쌍용건설

The triumphant completion of Raffles City placed the Korean builder on the map, and it has since won many big-ticket projects. Behind its successful track record of outbidding global industry leaders is its disciplined site management. Now the company is set to join forces with its fellow Korean builders to fend off competition from lower-priced Chinese construction outfits.

 

 

SINGAPORE - “Look at the Raffles City . . . [Koreans] are tough,” said Singapore’s founding father and prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1985, commemorating the 26^th anniversary of the country’s independence.

 

The Raffles City Complex was completed in 1986 as a government-led project designed to improve the country’s tourism infrastructure. The project represented one of the first skyscrapers in Singapore, and it even claimed a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Today, it remains a landmark that reaffirms Ssangyong E&C’s place in the city state’s construction landscape. The builder deeply impressed the Singaporeans when it poured approximately 1,800 truckloads of concrete for 47 straight hours while laying the groundwork for Swissotel The Stamford, the 73-story main structure among the four mega towers comprising the Complex.

Since Raffles City, the company has landed a series of large contracts, competing successfully against prominent builders around the world. Its construction portfolio now includes upscale structures such as the Marina Bay Sands and W Singapore Sentosa Cove hotel, as well as infrastructure projects such as metro subways and highways.

What does Ssangyong have that other builders don’t? A September 13 visit to the T308 site of Singapore’s new mass rapid transit project made the answer abundantly clear: the ability to manage sites with discipline despite adverse conditions.

In 2016, Ssangyong teamed up with Hyundai Engineering & Construction, another Korean builder, to win this project - Ssangyong has a 75% interest - from the Land Transport Authority of Singapore at $252 million (￦305 billion). It is arguably the toughest of the 13 construction zones of the East Coast stretch of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL).

The project involves building the Marine Terrace station and two associated tunnels along a 1.78km stretch. The major obstacle was the project’s location on reclaimed land. The soil contained large amounts of sand and the ground was soft, requiring a higher level of reinforcement than ordinary subway projects.   

There were also large apartment complexes surrounding the site. This raised multiple issues: the workers lacked sufficient space to store the equipment there were bound to be noise and vibration complaints once construction began and a six-lane road notorious for chronic rush hour traffic ran over the site.

“It was tough. Really tough. We thought very hard about how to proceed,” said Dong-hoon Ryu, the site manager.

It was under these harsh conditions that Ssangyong’s ability to control and administer sites stood out. The company meticulously divided the site into sections and mapped out work schedules for each section on an hourly basis.

The top-down approach Ssangyong decided to take to deal with the sandy soil entailed arduous work. Before construction could begin in earnest, the workers had to dig 60m below surface level to make room for construction work, and had to put up a slurry wall on two sides to keep the sandy ground from collapsing. Road traffic presented another challenge. At the client’s request, the company made four lanes of the road available for traffic, which were switched over as necessary, and worked around them to minimize disruptions.

 

 

 

The company faced especially difficult challenges on the intended site of the Marine Terrace station. It was in an apartment-heavy area and noise and dust were a serious concern. As a preventive measure, the company installed 18 CCTV cameras and 13 sound level meters around the site. Operating this 24/7 monitoring system, it proactively addressed and remedied any potential noise and dust issues.

 

Mr. Ryu said, “The situation on the site provided an opportunity to demonstrate our management capabilities while making us even more safety-conscious.” He added, “With some luck, but mostly with the help of our site workers and partners, we were able to ride it out.” 
  
The company’s proven ability to administer its sites effectively has earned it the trust of its clients. In addition, in September 2017 it received the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Gold Award for occupational health and safety.
  
Its past glory, however, will not be enough for Ssangyong to continue its success in Singapore. This becomes clearer every day.
 

Singapore has become a focal point for the world’s leading builders. The tenders for landfills, harbors, and other infrastructure projects, which Singapore issues steadily in pursuit of its long-term vision of capitalizing fully on its land, have made the country a battleground for construction outfits worldwide. Chinese players have been especially aggressive, undercutting competitors.

Ssangyong E&C is confronting the challenge by collaborating with other Korean builders. It has secured the Singapore TEL deal alongside Hyundai E&C, and it recently joined hands with Daewoo E&C for the Woodlands Health Campus project tender by Singapore’s Ministry of Health.

Mr. Ryu sees growing difficulties in making profits on the field in Singapore given more intense competition. To him, this means that “site management - maintaining appropriate prices and manpower - is increasingly important.”