SH Corporation Begins Seismic Reinforcement Project for Earthquake-Vulnerable Pilotis-Style Purchased Rental Housing

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Donghyun] Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH Corporation) announced on the 27th that it will commence seismic reinforcement projects for piloti buildings among its purchased rental housing stock that are vulnerable to earthquakes.

SH Corporation aims to complete the seismic reinforcement work by 2025. As the first phase, it issued a public notice yesterday for the seismic reinforcement design services for 45 piloti buildings.

Piloti buildings are constructed with an open space on the first floor, with the upper floors built using a wall structure that changes to a column structure on the first floor, making the first-floor piloti section inherently vulnerable to earthquakes. During the 2016 Gyeongju and 2017 Pohang earthquakes, many first-floor columns of piloti buildings were damaged, resulting in significant harm.

Since the Pohang earthquake in 2018, SH Corporation has conducted a full survey of piloti purchased rental housing it owns to identify buildings with insufficient seismic performance. Starting this year, it plans to proceed with reinforcement design and construction for piloti purchased rental housing found to have inadequate seismic performance. SH Corporation explained that once seismic reinforcement is completed, the buildings will achieve a performance level of 'Seismic Grade 2,' which ensures human safety.

Currently, the first floors of piloti purchased rental housing are used as parking lots, so care must be taken to ensure that parking space is not reduced after reinforcement. Additionally, since construction must be carried out while the buildings are in use, it is essential to apply construction methods that minimize noise and dust and proceed quickly to avoid inconvenience to residents and neighbors. To this end, before the full-scale seismic reinforcement of piloti purchased rental housing, SH Corporation plans to conduct pilot seismic reinforcement work on two piloti buildings located in Dobong-gu around September and propose a customized piloti seismic reinforcement method based on the results.

Kim Seyong, President of SH Corporation, stated, “Due to considerable construction costs, neither the private sector nor the public sector has readily undertaken seismic reinforcement projects for small-scale piloti-type housing. However, natural disasters that threaten citizens' lives and safety should not be overlooked with a 'what if' mindset, as they can become man-made disasters. After two years of preparation, we have now officially launched the seismic reinforcement project.”