GS Engineering and Construction announced on the 28th that it has completed a Lego-style block apartment in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, through its modular dwelling business, and has carried out residential performance tests.
GS Engineering and Construction has completed a mock-up of a modular concrete (precast concrete method) multi-family dwelling at the GPC factory site in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, in collaboration with its subsidiary GPC, and has finished residential performance verification.
This mock-up focused on overcoming the limitations of existing reinforced concrete methods using off-site construction technology and presenting a new paradigm in the dwelling market. The precast concrete method consists of assembling concrete columns, beams, and slabs made in the factory on-site, while the existing reinforced concrete method involves direct construction on-site, which can result in varying quality due to weather or the skill level of the workers.
The PC multi-family dwelling mock-up that GS Engineering and Construction completed this time implements a 4-bay floor plan with exclusive areas of 59㎡ and 84㎡, and is designed to be applicable to heights of 30 stories or more. All structural members comprising the units were pre-manufactured at the GPC factory and constructed using the precast concrete method, and all mechanical, electrical, and internal and external finishing works have completed demonstrations. Notably, the structural reinforcement technology for the PC joints patented by GS Engineering and Construction was applied. It is expected that the enhanced structure will improve quality and significantly reduce the risk of safety accidents by decreasing on-site workloads.
In this mock-up, GS Engineering and Construction conducted residential performance tests on various items, including floor impact noise, waterproofing, insulation, heating, and airtightness, securing residential performance equal to or greater than existing multi-family dwellings built using conventional concrete pouring methods. Additionally, one advantage of the multi-family dwelling made with precast concrete is that there are no internal columns, and the use of 100% dry walls allows for flexible internal structural changes according to the customer's preferences, making it possible to design floor plans that match their lifestyle.
Since 2020, GS Engineering and Construction has actively pursued the expansion of off-site construction methods that minimize on-site work by establishing PC manufacturing subsidiary GPC and timber modular specialist subsidiary XiGEIST. GPC completed a factory in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, in 2021, capable of producing 160,000㎥ of precast concrete annually, and is expanding its business scope by supplying precast products to various projects, including underground parking lots, logistics centers, and semiconductor plants.
With the completion of this mock-up, GS Engineering and Construction plans to lead changes in the multi-family dwelling market through innovative technologies such as the precast concrete method and modular dwelling business, and these technologies are expected to be gradually applied to GS Engineering and Construction's premium apartment brand 'Xi' in the future.