Building regulations for Vienna

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The building code for Vienna is an extensive Viennese provincial law with around 150 paragraphs that regulates urban planning , zoning and the entire construction industry (construction technology, minimum room heights, minimum size of apartments, etc.).

history

Building regulations already existed in the cities of the Middle Ages , especially with regard to the high risk of fire. In Vienna, for example, there were nine major fire disasters between 1252 and 1330. 1252 the first relevant (fire police motivated) official regulation in Vienna can be proven. In 1534 the first “Fire Regulations of the City of Vienna” were issued (the south tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral served as an observation point for the tower guards, a guard duty that continued until 1956). The first Viennese building code created in 1725 is said to be largely due to Josef Hartmann . In 1782 Emperor Joseph II decreed a comprehensive fire order. In 1829 Vienna received the first building regulations in the modern sense. It comprised 30 paragraphs and was replaced by new relevant laws in 1859 and 1868. The building regulations of 1883 for Vienna and Lower Austria were essentially valid until well into the middle of the 20th century.

Today's Vienna State Law is based (as stated in Article I of the current law) on the relevant state laws from 1883, 1890, 1920, 1927 and even includes them explicitly. According to Article 2, Paragraph 1, the general regulatory plans adopted before this law came into effect form the first zoning plan in their entirety (within the meaning of Section 4 of the Building Regulations), and the general building line plans passed before this law came into effect form the first development plan (Section 5 of the Building Code).

The division of the urban area into so-called building classes (§ 75 of the building regulations) and the designation of the areas belonging to the building land (§ 4 of the building regulations) follows historical roots. Building class IV already existed in the Wilhelminian style building regulations in the area of ​​the core city up to the Gürtel : According to it, residential buildings were not allowed to have more than five storeys (four stories). Farther outside were the urban areas belonging to building class III, where the residential buildings were previously not allowed to have more than three floors; Even more peripheral are those urban areas belonging to building classes II and I for which a maximum two-story high building or one story high or only ground-level building was prescribed. The current building regulations adopts this classification in principle, but also recognizes building classes 5 and 6 (high-rise buildings).

Overview of the rules

The introductory provisions of the law also include Article III, which regulates the continued operation of previously granted building permits , and Article IV.This stipulates, among other things, the basic building heights in the residential areas established before the 1976 amendment to the building code came into effect (for building class I a building height of 7.50 m and for construction class II a building height of 10.50 m). Article V deals with the so-called garden settlement areas created by the 1989 amendment to the building regulations and the possible subsequent building permits in accordance with Section 70, as well as elevator extensions. Article Va deals with the construction cost index, Vb based on an amendment from 2007 with minimum requirements for the overall energy efficiency of buildings.

The Vienna Building Code is now divided into 12 parts. Part 1 (urban planning) comprises sections 1 to 12 of the building regulations and stipulates the principles and procedures for city planning and urban development (zoning and development plan), determines the composition of the advisory board for urban planning and urban design (section 3), and defines it in Section 4 (2) the possible dedications (A grassland, B traffic belts, C building land, D special areas) and their subdivisions. Section 5 explains the prescribed content of the development plans, Section 6 the permissible uses (which are very limited, for example, in the forest and meadow belts (Paragraph 3). Section 7 notes that in the zoning and development plans, “those due to their local cityscape in their external appearance worthy of preservation areas can be designated as a self-contained whole (protection zones) ". § 7a constitutes the possibility to designate so-called residential zones in the development plans, § 7b on the other hand" Zones for large building projects ", § 7c defines and regulates shopping centers, § 7d multi-purpose building projects , Section 7e shopping streets. Under Section 7f, high-rise buildings are defined as buildings whose top end, including all roof structures, is more than 35 m above the lowest point of the adjoining site or the specified height of the adjoining traffic area. Section 8 provides: For that not covered by development plans Urban area exists until the establishment of di eser plans building block (but with exceptions).

The 2nd part of the building regulations (§§ 13 ff.) Stipulates regulations for changing the property boundaries (§§ 13 ff.), The 3rd part regulates the (rarely used) expropriations (§§ 38 ff.), The 4th part Part (§§ 47 ff.) Other property restrictions. The 5th part (§§ 50 ff.) Deals with local services, the 6th part with compensation (§§ 57 ff.) The important 7th part (§§ 60 ff.) With the formal requirements for building projects, namely the Building permits. The 8th part of the Vienna Building Regulations regulates the structural usability of the building sites (§§ 75 ff.), The 9th part contains building regulations (§§ 87 ff.), The important 10th part (§§ 123 ff.) Contains regulations on the execution, use and maintenance of the structures. The short 11th part regulates the disclosure (in the land register ) and the pronouncements, the 12th part (§§ 134 to 139) finally deals with parties, neighboring rights and procedural regulations in the event of a dispute.

Frequently discussed provisions of the Vienna Building Code

In the last few decades, among other things, the provisions on protection zones introduced in 1972, in particular Section 85 (5), the provision of which to adapt the style to the protection zones was defused in 1987 by pressure from architects and cultural critics by a "Lex Hollein ", and then the Section 69 on the admissibility of “insignificant” deviations from the development plan. Also the "debureaucratisation" of the replacement of the official building permit by a mere building notice (usually, that means outside of the protection zones and in the absence of monument protection) was discussed in part controversial - the same building projects in which chairmen of the advisory board were involved. Recently, the provisions on energy efficiency introduced on the basis of European Community law have also been discussed more frequently. The "temporary" (but often very long-lasting) buildings erected by the City Garden Authority on the basis of Section 71 of the Building Regulations also occasionally receive a critical response.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Weiss , " Words of thanks on the occasion of the presentation of the Great Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to the State of Vienna by Mayor Dr. Michael Häupl on Thursday, March 13, 2003, in the Vienna City Hall ", p. 2. Online ( Memento from September 11, 2003 in the Internet Archive )