Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner contributed legal expertise at a joint event of cooperation partners TU Wien, Alliance of Professional Real Estate Developers and Managers (APRE) and Überbau Akademie. Speaking on urban development contracts, fwp partner Michael Hecht gave a concise lecture on their legal framework, the “no coupling” rule and possible legal structures.

 Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner Rechtsanwälte GmbH is one of the leading law firms in the area of business law. Its major fields of specialisation include large-scale construction and infrastructure projects. And this explains why the Vienna-based law firm came to attend an expert forum on the subject of urban development contracts held at TU Wien.

Attorney at law Dr. Michael Hecht focused on the subject of “The legal framework, the “no coupling” rule and possible legal structures”; after his statement, he joined a plenary discussion with Dr. Daniela Strassl, MBA (Vienna City Administration, Chief Executive Office), Dipl.-Ing. Christof Schremmer (Austrian Institute for Regional Studies and Spatial Planning), Dipl.-Ing. Reinhard Schertler (S+B, I+R Group) and Dipl.-Ing. Evelyn Susanne Ernst-Kirchmayr (APRE) on the opportunities created by the 2014 Amendment of the Vienna Building Code for successfully employing, also in Vienna, spatial planning contracts and urban development contracts, in particular for the development of major urban construction projects. Participants debated and discussed example cases as well as possible legal and economic solutions and also went into the limits for such contracts.

Michael Hecht: ‘Unlike in other federal provinces, such contracts were not possible in Vienna in the past. And exactly for Vienna, with its urban environment and the need to realise large-scale projects, the urban development contract contributed, in a very short time, to advancing major urban development projects to the satisfaction of both project developers and the City of Vienna. This is evidenced by the projects for which we have been providing advice and support since 2015. Of course, the complexity of such agreements must not be underestimated, but satisfactory solutions were worked out nevertheless and this tool will certainly see continuing development in the next months. We are looking forward to this exciting challenge.’