Master plan for Dawon's upcoming luxury resort in the Philippines (Photo provided by Dawon)
South Korea's Dawon Landscape Engineering & Construction is aiming to expand its business in Southeast Asia after beating out major domestic construction companies such as Samsung C&T in this year's evaluation by the Construction and Specialized Contractors Association.
According to the Korea Construction Association and the Korea Professional Construction Industry Association, Dawon came in first in the landscaping, planting and structures category in the 2024 Construction Capacity Assessment, which comprehensively evaluates construction performance, current management status, and technological competitiveness.
Korea's largest construction company Samsung C&T and HDC Lab, a subsidiary of Korea's major construction conglomerate HDC Holdings, were ranked second and third, respectively, in an evaluation of 1,420 general construction companies and 7,386 landscaping construction companies.
Despite a slump in domestic construction projects due to a slump in the real estate market, Dawon received orders for domestic plantation projects worth 191.2 billion won ($140 million) in 2023, up nearly 30 percent from the previous year. The order amount was also the largest among projects won by a domestic construction company.
(Graphics: Yoon Dong-beom)
The company aims to expand its business in Southeast Asia based on its technical capabilities and landscaping capabilities.
Growth potential
“Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines are emerging markets with huge growth potential, and it is difficult to predict how fast they can grow as many people in the region are unfamiliar with landscaping,” said Dawon CEO Kim Dae-jung.
“Through our global, total landscaping services, we ultimately aim to improve the quality of homes around the world.”
Dawon demonstrated its capabilities through a project called The Sharp Clark Hills, a housing complex in Mabalacat, Pampanga, Philippines, built by Korean construction company POSCO E&C.
According to a Dawon Corporation official in Seoul, Sharp Clark Hills has become a landmark in Mabalacat thanks to its excellent landscaping, and local government officials unveiled it to the honored guests.
Landscaping by Dawon at Sharp Clark Hills in Mabalacat, Pampanga, Philippines (File photo by Dawon)
Beyond Landscaping
The company plans to expand its business in the Philippines beyond landscaping, leveraging the know-how that CEO and Vice President Kim Seung-yeon have accumulated over the past six years in the country.
Dawon said it plans to build a luxury resort in the country, one of Southeast Asia's top tourist destinations, and is in talks with major global hotel brands to operate it.
The country's tourism and hotel industry, a major contributor to the local economy, is projected to grow from an estimated $2.8 billion this year to $3.4 billion by 2029, according to analytics firm Mordor Intelligence.
Dawon, which is seeking regulatory approval after purchasing the land, said it had selected KPMG, which has developed luxury resorts around the world, as project manager.
Dawon has partnered with Gansam, a Korean architectural firm that specializes in hotels, resorts and clubhouses, and Rogen, a golf course design firm that has designed popular courses in Korea such as Songmunan Country Club.
Dawon also works with Picazo, Baico, Tan, Fida & Santos, a leading corporate and commercial law firm in the Philippines, and Lee & Co, one of the top three law firms in South Korea.
Sales increased more than sevenfold
Founded in 1992, Dawon has long been a leader in South Korea's environmental restoration industry by planting trees on land destroyed by civil engineering projects such as roads and dams.
The company launched its landscaping business in 2017 as a new growth engine after losing momentum due to government cuts in infrastructure spending.
Dawon's landscaping work at a housing complex in Seoul (file photo by Dawon)
Kim, the son of founder and chairman Kim Yong-gak, joined the company in 2016 and took the helm of the business. In his first six months, he focused on analyzing the industry and sites, and then worked to win orders from existing clients by leveraging the company's competitive edge that it has developed over 25 years in the land reclamation business.
“Instead of chasing short-term profits, we were committed to securing purchasing power based on economies of scale,” he said.
Those efforts paid off, with sales soaring to a record 207.4 billion won last year, more than seven times the 29.3 billion won in 2016. The company also posted a record operating profit of 6.5 billion won in 2023, compared with a loss of 300 million won seven years ago.
(Graphics: Yoon Dong-beom)
expansion
Dawon has expanded his landscaping business into designing other types of construction projects, fabricating structures and maintaining them.
The company applied famous intellectual property from children's content, such as the global hit character “Baby Shark” created by Korean entertainment company Pinkfong and the domestic 3D animated children's TV show “Robocar Poli” produced by Roy Visual, to the design of playgrounds in housing complexes.
This strategy has enabled Dawon to rapidly expand its presence in the playground sector, which has high barriers to entry, the company said.
A playground set up by Dawon in a housing complex in Seoul (file photo provided by Dawon)
Dawon has completed over 300 landscaping projects in Korea, including residential complexes in Seoul’s upscale, trendy and affluent Gangnam district.
Please email Hyung-Chang Choi and Gyeong-Jin Min at [email protected].
This article was edited by Jeong Jeongwoo.
