Korean Regulators Planning to Ease the height limit on Wood Buildings
On April 29, The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) of Korea announced that the height limits of wood buildings will be eased as early as July 2020 to reflect the latest developments in wood construction and wood-based building products such as CLT.
Details of the amendment to the Korea Building Code-Structural (KBC-S) will be released for public review around this coming summer. The KBC-S currently limits the maximum height of wood buildings to 18 meters at the roof and 15 meters at eaves, thus practically translating to a 5-story limitation.
The tallest modern wood building in Korea is a 5-storey mixed-use building at 19.12 meters completed in 2019 in Yeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do. Amid growing interest in the safety and eco-friendly benefits offered by wood buildings, the Korea Forest Service and MOLIT have been supportive in promoting tall wood construction. The organization plans to build another project of a 10-storey wood apartment tower in the near future with a goal to remove the code barrier that inhibits the widespread of wood construction in the mid-rise sector in South Korea.
Click here to read our previous story about this project.