The enactment of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Building Management to prevent negligent accidents in buildings passed the Cabinet council on 1 April and took effect on 1 May. The gist of the enactment is to strengthen the management of the building from its approval to dismantlement.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has established a building life history management system (www.blcm.go.kr). It is a system that provides a service by integrating and managing information such as building permits, maintenance checks, facility inspection results of gas, fire-fighting, electricity, and elevator regulation, all of which have been distributed by agencies including the MOLIT and National Fire Agency. To date, a database of about 720 million buildings nationwide between 2014 and 2019 has been assembled. Building on this, it plans to systematically manage long-term repair plans, structures, and fire safety-related plans for buildings with a total area exceeding 200 m2. In particular, for multi-use facilities, collective buildings with a total area of 3,000 m2 or more, the initial inspection period should be increased to five years and inspected every three years.
Also, the fire safety performance reinforcement is implemented. The fire safety performance reinforcement must be completed by 2022 if combustible exterior materials are used or sprinklers are not installed in buildings with more than three-stories for evacuating the vulnerable and introducing multi-purpose facilities.
The most significant difference is the dismantlement and demolition work. Deconstruction, which had been operated under a reporting system according to the Building Act, will be performed by a permit system and supervision system hereafter. Buildings exceeding three stories, including ground and underground, with a total floor area of 500m2 or more, and a height of 12m or more must be approved at the time of dismantling. Also, the permitting authority designates a supervisor to dismantle the construction and to manage and supervise the work so that dismantlement can be done safely.
Kim Sangmoon (Building Policy Officer, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) said, ‘We expect to be able to proactively respond to changes in the construction paradigm shift from new construction to maintenance through the implementation of the Building Management Act’.