Residents of the Bangbae Gran Xi apartment complex in Seocho District, Seoul, won in part in a lawsuit against GS Engineering & Construction over cracks, leaks, and other defects. The court recognized exterior wall and rooftop cracks, insufficient thickness of the underground parking lot floor finishing material, and condensation as defects, and ruled that GS Engineering & Construction must pay about 2.9 billion won in damages.
According to legal sources on the 22nd, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 28 (Presiding Judge Shin Yong-mu, Director General judge) ruled for the plaintiffs on the 11th in a lawsuit filed by the Bangbae Gran Xi residents' representative council against GS Engineering & Construction and the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) seeking defect repair costs and other claims.
If the ruling is finalized, GS Engineering & Construction must pay 2.892 billion won to the residents' representative council. Of that, 1.088 billion won falls within the scope of the defect repair guarantee that GS Engineering & Construction purchased, and will be jointly borne by the guarantor HUG and GS Engineering & Construction.
Bangbae Gran Xi is a rebuilt complex on the former Bangbae Kyungnam Apartment site, with 758 households in 16 to 20 stories above ground. Move-ins began in July 2021 after completion.
Starting in March 2022, the residents' representative council demanded that GS Engineering & Construction repair defects such as interior and exterior cracks and leaks. But as differences over the scope of repairs and expense remained unresolved, in June 2023 it filed a lawsuit seeking roughly 5.6 billion won in defect repair costs, alleging that GS Engineering & Construction built contrary to the design drawings or performed shoddy construction.
The main issue at trial was the method of repairing cracks in the exterior walls and rooftop. GS Engineering & Construction argued that for cracks less than 0.3 mm wide, expense should be calculated based on a "surface treatment method" that repairs only the outer surface. The court, however, found that if such cracks are left unattended for a long time, rainwater can seep in, causing rebar corrosion and reduced durability, posing safety issues.
The court held, in effect, that the cracks constitute serious defects and ruled that repair expense should be calculated based on a "filling method" that injects repair material into the interior of the cracks, rather than the surface treatment method. The filling method involves cutting the concrete along the crack in a U- or V-shape and injecting repair material, and is known to cost more than the surface treatment method.
The fact that the underground parking lot floor finishing material was laid thinner than originally planned was also recognized as a defect. According to the court, GS Engineering & Construction was to apply a 3 mm epoxy lining to the underground parking lot floor, but the actual average thickness was 2.51 mm.
Responsibility was also recognized for the construction company regarding condensation, in which water droplets form on windowpanes and walls due to indoor-outdoor temperature differences. GS Engineering & Construction argued that condensation occurred due to residents' poor management, such as insufficient ventilation, but the court found that "there are no special circumstances indicating that residents neglected their duty of care in maintenance and management."
However, the court limited the construction company's final liability for damages to 85% of the total repair expense. It took into account factors such as partial natural aging over the two years and seven months from the use inspection date to the court appraisal.
A GS Engineering & Construction official said, "We are reviewing the future procedures from a legal standpoint."