쌍용건설

Ssangyong E&C celebrated the topping-out of Singapore’s first casino, the Marina Bay Sands, on July 8, a month earlier than scheduled.


The topping-out ceremony was attended by many distinguished guests including Kim Suk-Joon, the Chairman&CEO of Ssangyong E&C, Kim Byung-Ho, president of Ssangyong E&C, Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp. and the developer of the Marina Bay Sands, Kim Jung-Keun, the Korean Ambassador to Singapore, and Edmung Cheng, CEO of Wing Tai, as well as some 120 reporters from all over the world. As each of the buildings was designed to have a concave shape, what was at stake was how to link the west leg and the east leg of each building, which leans up to 52 degrees, with steel trusses at the height of 70m (23rd floor) up successfully.

Ssangyong employed post-tensioning technology, which is usually used in building bridges, and succeeded in joining the two legs of each building while maintaining the slant angle roughly 10 times more atilt than the Leaning Tower of Pisa (5.5 degree) in last March. It then used trusses to solve the bending problem caused by vertical load transfer.

Despite the concern that it involves the most difficult technologies among the buildings under design or construction, Ssangyong built a new floor every three or four days and completed the framework in 18 months, a month ahead of schedule. With the framework in place, Ssangyong expects to complete the construction of 2,500 rooms and the Sands SkyPark twice as large as a soccer field (12,000㎡) that connects the 56th and 57th floors of the three towers in early next year.

The 340m-long SkyPark, which will house swimming pools, observation decks, gardens, restaurants, spas, and walking trails, will be cantilevered out some 70m without any support underneath, which is as long as the the length of the jumbo jet Boing 747.

The Marina Bay Sands is the main part of the Marina Bay Sands IR project the Singapore government is pushing ahead with as its next-generation growth engine. With a total construction budget of USD 686 million (roughly 900 billion won), It is the largest single construction project Korean companies have ever won overseas and is scheduled to be completed in early 2010.

Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore, said recently that he was deeply impressed by Korean companies, introducing Ssangyong E&C first among Korean companies working in Singapore at the official banquet held by Korea’s four major economic organizations during the Korea-ASEAN CEO Summit from May 31 to June 1 in Jejudo.,