HJ Shipbuilding & Construction wins W257.2b contract for Busan's third BEXCO exhibition hall

HJ Shipbuilding & Construction has won the contract to build Busan's third BEXCO exhibition hall, a project valued at 257.2 billion won ($167 million).

The company's construction division announced Monday that it had been selected as the qualified design-build contractor for the project, commissioned by the Busan Metropolitan City construction headquarters.

The bid was evaluated on a weighted scoring system combining technical proposal scores at 60 percent and price scores at 40 percent. The technical score was described as the decisive factor in determining the winner.

The consortium led by HJ Shipbuilding & Construction outscored its rivals on the technical evaluation and ranked first overall after price scores were factored in, securing the contract.

The total contract value, including value-added tax, is 257.2 billion won. Construction is set to run for 50 months from the groundbreaking date.

The project involves building an additional exhibition facility on a parking lot in front of the existing first exhibition hall in Haeundae-gu, Busan. The structure will have a total floor area of 58,810 square meters, with one below-ground floor and four above-ground floors.

The project drew strong interest from major and mid-sized domestic construction companies even before bidding opened, as it represents a large public-sector contract at a time when the construction industry has been mired in a prolonged slump.

HJ Shipbuilding & Construction has been building a string of large public-sector contract wins in the first half of this year. The company had already secured a 63.7 billion won contract for the West Busan Administrative Complex and a 163.7 billion won deal for the third section of the Jecheon–Yeongwol expressway before adding the BEXCO third exhibition hall contract.

BEXCO's current exhibition utilization rate has already exceeded 60 percent, the threshold considered full capacity, making expansion increasingly urgent. Completion of the third exhibition hall is expected to strengthen Busan's competitiveness in attracting global exhibitions and conventions.

The HJ Shipbuilding & Construction consortium will carry out the priority construction phase while simultaneously completing the detailed design for the remaining portions. Full-scale construction is expected to begin by the end of this year, following coordination with the Busan city construction headquarters.

"Drawing on our accumulated world-class construction technology and expertise, we will safely and flawlessly complete a cutting-edge, eco-friendly exhibition hall worthy of representing Busan," a company official said.