Heritage Impact Assessment for Bryggen, Bergen
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Scope of Services: Heritage Impact Assessment for Bryggen, Bergen 22.10.2019 KNUTSEN, MARIANNE 1 Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Background .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Short introduction to Bryggen in Bergen....................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Bryggen in Bergen – a World Heritage Site ................................................................................................... 5 2.3 The Norwegian Cultural Heritage Management system and National Legislation ....................................... 9 2.4 Management and ownership of Bryggen .................................................................................................... 10 2.5 Current situation, threats and challenges to the heritage site ................................................................... 11 3. The Bergen Light Rail Development Project - Bybanen ..................................................................................... 15 3.1 Planning for Bybanen to Åsane: process and status .................................................................................. 16 3.2 Baseline scenario for the HIA ...................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Stakeholders ................................................................................................................................................ 22 4. Description of Delivery ...................................................................................................................................... 23 4.1 Description of Work Phase 1 ....................................................................................................................... 23 4.2 Description of Work Phase 2 ....................................................................................................................... 24 4.3 Required expertise and resources ............................................................................................................... 25 4.4 Budget ......................................................................................................................................................... 25 4.5 Impartiality .................................................................................................................................................. 25 5. Preliminary Implementation Schedule .............................................................................................................. 25 6. About the Contracting Entity ............................................................................................................................. 26 7. Communication and practicalities ..................................................................................................................... 26 Attachments .......................................................................................................................................................... 26 Cover photo Roberto Armocida, 2019 2 1. Introduction The City of Bergen is issuing a Request for Proposals regarding the preparation of a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) for the World Heritage site Bryggen, in Bergen, Norway. The purpose of the HIA is to provide an independent assessment of the impact of the proposed extension of the light rail network (Bybanen) on the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage site Bryggen. The approved location of the light rail extension lies in proximity to the world heritage site Bryggen, outside the World Heritage Site (WHS), and within an area that will be part of a buffer zone. The Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) will evaluate the potential impacts, contextually, morphologically and visually, beneficial and adverse, of the proposed plans for the light rail extension on this WHS. The main issue to be answered is: Whether the Light Rail extension project is compatible with the World Heritage site of Bryggen, and to what extent the outstanding universal values are threatened by the project. The Heritage Impact Assessment will evaluate the cumulative and total effects of the project on the heritage assets Outstanding Universal Values (OUV), and provide recommendations to avoid, reduce, or compensate for negative impacts (mitigation measures), and recommendations on how to possibly amplify positive impacts. (A detailed description of the work including deliverables is included in Section 4 of this document.) The City Planning and Building Agency is currently preparing the draft plans for the northward extension of Bybanen. The first phase of planning work (the “preliminary draft phase”) will be completed in early 2020. This phase will provide the groundwork for the detailed planning in phase 2, when the draft regulatory plans will be prepared. Phase 2 work will include zoning provisions and preliminary technical design requirements for the line and for adjacent public spaces. These plans are expected to be submitted to the Council and to public hearing at year-end 2021. The HIA will be delivered in two phases, where fase 2 is on option: Phase 1: An assessment of preliminary draft plans and conclusions for Bybanen (preliminary draft phase). The phase 1 HIA report is to be completed by March 2020. Phase 2: An assessment of the draft regulatory plans prepared for submission to Council/ public hearing. The anticipated date for completion of the phase 2 HIA report is autumn 2021. The HIA is to be prepared in accordance with ICOMOS Guidance on Heritage Impact Assessment for Cultural World Heritage Properties (2011), possibly with the latest amendments, and applicable Norwegian planning legislation (“plan- og bygningsloven”) and regulations (“Forskrift om konsekvensutredninger”). It is important for the acceptance of the result that the work is carried out by a neutral, multidisciplinary team consisting of members unconnected with the previous work related to stakeholders. 3 2. Background 2.1 Short introduction to Bryggen in Bergen Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, is a reminder of the town’s importance as part of the Hanseatic League’s trading empire from the 14th to the mid-16th century. Bergen, one of North Europe’s oldest port cities on the west coast of Norway, was established as a centre for trade by the 12th century. In 1350 the Hanseatic League established the “Hanseatic Office” in Bergen. The Hanseatic merchants gradually acquired ownership of Bryggen – the harbour area - and controlled the trade in stockfish from Northern Norway through privileges granted by the Norwegian king. The Kontor in Bergen was one of four Hanseatic Kontors: London, Bruges, Novgorod, Bergen, -Bryggen in Bergen being the only one where building structures are preserved. Bryggen has been damaged by several fires through the centuries and has been rebuilt after every fire, closely following the previous property structure and plan as well as building techniques. Bryggen’s appearance today stems from the time after the fire in 1702. The buildings are made of wood in keeping with vernacular building traditions. The original compact medieval urban structure is preserved with its long narrow rows of buildings facing the harbour. Although the Hanseatic merchants came to be owners of the houses in the Bryggen tenements, they never attained ownership to the tenement plots, which belonged to landed estates controlled either by Norwegian magnates or ecclesiastical institutions throughout the Hanseatic period. Large parts of this plot ownership structure have survived to the present. Some 62 buildings remain of this former townscape, and these contain sufficient elements to demonstrate how this society of Hanseatic merchants lived and worked. Another important part of the World Heritage Site is the cultural layers underneath the building structures. The cultural layers contain evidence from the City’s long history. According to the sagas Bergen was founded in 1070 and bear witness of how the Bryggen structures have expanded by filling and extending the timber bulwark step by step out in the harbour. As a result, Vågen is smaller today than it was in the medieval times, and the quay front has been modified to adapt to modern ship technology. The southern part of the original Bryggen structures was demolished around 1900 and the new modern Bryggen tenements with shops, offices and housing were erected as warehouses. Only half of the southernmost tenement Finnegården “Bryggen gård” was conserved. The new stone quay front was established in 1920, in front of the preserved section og Bryggen. After a big fire in 1955 which destroyed approximately one third of the northern half of Bryggen, a thirteen-year long archaeological excavation followed. The excavation provided important evidence from the city’s long history and has also been a source of knowledge for local, national and international history. 4 Figure 1. To the left: Historical Photo ca 1870 showing the whole extent of the original Bryggen structures. To the right: today’s situation. Photo: Byantikvaren i Bergen. 2.2 Bryggen in Bergen – a World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen was included on the World Heritage List as Cultural Heritage at the third session of the