Firms promote more sustainable, longer-lasting building methods

Leading construction and building-materials companies from around the world are pledging to help make Chinese residential and commercial properties more sustainable and with longer life spans, helped by the continued development of various advanced prefabricated and eco-friendly materials.

Speaking at 2014 Shanghai International Building Industrialization Exhibition last month, some suggested that compared with overseas buildings those in China still suffer from a reputation for rapid depreciation.

China's building materials sector continues to slow

China's building materials falter as housing market cools

But experts said they now believe the increased use of steel structures, the integration of more industrial parts in home construction, and more attention given to fireproofing technology, will enable Chinese new builds to achieve much longer lives, in some cases almost four times the current average of 30 years.

As living standards and prices have risen in China, the use of prefabricated building systems has become more popular and important.

Ye Chao, marketing director of Baosteel Construction System Integration Co, explained that the company has been involved in creating a new type of prefabricated building called Baohouse, inspired by Germany's Bauhaus, which can last approximately 100 years.

Ye said his company will continue to develop new prefabricated building systems and explore new ways of creating more sustainable houses, which it hopes will establish a future platform of innovation for the whole industry.

Another Chinese company creating sustainable home-building materials is Shanghai Johnson Architectural & Engineering Designing Consultants Ltd, which makes flexible and sustainable products designed to solve some of the problems associated with buildings' renovations, said Fan Haisheng, its brand and marketing deputy director.

Fan said its core technologies have now been used on 16 major real estate projects including some completed by China Vanke Co Ltd, the country's largest property developer.

In Europe, particularly, building companies are focussing on using more durable construction materials instead of materials only suitable for prefabricated housing.

One of the main themes of the building exhibition has been to highlight how some of the experiences of Europe's industrialization can be combined with Chinese practices.

Seppo Kauppinen, general manager of Finnish precast concrete machinery supplier Elematic (Shanghai) Ltd, claimed its products are world leading in quality, and ideally suited for long-term use on modern sustainable designs.

Elematic, which supplies a range of precast concrete machinery and equipment, claims a 40 percent share of the global market, he said, and has been foreseeing Chinese market's massive potential.

"We are very confident in our products and we would like to use them to help Chinese people get better life out of their buildings by using our technology," said Kauppinen.

"On the other hand, we are also happy to see more components being used in this field, in competition to ours, which will create a positive atmosphere to boost the country's development."

Another major European company promoting its wares at the event was Akzo Nobel, a Dutch multinational that supplies decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals.

David Gu, who works in engineering sales for the company, said its new waterproof and rustproof oil paint is ideal for China's precast building industry, and can greatly enhance building durability.