On October 25th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the “Opinions on Promoting Green Development of Urban and Rural Construction.” At the event, Tian Guomin, Director of the Standards and Quotas Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, announced plans to guide local governments in actively applying prefabricated concrete structures in both affordable and commercial housing. Additionally, pilot projects for steel-structured housing will be promoted, with hospitals, schools, and other public buildings encouraged to prioritize steel structures.
Recently, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Promoting Green Development of Urban and Rural Construction” (the “Opinions”). This document calls for the creation of green construction demonstration projects that emphasize green, industrialized, information-based, intensive, and mechanized construction methods. It advocates for the use of new technologies to achieve refined design and construction, vigorous development of prefabricated buildings, and improvement of the certification system for green building materials.
The Opinions also emphasize strengthening the recycling of building materials, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the traditional construction industry, reforming the construction labor employment system, and accelerating engineering cost reforms.
Tian Guomin highlighted the current challenges in the construction industry, including high resource consumption, significant emissions, and extensive construction methods. He stressed the urgent need to promote green construction and transform the industry’s development model.
To address these issues, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has implemented several initiatives:
- Promoting pilot green construction projects in Hunan Province, Shenzhen City (Guangdong Province), and Changzhou City (Jiangsu Province), alongside issuing the “Guidelines for Green Construction Technology (Trial)”.
- Accelerating the rapid development of prefabricated buildings. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the cumulative built-up area of prefabricated buildings reached 1.6 billion square meters, with an average annual growth rate of 54%. In 2021, prefabricated buildings accounted for 20.5% of newly constructed buildings.
- Focusing on pilot projects for steel-structured residential buildings. In 2020, 190 million square meters of steel-structured buildings were newly constructed nationwide—a 46% increase over 2019—making up 30.2% of newly built prefabricated buildings. Newly started steel structure residential buildings covered approximately 12 million square meters, a 33% increase compared to 2019.
Looking ahead, Tian Guomin stated that the Ministry will establish a standardized design and production system aligned with the “Opinions.” This includes formulating the “Selection Standards for Prefabricated Residential Design” and promoting a flexible design approach focused on “fewer specifications, more combinations.” The goal is to expand standardized construction production and usage, and support the market-oriented, large-scale development of prefabricated buildings.
Moreover, efforts will continue to improve prefabricated concrete building systems suitable for various building types, accelerate integration of steel structure residential design, production, and construction industrial chains, and enhance promotional campaigns. Local governments will be guided to actively apply prefabricated concrete structures in affordable and commercial housing, expand pilot steel structure housing projects, and encourage public buildings such as hospitals and schools to prioritize steel structures.
(Source: China News Service. Note: The above content is for internal communication only and not for commercial use. Copyright belongs to the original author; unauthorized use may infringe on rights and result in removal.)
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