Why should we vigorously promote prefabricated steel structures?

Nowadays, great achievements have been made in the development of steel structure buildings, but from the world level, the development of steel structure in building countries, especially steel structure residential buildings, is still lagging behind. The promotion of steel structures, especially prefabricated steel structures, is of great significance for promoting the coordinated carbon reduction between the steel industry and the construction industry and achieving the goal of “double carbon”.

Steel structure building has incomparable advantages

Steel structure is a kind of structure that can bear and transfer loads by connecting steel plates and hot rolled, cold formed or welded sections (I-beam, section steel, profiled steel plate, etc.) through connectors (bolts, high-strength bolts, etc.). Compared with the reinforced concrete structure, the steel structure has the advantages of light weight, high strength, good seismic performance, short construction period, green environmental protection, easy industrial production, recyclability, etc.

The steel structure is a typical green and energy-saving structure, known as the “green building” in the 21st century. Structural steel meets the requirements of circular economy and low-carbon green development, and is widely used in residential buildings, factories, stadiums, exhibition halls, airports, office buildings, bridge projects, marine projects, etc.

In developed countries such as the United States and Japan, the steel structure construction area accounts for more than 40% of the total construction area. As a key strategic resource of the country, steel reserves are relatively scarce. The long service life and high recovery rate of steel structures are just a good way to “hide steel in buildings and steel in people”. If a large number of steel structure buildings can be promoted in the process of urbanization, it is equivalent to building a huge strategic reserve of high-quality steel.

At the same time, prefabricated steel structure building is a green building form with low energy consumption and low emissions. Although there may be some differences between buildings in different regions, different structural forms and different functional purposes, the carbon emissions of steel structure buildings are 20%~44% lower than that of concrete structures on the whole. In addition, steel components can be directly reused, which will have better carbon emission reduction effect. Therefore, we should strengthen the research on carbon emission of steel structure buildings.

In addition, steel structure buildings conform to the strategy of “storing steel in buildings and people”, and can be used as scrap reserves. Scrap steel is the only iron containing raw material that can replace iron ore, and is an important resource for the sustainable development of the steel industry.