28 Years Neglected Jungpyeong Apartment Complex Reborn as Happy Housing with Living SOC

Perspective view of the long-term abandoned building renovation project under construction in Jeungpyeong-gun, Chungbuk (Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] A multi-use building equipped with public housing and a small library, among other living SOC (social overhead capital) facilities, will be reborn from a long-abandoned apartment complex in Chungbuk Jeungpyeong-gun that had its construction halted for 28 years.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 13th that it has established a maintenance project plan for the halted construction building in Changdong-ri, Jeungpyeong-eup, Jeungpyeong-gun, which was selected last September as a leading project for the maintenance of long-abandoned buildings with halted construction.

The building was originally planned as an apartment complex with two buildings, 45 households, from one basement floor to eight above-ground floors, but construction was suspended at 60% completion since August 1992, causing urban aesthetic deterioration and raising concerns about safety hazards.

To resolve this, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Chungbuk Province, Jeungpyeong-gun, and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) formed a working-level consultative body from October last year to establish a leading project plan considering the development conditions and regional characteristics of Jeungpyeong-gun.

According to the established plan, the building will be reborn as a complex building on a site area of 2,000㎡ with one basement floor and six above-ground floors, equipped with living SOC facilities accessible to all age groups and public housing. The low-rise first and second floors will house a small library, senior classrooms, and multipurpose rooms, while the upper floors from the third to sixth will accommodate 32 public housing units for youth, newlyweds, and the elderly. This form is significant as it is the first maintenance project linking abandoned building maintenance with urban regeneration projects. Accordingly, about 4 billion KRW out of the total project cost of 9.6 billion KRW will be supported by the urban regeneration project.

Once the maintenance project plan is announced, Chungbuk Province will sign a consignment business agreement with LH, and the consigned business operator LH will go through approval procedures such as housing project plan approval and is scheduled to complete construction in 2022.

Since 2015, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has annually selected leading projects for buildings with halted construction through public contests targeting local governments.

Currently, a total of nine public-led maintenance projects involving LH as the project implementer are underway. The Gwacheon Woojeong Hospital and Geochang-gun lodging facilities are promoting maintenance projects for apartment complexes and complex buildings (public housing and living SOC facilities).

Kim Sang-moon, Director of Building Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "This leading project will serve as a representative model for abandoned building maintenance projects and can be applied to various maintenance projects," adding, "We are also promoting legal amendments to mandate abandoned building maintenance and expand special exceptions for urban building standards to enhance the performance of maintenance for long-abandoned buildings with halted construction."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.