Starting shot for planning the festival halls
Culture
The planning committee of the city of Salzburg deals for the first time on Thursday with one of the largest construction projects in the entire state: the general renovation and conversion of the festival halls in the middle of Salzburg’s old town.
It is these three lines that mark the political starting signal for a spectacular project:
In the current official report of the urban planning department it says: “The urban planning framework is recommended as a basis for the development of the property, for the competition to find a project and for further planning.”
Construction project is considered to be very delicate
The project was presented over a year ago and more than 260 million euros are to be invested in the festival district. The project is considered to be rude in several respects. For example, nature conservation: essential parts of the expansion of the festival halls are to be built into it. This is not considered to be geologically easy, the city administration recommends a detailed assessment of the rock strata concerned. The Mönchsberg is also grassland and a recreational area – you should also take this into consideration.
Challenge: nature conservation, monument protection and traffic
The monument protection is similar. The festival halls are located in the middle of the old town protection zone I. Not only the expert commission should be involved in the further planning, but also the international monument protection council ICOMOS.
In addition, there is traffic development: The festival wants its own supplier access – a tunnel that is to branch off either next to the Neutor or even directly from the Neutor itself. This project also raises many open questions which the authorities now have to deal with. The planning committee is the first step in this, the planned start of construction for the project is in 2025.