The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and eight other departments have issued guidelines to accelerate the development of a new type of building industrialization.

Recently, nine government departments—the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the People’s Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission—jointly issued an opinion proposing to accelerate the development of a new type of building industrialization. This new approach will drive the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of the construction industry, build a “Made in China” brand with international competitiveness, and promote green and high-quality development in both urban and rural areas.

New-type building industrialization is driven by next-generation information technology and relies primarily on systematic integrated design throughout the entire lifecycle of a project and lean production and construction methods. It integrates the entire industrial chain, value chain, and innovation chain of construction projects to achieve high efficiency, high quality, low consumption, and low emissions in building industrialization. The guidelines put forth clear requirements in areas such as strengthening systematic integrated design, optimizing the production of components and prefabricated parts, promoting standardization of components and parts, and advancing lean construction practices.

In terms of strengthening systematic integrated design, it is required to promote collaboration across the entire industrial chain and implement an architect-responsibility system for new types of building industrialization projects. We should also foster multi-disciplinary collaboration by leveraging digital design tools to advance integrated, holistic design that seamlessly combines architecture, structure, mechanical and electrical systems, and interior finishing, thereby enhancing the overall integrity of buildings. Furthermore, we need to promote standardized design by adopting standardized designs for building floor plans, elevations, components, prefabricated parts, and interfaces, and by popularizing a design approach that features fewer specifications but greater flexibility in combination. With a particular focus on schools, hospitals, office buildings, hotels, and residential complexes, we should widely adopt prefabricated building systems.

In optimizing the production of components and prefabricated building elements, we will promote the standardization of components and parts, refine integrated building components, develop guidelines for key component dimensions, establish technical requirements for new types of industrialized building components and parts, and compile standard drawing collections for integrated and modular building components. We will also advance the factory-based production of common components such as steel and concrete members, precast concrete wall panels, composite floor slabs, and staircases, ensuring compliance with standardized design and selection requirements. Furthermore, we will develop new building materials that are safe, healthy, environmentally friendly, and high-performing, and accelerate the certification and widespread adoption of green building materials.

In promoting lean construction practices, we will vigorously develop steel-structure buildings, encourage public buildings such as hospitals and schools to prioritize the use of steel structures, and actively advance the construction of steel-structure residential buildings and rural houses. We will also promote prefabricated concrete buildings, refine prefabricated concrete structural systems suitable for various types of buildings, and intensify the integrated application of high-performance concrete, high-strength reinforcement, energy-dissipation and seismic damping technologies, and prestressed techniques. Furthermore, we will advance fully-fitted buildings, promote the application of prefabricated interior finishing methods in commercial housing projects, popularize pipeline separation and integrated interior finishing technologies, and promote the use of integrated and modular building components.

The guidelines clearly state the need to accelerate the integrated development of information technology, vigorously promote Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, speed up the application of big data technologies, and foster the integrated use of IoT technologies—including sensor networks, low-power wide-area networks, 5G, edge computing, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and QR code recognition—in smart construction sites. We should also innovate organizational management models, vigorously advance engineering general contracting, develop full-process engineering consulting services, and explore engineering insurance systems. Furthermore, we must intensify scientific and technological research and development efforts, step up joint research on steel-structure residential buildings in areas such as enclosure systems, material performance, and connection techniques, and accelerate the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. Additionally, we should expedite the cultivation of specialized talent, developing both professional technical management personnel and skilled industrial workers. Finally, we should conduct evaluations of new-type building industrialization projects, establish evaluation standards, and set up mechanisms for applying the results of these evaluations.

The guidelines require that housing and urban-rural development authorities in various regions, in collaboration with relevant departments, organize the preparation of special plans and annual development programs for the new type of building industrialization, clearly defining development goals, key tasks, and specific implementation scopes. Government-invested projects should take the lead in adopting the new type of building industrialization approach, and social investment projects are encouraged and supported to adopt this approach as well.

Source: China Construction News Network