Seoul City Revises '2024 Construction Cost Guidelines' for Public Buildings

Construction Cost Index and Construction Cost Calculation Over 3 Years for Budgeting

Seoul City announced on the 29th that it has revised the '2024 Construction Cost Estimation Guidelines' to enable realistic estimation of construction costs for public buildings.

On the 1st, workers at the Seoul World Cup Bridge construction site are taking a brief break from the sun under a tent. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Since first establishing the 'Construction Cost Estimation Guidelines for Public Buildings' in 2008, Seoul City has updated the guidelines to reflect recent increases in construction costs and changes in regulations.

The revised construction costs for this year were calculated by analyzing the Construction Cost Index (with a 6.78% increase) published by the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology and three years' worth of construction costs from public building projects carried out by Seoul City and its 25 autonomous districts.

They reviewed relevant laws and regulations to ensure there were no inconsistencies with current standards and consulted with Seoul City's Construction Technology Review Committee (in the field of architectural construction) to examine the appropriateness of unit construction costs.

Seoul City reflected an average increase rate of 8.06% by comparing the 2022 construction cost guidelines (average 3,863,000 KRW) with the adjusted construction costs for 33 types of buildings within Seoul (average 4,175,000 KRW). An item was added to allow a 5.7% surcharge on construction costs when geothermal systems are introduced during the construction of public buildings.

To strengthen the expertise of the construction cost guidelines, Seoul City plans to revise the construction costs every two years in cooperation with research institutions, instead of calculating them independently as before.

Kim Chang-hwan, Seoul City's Technical Review Officer, said, "This revision of the construction cost estimation guidelines will be an important milestone to enhance the quality and safety of public buildings. We will continue to realize responsible administration that meets expectations through rational and sustainable public architecture."