Proactive step as demolition nears schools including Jungdong Middle and Jungdong High — panel to address safety personnel, noise and dust
Gangnam-gu has moved to form a consultative body to protect students' commuting safety and educational environment ahead of the scheduled demolition of the Ilwon Gaepohanshin apartment complex in the second half of this year.
Several schools — including Jungdong Middle School, Jungdong High School, Ilwon Elementary School and Yeonghui Elementary School — are clustered near the construction site, prompting the district to bring together the reconstruction association, the contractor and education authorities to draw up safety measures before demolition begins in earnest.
The district held the first preparatory meeting of the "Ilwon Gaepohanshin Reconstruction Project Safety Consultative Body" on Wednesday at a conference room on the fifth floor of the Gangnam-gu Public Health Center. Officials from the district's reconstruction project division, the reconstruction association, the contractor, Jungdong Middle School, Jungdong High School and the Gangnam-Seocho District Office of Education attended.
The meeting was convened to hear schools' concerns in advance and develop responses, given that large-scale demolition work is expected to increase construction vehicle traffic and generate noise and dust. The focus was on establishing communication channels between relevant agencies before work begins, particularly because construction vehicle movements could overlap with student arrival and departure times and affect commuting safety.
Participants shared the demolition and overall construction schedule and discussed requests from each school. Key topics included deploying safety personnel during commuting hours, managing school routes, reducing noise and dust, and matters related to educational environment assessments. The group also reviewed plans to share construction timelines and potential impacts on the educational environment with the schools and to conduct ongoing inspections.
The association and the contractor agreed to review the requests raised at the meeting, assess their feasibility and share their responses with the schools and the district office of education. Based on that feedback, the district plans to reduce potential hazards before they arise during construction and to ensure that schools' input is reflected in actual site management.
Jungdong Middle School and Jungdong High School participated in this initial preparatory meeting. Depending on construction progress and the needs of individual schools, the district plans to bring Ilwon Elementary School and Yeonghui Elementary School into the consultative body as well, broadening the scope of discussions. The panel will not meet just once — sessions will be held regularly at each stage of construction, including demolition and ground-breaking, to continue monitoring commuting safety and educational environment issues such as noise and dust.
"Keeping students safe and protecting the educational environment during construction is just as important as pushing the reconstruction forward at pace," Gangnam-gu District Mayor Kim Hyun-ki said. "Rather than reacting after problems emerge once work has started, we will actively support schools and project stakeholders in consulting in advance and preparing the necessary measures."
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