HanmiGlobal leads construction management with innovation

Lighting product manufacturer City Electric’s new complex, is built by HanmiGlobal using a “CM at Risk” form. This is where a CM company takes full responsibility for the project and guarantees the owner minimum construction costs and the best quality, in Oryu-dong, Incheon. / Korea Times photo by Park Jin-hai

By Park Jin-hai

INCHEON -- Lim Hee-sang, City Electric president, says he had two surprises when his new complex was built a month ago.

“One is the price that I paid for this building and the other is its quality. My friends come by and ask how I could build this wonderful complex within my budget,” he said at his office, in Incheon, west of Seoul.

His complex, part warehouse and part office was constructed for his lighting product manufacturer. It stands out in the area where identical warehouses that resemble make-shift buildings stand.

It is high-end even to the smallest details. It has marble stone floors with three different themes and hand-made railings. Its packaging and assembly areas are also as cozy and pleasant as office rooms. They have pastel tone painted walls and dust and scratch free floors normally seen in large discount stores such as E Mart.

Lim’s new complex is built by a construction management (CM) specialist HanmiGlobal in a “CM at Risk” form.

It is an innovative construction delivery method where a CM company works as a consultant to the owner in the development and design phases and serves as a general contractor during the construction phase, taking full responsibility for the project to guarantee the owner minimum construction costs and best quality.

“I had a long standing mistrust of local builders, who cut deals at one point and then stop working in the middle of the project, asking for additional charges. Almost all of my friends had such experiences and I was afraid that this new building project might be it,” said Lim. “As I meet with the HanmiGlobal CM team over and over, I began to think that I can trust the company.”

As he initially planned, his complex was ended with a budget of 6 billion won, but the final touches were upgraded, thanks to CM’s smart planning that cut costs by adopting new building technologies while using capital to improve the overall quality of the building.

On top of that, the project CM remains at the building site even after the construction is completed for another month to do additional repair works it might have on request of the owner.

Lim said that he is currently in discussions with the construction consultancy to build a plant in Vietnam.

HanmiGlobal, better known for its numerous local high rises including Tower Palace buildings the 123-story Lotte World Tower currently under construction, has been a front runner in introducing CM here.

Since it was established in 1996, the company has been grown into a leading company in Korea, providing services to clients on more than 1,800 projects with high quality consultancy services in various parts of the engineering and construction sector.

Han Young-su, HanmiGlobal construction manager for City Electric’s new building project, says one of the biggest misconceptions about CM in Korea is that it entails additional budget for the service, increasing the total construction costs for owners.

“On the contrary, CM cuts total costs. Based on our diverse networks of subcontractors, we meet with many businesses and visit many factories to get the best possible deal. That is how we could procure better quality building materials, by not even raising the budget,” he said.

His efforts paid off. The tile floor, that was initially suggested by the designers with the allocated budget, turned into Italy imported marble floors, while its ordinary paneling has been upgraded into the three layer coated sandwich panels.

Its cutting-edge technology is another budget saver.

Han said this Incheon project was tricky, because the building should stand on reclaimed land, where the soil is not firm. Instead of digging down 30 meters, it used 40-50 meter poles to have a deep foundation. “Using 30 meter poles takes just a couple of days to finish. But, driving deeper into the foundation requires three months to complete, which led to increased costs. By using this method, however, we cut down the total number of poles needed from 228 to 143, offsetting the cost increase.”

Since 2003, HanmiGlobal has expanded its business into the global market. It carried out more than 230 projects in some 50 countries including Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s drydock in Oman, HIB’s housing and infrastructure building program in Libya and Rayadah Investment’s Information Technology and Communications Complex in Saudi Arabia.

To strengthen its competencies and achieve inorganic growth, HanmiGlobal acquired OTAK, a U.S. based engineering firm, Ecosian, a Korea based consulting firm specialized in energy saving and environment protection, iARC, an innovative design firm in Korea, and established Turner & Townsend Korea in the form of joint venture with Turner & Townsend, U.K.

By Engineering News Record, HanmiGlobal was ranked as No. 19 CM company in 2014. It aims to be one of the ‘Global Top 10 CM firms by 2020.

For more information, contact HanmiGlobal at https://www.hmglobal.com/en or call 02-3429-6300.