Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) is expected to expand the supply volume of modular dwellings introduced into public dwellings. After completing only about 700 households in total across public and private projects through last year, it plans to supply 3,000 households annually from this year through 2030, for a total of 15,000 households.
Modular dwellings are houses assembled on-site by transporting module spaces such as rooms, kitchens and living rooms that are pre-made in a factory. About 70% of the structure is manufactured in advance at a factory and then assembled and installed directly on-site. As a result, it is evaluated as eco-friendly construction technology because it can significantly reduce noise, dust, construction waste and even carbon emissions. Shortened construction periods, relief of labor shortages at construction sites, and reductions in safety accidents and carbon emissions are also expected.
In particular, as LH has put emphasis on expanding private participation projects, not only large builders but also small and mid-sized builders are showing great interest in LH modular dwelling projects to be promoted as private participation projects in the future.
According to the construction industry on the 17th, LH approved the "Goheung Doyang elderly welfare dwellings construction project (private participation) plan" on the 7th. The project implementer is a consortium of Godeok General Construction, a small and mid-sized construction company, and NRB, and the project cost is 44.46018 billion won. Of that, 15.89729 billion won will be supported by the housing & urban fund.
This project is a plan to build an apartment up to 15 stories, one building, 150 households, and ancillary and welfare facilities as a welfare facility for the elderly on a 6,798㎡ site at 1164-1, Yongjeong-ri, Doyang-eup, Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do.
On the same day, LH also approved the "Wando Jungdo elderly welfare dwellings construction project (private participation) plan." Likewise, the consortium of Godeok General Construction and NRB was selected as the operator, and the project cost is 28.9677 billion won, of which 8.6428 billion won will be supported by the housing & urban fund.
The Wando Jungdo elderly welfare dwellings construction project is to build an apartment up to 14 stories, one building, with 190 households, and ancillary and welfare facilities on 6,873㎡ at 760-1, Jungdo-ri, Wando-eup, Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do.
Earlier in Dec. last year, GS Engineering and Construction won the order for the country's tallest steel modular apartment, the "Siheung Geomo A-1BL integrated private participation public dwellings construction project," commissioned by LH. Located at A-1BL within the Siheung Geomo public dwellings district in the Geomo-dong area of Siheung, the project consists of six buildings with 801 households. Of these, 529 households will be built using the conventional reinforced concrete (RC) method, while the remaining 272 households will be constructed as steel modular dwellings. The country's tallest 14-story apartment in the history of steel modular construction is expected to be built here. This surpasses the current domestic record of the 13-story steel modular dwellings at Yongin Yeongdeok Gyeonggi Happy Dwellings.
LH introduced modular dwellings into public dwellings private participation projects starting in provincial and Gyeonggi regions. The construction industry is eyeing modular dwellings as a new revenue source. The reason is that if orders for modular dwellings expand going forward, it will be possible to discover new businesses based on the stability of public projects.
Since 2016, over 10 years, LH has pursued modular dwelling construction projects totaling 2,261 households across 12 districts, including its own construction, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) demonstrations and entrusted projects. Of these, a total of 768 modular dwellings were completed in six districts through last year.
Currently, modular dwelling projects totaling 1,493 households are underway in six districts. Publicly ordered projects include ▲ Sejong 5-1 L5 (450 households) ▲ Uiwang Chopyeong A4 (381 households) ▲ Buyeo Dongnam (150 households), and private participation projects include ▲ Siheung Geomo A-1 (274 households) ▲ Goheung Doyang (150 households) ▲ Wando Jungdo (90 households).
From this year through 2030, LH will supply a total of 15,000 households as modular dwellings at 3,000 households per year, and from 2030 it set a goal of supplying 5,000 households annually.
Until now, in the construction industry, many noted that the modular dwellings market was limited to one-off, small-scale orders, making it difficult to achieve "economies of scale." However, as LH decided to expand the supply of private participation-type modular dwellings from this year, industry expectations are growing.
An official at a large construction company said, "It is very welcome from the industry's perspective that the government and LH pledged to expand the supply of modular dwellings by presenting a concrete roadmap," adding, "To lower construction unit costs and secure economic feasibility, an expansion of order volume for modular dwellings must back it up."
On the other hand, considering the high initial investment and technical specificity of modular dwellings, there were also opinions that institutional improvements should proceed in parallel, such as ▲ establishing a cost estimation standard dedicated to modular construction ▲ reflecting realistic construction costs ▲ expanding incentives.
A construction industry official said, "The construction cost the government allocates for modular dwelling projects is about 30% to 35% higher than for general projects, but when medium and large builders actually carry out the work, they need to receive about 40% more for the project to make sense," adding, "Basically, for steel-structure modular dwelling construction, the additional cost of rebar alone is about 16% higher than for general projects, and when you add ancillary expenses, the expense to carry out the work is about 40% higher."