In recent years, governments have increasingly prioritized the development of prefabricated buildings, recognizing their benefits in environmental protection, convenience, and safety. Despite these advantages, prefabricated buildings have yet to gain a cost advantage in the market.
The growth of prefabricated buildings is largely driven by strong governmental support and their many benefits, such as faster construction times, improved safety, and environmental friendliness. This innovative construction method is revolutionizing the industry, with provinces actively promoting new techniques that also influence traditional architecture. However, public awareness remains low, and large-scale production has yet to take off, leaving significant room for growth in this sector.
As one of China’s first demonstration cities for prefabricated buildings, Qingdao planned to construct 3 million square meters of prefabricated buildings in 2018, accounting for 12% of all new construction.
Unlike traditional construction sites, which often feature flying dust, loud noises, scattered steel bars, concrete, and insulation boards, prefabricated construction involves assembling pre-made “components” such as wall panels and staircases. These components are assembled on-site using tower cranes and machinery like building cars. In recent years, such prefabricated construction scenes have become increasingly common in Qingdao.
Is prefabricated building more environmentally friendly?
From the State Council to provincial and municipal governments, the development of prefabricated buildings has been prioritized in recent years. Both the State Council and provincial governments have issued guidelines promoting this construction method. For instance, provincial authorities set a target for prefabricated buildings to represent 12% of new construction by the end of 2018 and at least 30% by the end of 2020.
Building on these goals, Qingdao aims for prefabricated buildings to make up over 40% of new construction by 2025. The city plans to foster industrial clusters centered around leading enterprises, covering the entire industry chain. But what drives such strong support for prefabricated buildings?
“Prefabricated construction is a revolution in the construction industry,” explains Liu Yuyong, Deputy Director of the Qingdao Urban and Rural Construction (Prefabricated Housing) Committee. With China’s shrinking population dividend and urgent environmental challenges, the construction industry must adopt industrialized methods that save resources, energy, and reduce pollution. Prefabricated buildings, assembled from factory-made components on-site, combine prefabrication with cast-in-place techniques to ensure structural integrity.
Statistics show prefabricated buildings offer standardized design, factory production, and efficient assembly. Compared to traditional methods, they reduce on-site template use by over 85%, scaffolding by more than 50%, plastering by 50%, water consumption by over 40%, electricity by more than 10%, and consumables by 40%. Construction waste decreases by 80%, and the overall construction period is cut by over 50%.
Is prefabricated construction safer?
Many people liken prefabricated buildings to “building blocks,” appreciating their ease of assembly but questioning their safety. Shan Suxin, Director of the Qingdao Building Energy Efficiency and Wall Improvement Office, clarifies that prefabricated buildings have undergone extensive testing and development, proving safe and reliable both in China and internationally. Their promotion domestically faces no obstacles.
The world’s earliest prefabricated concrete building dates back to 1896. Today, industrialized building methods are widely used across Europe, America, and Japan. For example, the 208-meter-tall Kitahama Building in Osaka, Japan—the tallest prefabricated concrete residential building—has withstood numerous high-intensity earthquakes, boasting one of the most reliable seismic designs worldwide.
Shan Suxin further explains the advantages of prefabricated housing over traditional cast-in-place methods:
Higher Quality: Prefabricated components are precisely manufactured in batches within factories, avoiding rushed on-site work. With professional technical support and inspections, the accuracy of components improves dramatically, leading to superior building quality.
Safer Structure: The design separates the structural system from equipment and piping systems. This ensures that maintenance, renovations, or equipment replacements over decades or even centuries will not compromise the building’s core structure, enhancing safety.
Improved Energy-efficient Insulation: Traditional cast-in-place buildings typically use external wall insulation boards, which can pose fire hazards or detach over time if materials or installation are subpar. Prefabricated exterior walls often incorporate insulation boards inside the concrete—known as sandwich panels—offering better fire resistance, preventing detachment, and matching the main structure’s lifespan.
“As long as on-site construction is carefully managed and technical standards are met, prefabricated buildings pose no safety issues,” Shan Suxin affirms.
Is prefabricated construction cheaper?
While prefabricated buildings offer many advantages, they currently do not have a clear market advantage in terms of cost.
Qingdao New Century Prefabricated Components Co., Ltd., located in Chengyang District, is a national-level prefabricated building industry base. Cao Jingling, the company’s chief technical engineer, explains that because prefabricated construction is still emerging and lacks large-scale production and fully developed industrial support, its cost benefits have yet to materialize. Rough estimates suggest prefabricated buildings cost about 200 yuan more per square meter compared to traditional poured concrete methods.
Shan Suxin notes that Qingdao has introduced various supportive policies to help prefabricated construction companies reduce costs and improve efficiency. These include a 3% additional building area bonus for prefabricated projects, early pre-sale permissions, one-stop approvals, green channels, exemption from construction waste disposal fees, and advance refunds on new wall material funds. Projects with high assembly rates receive financial rewards. A special fund has also been established to support the development of technologically advanced and high-standard prefabricated buildings.
Additionally, Qingdao actively attracts prominent domestic prefabricated component manufacturers to build industry clusters that encompass the entire supply chain. Currently, nine companies, including New Century Prefabricated Components Co., Ltd. and Shangliu Yuanda Residential Industry Co., Ltd., have been designated as the city’s first batch of prefabricated building industry bases.
More than 20 companies specializing in the development, design, and construction of prefabricated buildings—such as the Prefabricated Building Design Branch of China Construction Eighth Engineering Division, Laigang Integrated Housing Engineering Research Center, China Resources Land, Qingdao Guoxin, and Meihao Real Estate—have settled in Qingdao, gradually forming a comprehensive industrial chain.
Shan Suxin believes that as the market expands and industrial clusters develop, the cost difference between prefabricated and traditional cast-in-place construction will narrow, ushering in a period of rapid growth for prefabricated construction.
Responsible Editor: Shi Dandan
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