Building Heights Along Yangjae-daero and 6 Other Streets to Increase... Height Restrictions Eased

Selected Based on Five Analysis Factors Including Station Area and Central System... Up to 13m Increase (Gamasan-ro)

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] Seoul City announced on the 3rd that it will relax the height restrictions on buildings along seven major streets, including Gamasan-ro and Yangjae-daero, raising the maximum allowable height.

The target areas are Gamasan-ro, Wonhyo-ro, Yangjae-daero, Boneunsa-ro, Noryangjin-ro, Wangsanno-ro, and Bomun-ro. The seven selected locations are situated in zones with low overlap with urban management plans and are located in station areas or high-development zones. In the case of Gamasan-ro in Guro-san, the building height standard increased by up to 13 meters (from 67 to 80 meters) due to its reclassification from a regional center to a metropolitan center. Seoul City plans to officially announce the changes in January next year after the public inspection period ends and the Building Committee review is completed.

The height restriction by street zone is a system that designates the maximum building height for each street zone, introduced in 2000 under the Building Act. Currently, 45 street zones (13.62㎢) in Seoul are designated as height restriction areas. A street zone refers to an area surrounded by roads.

Seoul City set five analytical coefficients and scored each item, selecting target street zones in order of the highest total scores. Additionally, height restrictions were relaxed in cases where the height difference between buildings on main roads and side roads within the same block was more than three times, or where the height limit was so low that realizing the floor area ratio was impossible.

Seoul City also revamped the Seoul Urban Planning Portal so that citizens can easily check the building height restrictions by street zone. By simply entering an address on the main screen, users can immediately verify the height standards for the area.

Kim Seong-bo, Director of the Housing Policy Office at Seoul City, said, "We will continue to reorganize height restrictions to improve the efficiency of space utilization."