Green Concept Promotes the Transformation of Fashionable Construction Industry
Every June, a series of activities for Energy-Saving Promotion Week are organized and carried out across the country. To improve the publicity effect, Guangdong has extended the national Energy-Saving Promotion Week to Guangdong Energy-Saving Promotion Month. The construction of an ecological and livable environment has always been an inherent advantage of Zhuhai. For more than 30 years since the establishment of the city, Zhuhai has always attached equal importance to economic development and ecological protection. It is precisely because Zhuhai's construction industry has spared no effort in promoting energy-saving materials, building green buildings, and advancing the transformation of new construction methods that Zhuhai has long enjoyed the reputation of Garden City, City of Happiness, and City of Romance.
Full Implementation of Green Building Design Standards
According to the *2016 Work Plan for the Development of Building Energy Efficiency and Green Buildings in Guangdong Province*, the target for the area of green buildings developed in Zhuhai in 2016 was 1.5 million square meters. Ultimately, Zhuhai completed the area indicator of obtaining green building design labels reaching 2.83 million square meters, exceeding the assessment target issued by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Why can Zhuhai deliver such an outstanding performance? It benefits from the fact that Zhuhai has fully implemented green building design standards. In 2016, Zhuhai gradually established and improved the working mechanism and assessment system for promoting green buildings, and successively issued relevant documents including *Notice on the Full Implementation of Green Building Standards for New Civil Buildings*, *Zhuhai 2016 Target Responsibility Implementation Plan for Building Energy Efficiency and Green Buildings*, and *Zhuhai Technical Promotion Manual for Rooftop Photovoltaic Power Generation Systems*. At the same time, it has strengthened special green building training for technical personnel from design institutes, construction drawing review institutions, construction units and supervision units.
Take energy conservation in new buildings as an example. By compiling and implementing the model for *Special Section on Building Energy Conservation in Preliminary Design of Civil Buildings*, Zhuhai has standardized the management of energy conservation design review, unified the content and format of energy conservation design across the city, and standardized the review depth. Green building design documents that violate mandatory energy conservation provisions and relevant regulations are firmly rejected, effectively ensuring the quality of building energy conservation design documents. At the same time, it has further standardized implementation rules and work plans, strengthened supervision of building energy conservation projects during construction, increased inspection efforts on all responsible entities in engineering construction and energy conservation construction links. Projects that do not comply with the mandatory provisions of acceptance specifications or fail the acceptance of building energy conservation divisions shall not be accepted for completion, put on record, or delivered for use. To strictly implement the filing work for building energy conservation design, Zhuhai now fully uses the online building energy conservation filing system, and the implementation rate of energy conservation supervision during the construction phase of new buildings reached a vast majority in 2017.
In November 2013, the *Guangdong Provincial Green Building Action Implementation Plan* issued by the People's Government of Guangdong Province proposed that by the end of 2020, the proportion of green buildings in all new buildings in the province should strive to reach more than 30%. Zhuhai is already ahead of the curve. Currently, Zhuhai has fully promoted green buildings, and fully implements the green building standard of one star or above for all new, renovated and expanded civil buildings within the city's jurisdiction.
Opening a New Era of Construction Industrialization
On April 26 this year, *Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province on Vigorously Developing Prefabricated Buildings* was officially issued, which sounded the clarion call for Guangdong to vigorously develop prefabricated buildings, promote innovation in construction methods, and boost the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry.
On November 23, 2016, Zhuhai's first construction industrialization production base — Huafa China State Construction Zhuhai PC Factory started construction in Pingsha Town, Zhuhai Gaolan Port Economic Zone, officially launching the practice of construction industrial modernization in Zhuhai and opening a new era of construction industrialization in Zhuhai. After the base is completed and put into operation, it will play a major role in accelerating the transformation of the development mode of Zhuhai's construction industry and promoting the revitalization of Zhuhai's real economy.
The above scenario is just one epitome of the transformation of the development mode of Zhuhai's construction industry. The *13th Five-Year Development Plan for Construction Industry Modernization of Zhuhai*, issued in December 2016, clearly puts forward that "by 2020, prefabricated buildings will account for 25% of the newly built construction area", which is slightly higher than the national target requirement of 20% for promoted cities, and puts forward the requirements for sub-indicators including industrialization, informatization, greening, and full decoration, and established a joint meeting system for the development of construction industry modernization in the city with the leading municipal government leader as the general convener.
The *Relevant Requirements for the Development of Prefabricated Buildings in the Planning Stage of Zhuhai in 2017*, which came into force in April this year, even carries out control from the source of land supply, and incorporates the annual prefabricated building index requirements into the land use planning conditions. Normative documents such as *Administrative Measures for Promoting the Modernization Development of Construction Industry in Zhuhai* will also be issued successively, which will escort the path of construction industry modernization in Zhuhai.
At present, Zhuhai is carrying out research on buildability for construction industry modernization and research on the technical guidelines for prefabricated building design in Zhuhai. It has built 3 to 5 PC production bases and 2 BIM centers in the western region of Zhuhai, and the prefabricated component production market in Zhuhai is close to saturation. Industrial development requires pilot projects. Zhuhai has selected Zhuhai International Convention and Exhibition Center (steel structure), Mingxing Building and Cross Gate International Garden (concrete structure) as the first pilot demonstration projects of prefabricated buildings for exploration and practice. The 2016 provincial construction quality on-site observation meeting was held at the construction site of Cross Gate International Garden project.
Although it is still in the exploration stage, the development of construction industry modernization in Zhuhai has attracted attention from the industry. On March 28 this year, the National Prefabricated Building Work Conference was held in Changsha, and Zhuhai became one of the national prefabricated building promotion areas (a total of 14 cities nationwide). At present, "Huafa China State Construction New Technology" is actively applying for the national prefabricated building production demonstration base, and Zhuhai City is also actively applying for the prefabricated building demonstration city.
Guiding the Green Development of the Concrete Industry
In the process of fully promoting the transformation and upgrading of the ready-mixed concrete industry from a traditional resource-consuming type to a green and environment-friendly industry, Zhuhai has created a number of firsts. For example, it took the lead in the province to issue the *Administrative Provisions on Ready-Mixed Concrete and Ready-Mixed Mortar in Zhuhai* (Decree No. 80 of the Municipal Government), compiled the *Development Plan for Ready-Mixed Concrete and Ready-Mixed Mortar Industry in Zhuhai (2016-2020)* and *Guidelines for Green Production and Construction of Ready-Mixed Concrete in Zhuhai*, formulated the *Comprehensive Credit Evaluation System for Ready-Mixed Concrete Production Enterprises in Zhuhai* and *Pilot Work Plan for Promotion and Application of High-Performance Concrete in Zhuhai*. Through planning ahead, establishing an assessment mechanism for green production compliance, and establishing a comprehensive industry credit evaluation system, Zhuhai has enabled the concrete industry to enter a new era of green production and management, ensuring the coordinated development of ready-mixed concrete production, urban and rural construction, and environmental protection.
This year, Zhuhai was listed as a "provincial pilot city for promotion and application of high-performance concrete", and only two cities in the whole province won this honor. Zhuhai needs to complete the target tasks set by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development for pilot cities before the end of this year: First, concrete with strength grade C35 and above should account for more than 50% of the total production of ready-mixed concrete. Promote the application of concrete with strength grade C60 and above in super high-rise buildings, large-span structures and steel pipe concrete, and promote the application of high-volume admixture concrete in parts with mass concrete such as foundation slabs. Second, 80% of Zhuhai's concrete production enterprises should reach the first level of green production, of which more than 50% should reach the second level.
As one of the first batch of pilot cities for high-performance concrete in the province, Zhuhai also has 3 enterprises rated as pilot enterprises and 4 engineering projects rated as pilot projects. Next, Zhuhai will carry out green production transformation and upgrading in batches and by stages for all ready-mixed concrete production enterprises in the city in accordance with the *Guidelines for Green Production and Construction of Ready-Mixed Concrete Industry in Zhuhai*.
Promoting the Healthy Development of Wall Material Innovation
Zhuhai takes wall material innovation as one of the components of building energy efficiency. Relying on the *Administrative Measures for the Application of New Wall Materials in Zhuhai*, it has established a confirmation system for new wall materials, and products that have not been confirmed shall not be used in construction projects; through the establishment of a product marking system, product quality traceability is realized; at the same time, a credit evaluation system is established to promote the credit construction of enterprises.
The "13th Five-Year Plan" period is an important period of strategic opportunity for the in-depth promotion of building energy efficiency and green building in Guangdong, and also a transformation period for Guangdong to promote the reform of construction methods. With innovative thinking, enterprising spirit and pragmatic style, Zhuhai is deeply promoting the concept of green development, sparing no effort on the path of pursuing high-quality urban development, and striving to build Zhuhai into an innovation highland in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a strategic fulcrum of the "Belt and Road", a core city on the west bank of the Pearl River, and a happy city with harmonious urban and rural development, so as to make greater contributions to Guangdong Province in implementing the requirements of "four adherences, three supports, two leading positions" and building a green Guangdong.