Yangcheon-gu Supports Fire Safety Performance Enhancement for Daycare Centers, Academies, and Goshiwon

Securing Fire Safety and Prevention through Construction Cost Support for Fire-Vulnerable Buildings

Photo of a sprinkler installed in a daycare center

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) is promoting a project to support the reinforcement of fire safety performance in fire-vulnerable buildings such as daycare centers to ensure the safety of residents from building fires.

This follows the enforcement of the Building Management Act on May 1 last year, which mandates the reinforcement of fire safety performance for facilities used by vulnerable evacuees and multi-use facilities by December 31, 2022, to prevent large-scale casualties caused by building fires.

The targets for fire safety performance reinforcement are buildings with three or more floors used by vulnerable evacuees and multi-use businesses that have fire vulnerability factors (such as the use of combustible exterior materials or lack of sprinkler installation).

Facilities used by vulnerable evacuees include medical facilities, facilities for the elderly and children (such as daycare centers and senior welfare facilities), community child centers, and youth training centers. Multi-use businesses include goshiwons (small lodging houses) with a pilotis parking structure on the first floor and a total area of 1,000㎡ or less, bathhouses, postpartum care centers, and academies.

To reinforce fire safety performance, it is mandatory to replace combustible exterior materials vulnerable to fire, such as dryvit, or install (simple) sprinklers. Additionally, depending on the building conditions, reinforcement methods such as installing outdoor evacuation stairs, downward evacuation exits, and fire doors can be optionally selected.

Yangcheon-gu plans to temporarily support up to 26 million KRW, including national and city funds, within a total construction cost of 40 million KRW per building, until December 31, 2022, to alleviate the financial burden of fire safety performance reinforcement construction costs for owners of fire-vulnerable buildings.

Building owners wishing to receive support for fire safety performance reinforcement construction costs can apply and consult anytime through the LH Building Management Support Center.

The LH Building Management Support Center supports building owners in establishing reinforcement plans to ensure the effectiveness of fire safety performance reinforcement, and the reinforcement plans are finalized through the review of the Yangcheon-gu Architectural Committee.

Detailed information such as application methods for the support project and explanations of reinforcement construction methods can be found on the LH Building Management Support Center website.

Regarding the fire safety performance reinforcement support project, the district completed a survey of 1,053 fire-vulnerable buildings from March to September 2020 and notified building managers in October that their buildings are subject to fire safety performance reinforcement.

Support was provided for construction costs for a total of three elderly and child facilities (daycare centers) applied for in 2020, and reinforcement construction has been completed for two of them.

Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, “To prevent casualties and property damage caused by fires, we will actively support existing buildings vulnerable to fire to create a safe Yangcheon.” For more details, please contact the Yangcheon-gu Office Architecture Division.

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