Survey of Steeples Identified 2,885 Installed Sites, Joint Expert Inspections Completed at 1,748 Sites
Up to 4 Million KRW Demolition Support Provided for 38 Sites Including Lowest Safety Grade, Abandoned, and Structurally Deficient Steeples
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 23rd that it will provide 120 million KRW in support for demolition costs to 38 locations after conducting a two-month full survey of steeples since last July and receiving demolition cost support applications from managers of steeples judged to be dangerous.
Seoul City conducted a full inspection of 7,829 churches located in Seoul in the first phase and confirmed that 2,885 of them had steeples installed. Among these, structural safety inspections were carried out by experts by August on 1,748 steeples exceeding 4 meters in height.
Applications were received from a total of 43 locations, but reflecting the results of experts' on-site inspections, steeples that were neglected due to church relocation, structures that lost their load-bearing capacity and posed a risk of toppling, or components with weakened cohesion due to corrosion that could fall and endanger pedestrians were selected as support targets through a selection committee composed of structural experts. Five locations judged to have good structural finishing conditions were excluded from support.
The cases selected for demolition cost support this time include ▲ truss structural systems that are irregular and have members not installed in critical areas, posing a high risk of collapse under external forces ▲ major steel members and support anchorage parts severely aged with corrosion rates exceeding 20%, posing danger ▲ locations where access is difficult and demolition is urgent due to significant aging caused by neglect without owners or managers.
The demolition costs for the selected steeples will be allocated to each autonomous district's budget and demolition is scheduled to be completed by the end of November. Since this project aims to eliminate safety hazards, reinstallation costs will not be supported.
Kim Seong-bo, Director of Housing Policy at Seoul City, said, “This project supports demolition costs to prevent the safety of citizens from being threatened by the toppling of aged steeples due to typhoons. We ask for the understanding of steeple owners and managers and their active facility management.”
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