Guiding Opinion on All-out Development of Precast Buildings(Mainland China)

2016.09.27
James Cheng
On September 27, 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the Guiding Opinion on All-out Development of Precast Buildings (hereinafter, the “Guiding Opinion”), which is highlighted below:
1. General requirements
The Guiding Opinion aims to promote creativity in construction methods and strongly push for precast concrete and steel structure buildings while meeting the requirements for applicability, economy, safety, eco-friendliness, and aesthetics. In appropriate locations, the construction of modern wood buildings will also be promoted so as to continually increase the use of precast buildings among new structures. The Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei areas, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta will be the key promotional locations for developing precast buildings with concrete, steel and modern wood structures; a strong promotional effort will be put in for areas with a permanent resident population of over 3 million, and all other cities will be encouraged to follow. The goal is to achieve a 30% rate of precast buildings in all new buildings constructed over a period of approximately 10 years. This effort will be led by the market and promoted by the state; the promotion will take place region by region and gradually pushed, with top-down design and coordinated development.
2. Key missions
The Guiding Opinion sets out eight key missions. The first is to improve the standard-based regulatory system and accelerate the drafting of the national, industry and local standards for precast buildings so that a comprehensive coverage of their design, production, construction, use and maintenance may be gradually established. The second mission is to innovate the design of precast buildings. There will be an effort to push an integrated design for precast buildings by combining the structure, the mechanical and electrical equipment, the parts and components, the fabrication and construction, and the interior decoration together. The increased use of signal building information modeling technologies will also help the various specializations in the construction field to better engage in collaborative design. The third mission is to optimize the production of parts and components through assisting those producing construction parts and components to a reasonable growth, thereby increasing industry concentration and establishing a group of high-tech, specialized backbone enterprises and production bases with managerial oversight. The fourth mission is to increase the sophistication in fabrication and construction work. Enterprises should be guided towards developing and applying technologies, equipment and machinery that are useful for precast construction work so that the quality of the work for connections between the parts and components and the building safety performance are increased. The fifth mission is to promote the full renovation of buildings. For precast buildings, the interior decoration work will be done in tandem with the construction of the main structure and the establishment of the mechanical and electrical equipment. Effort will be made to promote standardized, integrated and modularized renovation patterns to enhance the sophistication of precast renovation. The sixth mission is to promote green building materials and increase their use in precast constructions; encourage the use of high-performance eco-friendly doors and windows, as well as force the replacement of low-quality constructions materials that do not meet environmental protection requirements. The seventh mission is to promote EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction). The construction of precast buildings should in principle be done via EPC, and large enterprises that engage in design, construction and the production of parts and components are encouraged to transition themselves into EPC enterprises. The eighth mission is to ensure construction quality and safety. The construction safety management system shall be improved by promoting a sound quality and safety accountability system; the relevant parties shall be made to bear their respective safety responsibilities, and a comprehensive quality traceability system shall be established.
3. Safeguard measures
The Guiding Opinion requires all jurisdictions and all relevant departments to enhance their organizational leadership, strengthen their work mechanisms, enhance policy support and conduct proper promotion and guidance. Specific implementation measures should be formulated based on actual research for carrying out their respective responsibilities and ensure the orderly progression of all tasks.