[2024 Asia Construction Awards] "Turning 'Crisis into Opportunity,' Confirming Corporate Efforts and Achievements"

19th Asia Construction Comprehensive Awards

Judging Committee Chair's Review - Lee Chungjae, President of Korea Construction Industry Research Institute

The construction industry is directly and indirectly connected to the lives of the people and the overall national economy. It provides the facilities and spaces necessary for our daily lives and forms the foundation for all industrial production and distribution. It is also an industry that builds the national economy and industrial infrastructure. Therefore, when the construction and real estate markets shrink or stagnate, all citizens suffer, and it leads to a crisis in the national economy. The construction industry is an essential resource, like the air we breathe, necessary for our survival.

The role and responsibility of construction professionals are thus immense, and it is a representative industry that must be needed and soundly nurtured in our society. Hence, it must break away from the image and environment of low productivity, poor quality, corruption, and being a 3D (difficult, dangerous, dirty) sector. The entrenched culture of hierarchical relationships like the gap-eul culture, winner-takes-all practices, and fragmented production systems must be fundamentally changed.

To this end, advanced smart technologies should first be utilized in the construction production process to organically connect segmented production structures and improve productivity. Additionally, reducing poor quality, safety accidents, and construction errors is necessary to enhance quality and competitiveness. This goes beyond the simple use of smart technologies and signifies a paradigm shift in the entire system of the construction industry’s production process, including laws, institutions, production systems, and supply chains.

Moreover, the values and consciousness of the people operating these systems must be innovated. By actively adopting and operating ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) construction management based on consideration, coexistence, and collaboration among stakeholders, the industry must be reborn as a globally competitive and sustainable core industry. We hope many construction professionals will empathize with and participate in these changes and innovations in the construction industry.

This year’s Asia Construction Grand Prize evaluation also focused on “how much effort and realization of such changes and innovations” were made. I would like to say that the awardees were selected through consensus among all judges based on each judge’s expertise and fairness. A noteworthy point during the evaluation process was that we could identify companies and sites that turned crises into opportunities and achieved results in various fields such as smart construction, ESG management, overseas market entry, and crisis management capability enhancement. We once again express our gratitude and congratulations for their hard work.

The Asia Construction Grand Prize annually discovers companies that have played a successful role in ensuring public safety, convenience, and building the national economic foundation at various construction sites domestically and internationally, contributing to the continuous growth of the construction industry through awards. The Asia Construction Grand Prize will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year. Based on 19 years of effort and achievements, we hope it will grow and develop into a grand prize that elevates the dignity and status of the construction industry, and with this, I conclude my evaluation remarks.