GS E&C replaces CEO with owner’s son

GS E&C's owner family resumed managing the company to restore its tarnished brand image after a parking garage at an apartment complex in Incheon being constructed by the builder collapsed in April.

The construction unit of GS Group said Friday that CEO Lim Byeong-yong, who has led the company since 2013, was replaced by Chief Innovation Officer Huh Yoon-hong, the son of GS E&C’s largest shareholder, Honorary Chairman Huh Chang-soo.

Born in 1979, the new CEO started his career at GS Caltex and joined GS E&C in 2005. He is expected to assume the representative director position after Lim steps down from the post following the general meeting of shareholders in March next year.

GS E&C explained that the replacement is part of its efforts to overcome recent difficulties in its business and accelerate innovation through a generational shift. Before appointing the new CEO, the building developer carried out organizational reform on Oct. 13, giving executive positions to a large number of young employees with abundant experience at construction sites.

“Amid the growing uncertainties surrounding the business environment here and overseas, Huh’s appointment will be a new opportunity for our company to overcome the current crisis and take a leap forward, based on his experience of fostering new growth engines by aggressively discovering strategic businesses,” GS E&C said in a press release.

Since the government exposed GS E&C for its omission of rebar in multiple pillars of its building as the main reason behind the collapse in the Incheon apartment complex’s parking garage, the public has ridiculed its apartment brand Xi.

The company is anticipating costs of 550 billion won ($406 million) for tearing down and rebuilding all the buildings in the apartment complex. The government also seeks a 10-month suspension of the operation of GS E&C as a punitive measure.

In addition, the building developer was found to have been embroiled in conflicts the most among the nation’s 10 largest building developers over the past three years regarding defects in apartment buildings that they built.

Due to a series of problems, the outgoing CEO was grilled by lawmakers during a National Assembly audit this month.