[Insight & Opinion] Why Do Construction Failures Keep Reoccurring?

Problems in the Design, Construction, and Supervision Process
Systemic Issues in Korea's Apartment Construction Industry
Why Focusing Only on Flat Slabs and Rebar Misses the Real Problem

Last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport conducted a full survey of only the flat slab structures among apartments ordered by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), revealing problems such as missing rebar in 15 out of 91 complexes, causing a shock. Subsequently, a full survey was conducted on a total of 293 private apartment complexes, and the results to be announced will inevitably spark controversy. Whether the problem rate is higher in public or private sectors, or how apartment structures other than flat slabs fare, these are already headache-inducing topics.

The case of the Geomdan Andante accident in April this year can be described as a collapse accident of a building just before completion. This shocked the public who have trauma from the Mapo-gu Wau Apartment and Seocho-gu Sampoong Department Store incidents. However, the fact is that the accident was closer to a failure to properly manage load concentration during construction. The July investigation revealed the causes of the Geomdan Andante collapse as follows: △ failure to properly convert structural design documents into construction drawings, resulting in missing rebar △ failure to properly supervise and inspect the consistency between construction status and construction drawings △ failure of the construction company to build according to the construction drawings. Errors occurred throughout the entire design-construction-supervision process.

In fact, the problems are threefold: rebar, concrete, and excessive load. First, there were sections where rebar was missing, causing some columns to fail to achieve shear-bending strength, and the concrete compressive strength in the collapse area did not meet the design strength. Lastly, during the construction of a playground above the parking lot, excessive soil fill was placed on one side, and on the day before the collapse, rain caused the soil, which had a weight similar to concrete due to moisture load, to fail, resulting in shear failure and simultaneous collapse.

However, the situation is heading in a strange direction. First, by conducting a full survey of apartments with the ‘flat slab’ structure, anxiety about the flat slab structure is increasing. In reality, whether it is a flat slab or not, if rebar is missing, concrete is weak, and excessive loads are applied during construction, collapse will inevitably occur. Most collapses at sites happen when heavy loads are placed on insufficiently supported areas. It is like an adult standing on a four-person dining table is fine, but a 2.5-ton truck causes it to collapse. Therefore, construction management is not only about managing design loads but also about managing loads occurring during construction, and if this is not done properly, problems can arise even if rebar and concrete are fine. Hence, this issue should not be directed solely at rebar or flat slabs.

The comprehensive problems occurring in the design-construction-supervision process, as well as in rebar, concrete, and construction load management, are not isolated to some sites but represent systemic issues throughout the Korean construction industry. Currently, the housing market allows standard floors to be repeated up to 35 floors, making apartment design one of the lowest cost per area, and supervision is the same. In Korea, housing construction typically accounts for about 2 to 3 billion KRW in sales per person. However, in the U.S., homebuilders like Horton and NVR have sales per person around 1.5 to 2 billion KRW, lower than in Korea. Construction is a service industry, and service industries are labor-intensive. When excessive labor is demanded from the same workforce, can the quality we seek truly be found?

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