This photo shows a bird’s eye view of an array of apartment compounds in Seoul on Dec. 8, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is on track to strengthen regulatory standards on floor noise, as well as to introduce an ‘ex-post inter-floor noise confirmation system’ to mandate multi-unit house developers to check the inter-floor noise prevention performance after completing apartment construction.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will issue an advance legislation and administration notice for the ‘regulations and rules concerning housing construction standards’ and the ‘acknowledgement and management standards concerning floor shock noise prevention structure for multi-unit houses.’
Under the new system, developers of multi-unit houses such as apartments will be required from August to implement a performance test for the floor shock noise prevention system after completing apartments.
This test should be done before permission for the use of the new apartments is granted, and the test results should be submitted to the Korea Authority of Land & Infrastructure Safety (KALIS).
If the performance test results are not in compliance with the standards, the KALIS can recommend that developers carry out complementary work or issue compensation for damages.
Affected developers should establish and submit a plan on what measures they will take within 10 days and report the results of the measures taken to the inspection agency.
The standards on floor shock sound that generates inter-floor noise will be strengthened from the current 58 decibel to 49 decibel for lightweight shock sound and from 50 decibel to 49 decibel for midweight shock sound.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
