 COM 8B.38 adopted at its 29th session (Durban, 2005), through which ‘Le Havre, the City Rebuilt by Auguste Perret’ was inscribed on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (ii) and (iv),
3. Notes with utmost concern that the State Party did not comply with the requirements of Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines and did not provide timely information to the Committee on a large-scale project, did not share with the World Heritage Centre the Heritage Impact Assessment of the project until after the building permit had been issued, and failed to take into account the findings of the related ICOMOS Technical Reviews clearly outlining the negative impact of the project on the attributes underlying the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
4. Regrets that the State Party did not better seize the opportunities to reduce the negative impacts of the Project on the property’s OUV during the planning stage;
5. Further expresses concern that the planning and management systems in place at the property have allowed this development to take place, and recommends that these systems be strengthened and made consistent with the aim of maintaining the OUV of the property;
6. Further notes with concern the findings of the 2023 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Advisory mission to the property, which found that its integrity may be no longer guaranteed, and requests the State Party to urgently reduce the negative impacts of the Tour Alta on the integrity of the property according to the recommendations provided by the mission, namely:
   1. Lightening as much as possible the shades of the Tour’s facade cladding,
   2. Avoiding any night-time lighting,
   3. Ensuring a better interface with the public spaces at the foot of the tower and the urban fabric between Quai Videcoq and Rue de Paris and in relation to the Saint-François district through an ad hoc urban planning study to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by ICOMOS;
7. Further requests the State Party to take prompt action to ensure that the property’s OUV is duly taken into account in all municipal regulations and to proactively implement all recommendations provided by the Advisory mission to reduce the impacts of the Tour Alta on the property’s OUV and to improve the effectiveness of protection and management mechanisms taking into consideration the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL);
8. Requests furthermore the State Party to invite a Reactive Monitoring mission to be carried out in 2024 to examine the overall state of conservation of the property, to follow up on the recommendations of the Advisory mission of 2023, and to make recommendations to the Committee, in particular on how the management system of the property can be strengthened and more effective planning controls put in place to prevent a recurrence;
9. Requests finally the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2024, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.