Decision 46 COM 7B.6

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

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decision 45 COM 7B.184 adopted at its extended 45th session (Riyadh, 2023),
3. Reminds the State Party of the need to inform it, through the World Heritage Centre, before making decisions that are difficult to reverse, of the intention to undertake or authorise, in an area protected by the Convention, major restorations or new constructions that could modify the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, as requested by Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
4. Requests the State Party to provide the World Heritage Centre with the documentation on the following proposals mentioned during the 2024 Reactive Monitoring mission:
   1. The specifications for the urban planning study currently underway prior to the development of a project for a future World Trade Centre,
   2. The project currently underway on the site of the former École de Commerce and the proposed new water sports centre on the boulevard Clémenceau,
   3. Any other project which may affect the OUV of the property;
5. Further request the State Party to implement as soon as possible the recommendations already made by the 2023 Advisory mission, in particular to promptly carry out the urban planning study of the Notre-Dame and Saint-François districts, including the area known as the ’Monumental Triangle‘, and to submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review by ICOMOS, and in this regard, also requests the State Party:
   1. To pay particular attention to ensuring compliance with the Architecture and Heritage Enhancement Areas (AVAP) - Remarkable Heritage Sites (SPR) rules set out and specified in the Protection-Evolution Plan, in particular with regard to the Place du Vieux Marché,
   2. Not to amend the Protection-Evolution Plan to accommodate any new development that does not comply with it;
6. Recommends that the State Party take into account the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, in particular the paragraphs on the role of the buffer zone and the wider setting, and the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), when revising the SPR regulation;
7. Strongly recommends the State Party to ensure that the revised planning document provides for the general maximum height rule for new buildings (25 metres and seven storeys) not only within the property, but also in its entire buffer zone, and removes the possibility of constructing buildings with no height limit in the axis of the monumental composition of the Bassin du Commerce;
8. Further recommends that the State Party include, in extenso, in the planning and heritage legislation of the intercommunal Local Urban Plan (PLUi):
   1. Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines,
   2. The general rules (AVAP equivalent to SPR) regarding the architectural quality of new buildings to be erected within the perimetre of the property and its buffer zone;
9. Requests furthermore the State Party to submit the final draft of the amended SPR document to the World Heritage Centre prior to its submission to the local SPR Commission, and then to bring it in its final approved form to the attention of the World Heritage Committee;
10. Recommends moreover to the State Party to review the Management Plan for the property, following the revision of the SPR, and to ensure that it is consistent with maintaining the OUV of the property by:
    1. Taking into account the revised SPR,
    2. Incorporating certain provisions of the Operational Guidelines, particularly Paragraphs 112, 118bis and 172, and
    3. Ensuring that it is updated in the spirit of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the HUL;
11. Further requests the State Party to implement all other recommendations of the 2024 Reactive Monitoring mission and the 2023 Advisory mission;
12. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2025, 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 48th session.