Gyeonggi Office of Education to Expand 'School Facility Seismic Reinforcement Project'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education is enhancing safety and construction efficiency by utilizing an appropriate seismic reinforcement method focused on external reinforcement for seismic retrofit construction of school facilities.

The Gyeonggi Office of Education has been actively promoting the "School Facility Seismic Retrofit Project" to secure the stability of school buildings following the Gyeongju earthquake in 2016 and the Pohang earthquake in 2017.

On the 26th, the Gyeonggi Office of Education announced that it will carry out the school facility seismic retrofit project targeting school buildings such as classrooms, gymnasiums, dormitories, cafeterias, and auditoriums that were constructed before 2009 without seismic design applied, as well as general buildings that are two stories or larger than 200㎡.

Seismic retrofit construction in schools takes an average of 12.5 months from the seismic performance evaluation stage to the completion of construction, requiring high expertise due to the need for step-by-step reports and supervision management.

Additionally, many projects involve simultaneous asbestos dismantling and removal, which has often caused difficulties in project promotion due to complaints from environmental groups and parents.

Accordingly, from October last year for six months, the Gyeonggi Office of Education conducted the "Optimization Research Service for School Facility Seismic Retrofit Projects" to review these issues. The research proposed a seismic retrofit project plan focused on external construction and established step-by-step guidelines accordingly.

On this day, the Gyeonggi Office of Education shares the research results and conducts a non-face-to-face "Seismic Retrofit Project Capacity Building Training" for staff in charge at education support offices and schools to apply the findings in the field.

Han Geun-su, Director of the Educational Environment Improvement Division at the Gyeonggi Office of Education, emphasized, "We will present an external reinforcement-centered seismic retrofit method suitable for school sites and complete the school facility seismic retrofit project early."

The Gyeonggi Office of Education plans to complete seismic retrofitting by 2029. As of August, the seismic design reflection rate in schools within the province is 52%.