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A tale of two Chinese modular construction companies tells a story of international diplomacy and unbridled tenacity.
For one Chinese modular construction company, the home-grown success of building an 11-storey modular building in a day has found a receptive audience in the Philippines. And for the other, not content with building one 100-metre tall modular-constructed building, a Shenzhen development has seen a modular construction company build five 100-metre-tall buildings. (main pic: Broad Group’s Holon stainless-steel modular building.)
In 2021, the BROAD Group published a video that generated global attention with what appeared to be a flawless dance on the company delivering and installing a 10-storey modular building constructed from stainless steel.
The Philippine Government clearly noticed this, and they’ve ordered one.
With Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. promising to build a minimum of one million homes per year to address their mass housing problem, they’ve clearly going to need all the assistance they can get.
Zhang Yue, Broad Group chairman and chief executive officer, said his company “can help solve” the problem of affordable housing “within half of his presidency.”
“If we take an order for 100 million square metres, for instance, comparatively the cost will be brought down to (USD) $700 per square metre,” Zhang said.
Broad’s modular-constructed Holon building is made of stainless steel which is “more durable and sustainable compared to traditional steel,” Zhang said through Stanley Chen, Broad’s sustainable building overseas development head.
Watch Broad Group’s Holon modular building being constructed in a day
In case of a super strong earthquake, it will deform at most and “never collapse,” Zhang told a group of visiting Filipino journalists.
The only procedure to be conducted on site “is bolt connection, three floors a day,” Broad said in its information sheet about the building.
Broad is set to build the modular building in Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao in the third quarter of 2023.
The building’s credentials don’t end with its construction: Gao Wenqi, Changsha deputy mayor, urged the Philippine government to “explore the possibility of opening a consulate general” here.
“It will be helpful in the bilateral trade [between China and the Philippines],” Gao told the Philippine media delegation led by Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Gerald Baria.
See: http://en.broad.com/
Recently completed in Shenzhen City, in south China’s Guangdong Province, the five 100-metre-tall modular apartment buildings were built within one year.
The concrete buildings were assembled with 6,028 standard modular units, transported to site, complete with all services and internal finishes.
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Cen Yan, Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau, said, “According to our preliminary calculation, modular construction can help reduce 75 percent of construction waste.”
