[2024 Apartment Brand Awards] Significantly Reducing Construction Period with Modular Housing Production

Green Smart Sector 'Korea Land and Housing Corporation'
Constructs Korea's Largest Modular Housing in Sejong

At this year's Asia Economy Apartment Brand Awards, the 'Green Smart' category was awarded to Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). LH received high praise for its leadership in fostering the smart construction industry ecosystem. In particular, the largest modular housing complex in Korea (450 units), being built in Sejong 5-1 Living Zone L5 Block, attracted attention.

Sejong L5 Block Apartment Complex Bird's-eye View / Image Courtesy of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH)

Modular housing is a representative off-site construction (OSC) method where construction materials and components such as exterior walls, windows, and plumbing are pre-manufactured in box form at factories and only assembled on-site. Compared to traditional reinforced concrete methods, construction time can be reduced by about 30%, and the use of standardized factory machinery for materials and components reduces the need for on-site labor. The construction quality, which used to vary from site to site, also becomes consistent. This represents the industrialization of the construction industry.

LH applies modular housing-specific dedicated floor plans from the design stage. The floor impact sound performance secures a level 3 rating by using inter-floor noise insulation materials. Unlike general apartments, which typically undergo reconstruction discussions every 30 years, completed modular houses can be used for up to 100 years by replacing periodic components such as plumbing. The expected completion date is May 2027. After the bidding announcement in March, LH plans to receive design documents on the 8th of this month and select a company through evaluation in September.

Additionally, LH has established the '2030 LH OSC Housing Roadmap' aiming to innovate the construction industry system and revitalize the modular housing market. The roadmap includes mid- to long-term plans such as reducing construction periods by 50% and securing construction costs at levels comparable to existing methods by 2030. The annual orders for modular and precast concrete (PC) housing will gradually increase from 1,000 units per year during 2023?2025 to 3,000 units per year during 2026?2029. This stems from analyses that the OSC method has so far been implemented as one-off pilot projects focused on individual projects, resulting in poor economic feasibility and somewhat insufficient construction period reduction effects. Furthermore, LH is developing its own technology for modular housing design standardization and productization and providing a testbed to verify new private-sector technologies.

Oh Joo-heon, Head of LH Public Housing Headquarters, said, "It is time for innovation to shift the construction production system from site-centered to factory production." He added, "We will actively promote OSC-tailored institutional improvements such as special cases for design and supervision and exceptions for applied materials to establish a foundation for creating a smart construction industry ecosystem."