Sampyo Group signed a multilateral technology agreement to innovate construction quality and safety for supertall buildings. The company is expected to expand its expertise through practical cooperation that adds partners' technical capabilities to its own know-how in high-performance concrete mix design.
Sampyo Industry and SAMPYO Cement, core affiliates of construction base materials specialist Sampyo Group, said on the 10th that they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for "construction innovation technology cooperation for supertall buildings" with GS Engineering & Construction and Saint-Gobain Korea Holdings at the GS Engineering & Construction R&D Center in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the 3rd.
The agreement was prepared to improve concrete pumping performance—essential at supertall sites—and to ensure overall construction safety. The four companies will jointly carry out the entire process from concrete mix design to on-site demonstrations based on their respective expertise.
In this project, Sampyo Industry and SAMPYO Cement will lead the development of special cement optimized for high-rise placement and the verification of mix technology. The core role is to reduce the viscosity of concrete to improve workability while perfectly achieving the target strength.
"Bluement SPEED," developed in-house by the Sampyo Group Technology Research Institute, is a high-performance, eco-friendly blended cement that secures early compressive strength equal to or greater than ordinary Portland cement (OPC) Type I. Its key feature is that it can achieve a demolding strength of 5 MPa (megapascal) or more in just one day after concrete placement, enabling shorter schedules and efficient construction.
GS Engineering & Construction will oversee performance evaluation and demonstrations. Saint-Gobain Korea Holdings will contribute to building an organic cooperation system by developing customized admixtures that incorporate global know-how.
The core of the technology the four companies will complete together is the commercialization of "low-viscosity, high-flow concrete." When high-quality cement supplied by Sampyo and a precise mix design are applied, frictional resistance is greatly reduced during the pumping process of pushing concrete to upper floors through pipes. As a result, concrete can be placed smoothly and uniformly even in hard-to-reach supertall sections, simultaneously improving construction speed, building quality, and on-site safety.
The high-performance concrete co-developed in this way is expected to be deployed at major landmark sites in Korea. It is anticipated to be applied in stages to representative supertall projects, including the Hangang Mansion in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and the Busan Citizen Park Promotion Zone 1 reconstruction site, both built by GS Engineering & Construction, as well as the Seongsu Strategic Zone 1 redevelopment and the Yeouido Sambu reconstruction, which are currently under bidding review.
Lee Jong-seok, CEO of Sampyo Industry, said, "The success of supertall sites depends on the quality of concrete that exhibits consistent strength even under harsh upper-floor placement conditions," and added, "We will fully demonstrate the cement production and mix design capabilities that Sampyo Group has accumulated and play a key role in supporting high-quality construction and creating safe construction sites by communicating actively with our partners."