UNESCO Removes Vienna's Heumarkt from Red List After Tower Height Cut

The Heumarkt redevelopment in Vienna, launched in 2012, planned a 73‑metre tower backed by investor Michael Tojner. The project repeatedly faced criticism from heritage experts and UNESCO, which warned that the high‑rise threatened the city's World Heritage core. After several redesigns that reduced the tower to 66 metres and finally to 49.95 metres, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee voted in Busan to strip Vienna from the Red List of endangered sites—an unprecedented move. UNESCO director Lazare Eloundou Assom said, “It is the first time in the Convention’s history that a site has been removed contrary to the Secretariat’s recommendation.”

FPÖ parliamentarian Toni Mahdalik denounced the outcome, accusing the SPÖ and NEOS of lobbying for the “billion‑dollar investor” and stressing that the project still lacks a mandatory environmental impact assessment. He warned that the city’s “red‑pink” administration continues to prioritise private profit over the protection of Vienna’s historic urban fabric.