Plans to develop the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center in Ilwon-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, into youth housing and an advanced industry hub are gaining traction. That is because there are many domestic and overseas cases where outdated sewage treatment plants were either moved elsewhere or put underground, and the original sites and upper spaces were developed into parks and industrial facilities. There are challenges such as resident opposition and massive project costs, but precedents are emerging that turn unwanted facilities into new urban growth hubs.
On the 31st, according to the Seoul city government and local governments, the city is considering transferring the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center and building youth housing and advanced industry facilities such as physical artificial intelligence (AI) on the site vacated by the facilities. A feasibility review is underway for the private investment project to modernize the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center.
The project is most concrete in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. The Seongnam city government is pushing a project to move the Bokjeong-dong Seongnam Water Quality Restoration Center about 1 kilometer to the Tancheon riverside in Taepyeong-dong and put it underground. The Seongnam Water Quality Restoration Center, which treats 460,000 tons of sewage a day, was completed in 1994, and facility aging and odor complaints have continued. The city explained at the time it pursued the transfer project that it costs more than 5 billion won a year to maintain the old facilities.
If the Seongnam Water Quality Restoration Center is transferred, the existing site of about 270,000 square meters can be newly utilized. The Seongnam city government and Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) signed a business agreement in 2020 to build 3,000 public housing units for youth and newlyweds and a startup support facility here. Since then, considering local conditions and the burden of infrastructure, they have been reviewing a plan to develop it into a complex hub with strengthened functions to support advanced information technology (IT) and bio industries and youth startups.
The project has advanced to the stage just before groundbreaking. In Jul. 2024, it passed the Ministry of Economy and Finance's private investment project review, and at the end of the same year, the Seongnam Ecopia consortium, which includes Samsung E&A, was selected as the preferred bidder. The Seongnam city government aims to start construction at the end of this year after concluding the implementation agreement and obtaining approval for the implementation plan. Completion is slated for the end of 2030.
There was resident opposition to concentrating environmental infrastructure, but the Seongnam city government proposed fully placing the sewage and food waste treatment facilities underground and building parks and sports facilities above ground. Rather than simply moving the sewage treatment plant to another area, the plan is to turn the planned transfer site into a leisure and recreation space that residents can use.
A similar project is underway in Daejeon. The Daejeon city government is integrating and transferring the Wanchon-dong sewage treatment plant and the Ojeong-dong excrement treatment plant in Daedeok District to a site of about 140,000 square meters in Geumgo-dong, Yuseong District. The facility, which will handle 650,000 cubic meters a day, will be installed underground, with resident amenities such as an ecological park above ground. Construction began in 2023, with completion targeted for 2028.
The Wanchon-dong site and surrounding area vacated by the sewage treatment plant will be transformed into an advanced bio industry hub. The Daejeon city government plans to develop the area into an "advanced bio medical innovation district" that combines advanced bio, biomedical, and bioservices industries. The idea is to develop the large site secured by the transfer of the sewage treatment plant into an industrial complex where research facilities, corporations, and residential and cultural facilities coexist.
There are also cases where sewage treatment plants were not moved but were placed underground at their existing locations, returning surface space to residents. Anyang Bakdal Sewage Treatment Plant, Yongin Suji Respia, and Hanam Union Park are representative. All three put sewage treatment facilities below ground and created resident-friendly spaces above ground such as parks, sports facilities, and walking trails.
Anyang Saemul Park, created by putting the Bakdal Sewage Treatment Plant underground, covers about 180,000 square meters. While treating 250,000 tons of sewage a day, it has sports facilities such as soccer, futsal, tennis, and basketball courts and green spaces above ground. It is a case where a large, operating sewage treatment facility was put underground without stopping and turned into a resident-friendly facility.
Hanam Union Park is the country's first case of placing both sewage and waste treatment facilities underground. Above ground, it has a park, a children's water play area, a multipurpose gym, and walking trails. The stack that treats and emits odors from the underground environmental infrastructure was made into the 105-meter-tall Union Tower observatory. Environmental infrastructure that residents once shunned has been turned into a signature local space for rest and tourism.
Beyond parks or sports facilities, there are overseas cases that developed revenue-generating buildings. One is Shinagawa Season Terrace in Tokyo, Japan. While maintaining the functions of the Shibaura Water Reclamation Center, which has operated since 1931, an artificial deck was built above the facility, along with about 35,000 square meters of green space and a 32-story office and commercial building. By placing a public sewage treatment facility and a private revenue facility in the same space, the project secured funds needed for undergrounding and mixed-use development.
The LH Land and Housing Research Institute also analyzed in its 2024 publication, "A study on mixed-use development plans above sewage treatment plants," that parks and sports facilities alone make it difficult to cover the massive undergrounding expense. The institute suggested it is necessary to consider pursuing revenue-generating development projects above sewage treatment facilities to secure project funding.