How far is the "spring" of China’s building repair market in the post-construction era?
On the evening of April 15th, local time, a fire broke out in Notre Dame de Paris, France. This 800-year-old medieval Gothic building immediately attracted the attention of the whole world. At present, the fire has been extinguished. Many French media reported that the short circuit of the wire on the top floor of Notre Dame de Paris may be the cause of the fire, and firefighters involved in the rescue said that the fire may be related to the renovation project of Notre Dame de Paris.
With the decrease in the number of new houses and the gradual improvement of infrastructure construction in China, experts predict that the future construction market pattern in China will gradually transition from the current focus on new buildings to the focus on the renovation and maintenance of existing buildings, and enter the post-construction era. In the impression of many people, the repair of buildings is often associated with ancient buildings. In fact, in the field of construction engineering, repair in a broad sense includes reinforcement, transformation, maintenance, decoration and so on; According to the repair specialty, it mainly includes: structural repair, leakage repair, external insulation repair, decoration repair and so on.
In addition to a wide range of fields, the number of buildings to be repaired is also considerable. The data shows that the existing building area in China is over 70 billion square meters. Due to the different construction technical standards and construction levels in different eras, in recent years, an average of about 2 billion square meters of buildings need to be repaired every year. However, compared with some developed countries, China has little investment in the renovation of existing buildings, and there are some problems, such as imperfect standard system, asymmetric market information, imperfect technical system and lack of long-term management mechanism. Judging from the proportion of market share in the whole construction industry, the construction renovation industry has not yet ushered in a real "spring".
Rising "sunrise industry"
In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the construction industry, one of the pillar industries of China’s economy, has developed rapidly. According to statistics, the building area in China has increased by 91.4% in the past 20 years, and the existing building area has reached more than 70 billion square meters. With the development of society, the problem of housing shortage has been basically solved. However, in recent years, there are about 2 billion square meters of buildings that need to be repaired every year due to different construction technical standards and construction levels in different eras, so many people in the industry call the building repair industry "sunrise industry".
In July 2018, the insulation layer of the external wall of a residential building in Shunyi District of Beijing fell off due to sudden strong wind, injuring three pedestrians; In October, 2017, a concrete block fell off the outer wall of a residential building in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, causing one death … Faced with frequent safety accidents, the industry is increasingly hoping to improve the prevention mechanism of existing building repairs to prevent injuries from happening again.
"The development of the construction industry can be divided into three stages: the first stage is large-scale new construction, the second stage is both new construction and repair, and the third stage is mainly the repair of existing buildings." Tan Chunli, director of the Repair and Decoration Professional Committee of Beijing Urban Construction Science and Technology Promotion Association, believes that compared with developed countries, China’s investment in the repair of existing buildings is relatively small, and it is still in the second stage. In the case of shrinking new building market, the building repair industry, which mainly focuses on old buildings, will become a "sunrise industry", and its market share will continue to expand and become a new economic growth point.
"The building repair industry is promising in the future." Yang Yongqi, a professor-level senior engineer of Beijing Urban Construction Science and Technology Promotion Association, believes that upgrading the safety performance of building structures and improving the functionality of houses will make people live more comfortable and comfortable, and building repair is consistent with the current people’s pursuit of a better life.
In September 2018, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Notice on Further Improving the Preservation, Utilization and Renovation of Existing Buildings in Cities", which also highlighted that the practice of simply demolishing existing buildings in different periods in some cities separated the historical context of cities and cut off the homesickness memories of residents. All localities should fully understand the historical, cultural, technical and artistic value of existing buildings, adhere to the principle of full utilization and functional renewal, strengthen the preservation, utilization and renovation of existing buildings in cities, avoid one-sided emphasis on the value of land development, and prevent "demolition".
However, although the building repair industry has broad prospects, it also faces a lot of challenges for practitioners. He Xiling, president of Beijing Construction Engineering Quality Inspection and Housing Construction Safety Appraisal Industry Association, believes that there are great differences between new projects and the repair of existing buildings, which puts forward many new requirements for the industry. "Building repair requires experienced technicians, high-tech instruments and equipment, new construction technologies and new building materials."
It is urgent to establish and improve the institutional system.
"Because the country attaches great importance to ancient buildings and has a long development time, the standards for the repair of ancient buildings are relatively sound and the atlas is relatively standardized, and the local standards in areas with large stocks of ancient buildings are also easy to form a system. However, the repair atlas of houses mainly focuses on seismic reinforcement and structural reinforcement, and there are relatively few dedicated to waterproof and thermal insulation; In terms of standards, the relevant system has not yet been established, and some important standards have been around for a long time, such as the "National Unified Housing Repair Project Budget Quota (Civil Engineering, Ancient Buildings, HVAC, Electrical Appliances, Elevator)" promulgated in 1995. " Tan Chunli said.
In addition to the imperfect standards, there are still some problems in the market, technology and management of the building repair industry. At the market level, Tan Chunli believes that there are mainly problems such as information asymmetry. "At present, the repair market is in a decentralized and disorderly state, lacking an open and transparent platform, and the supply and demand sides can’t get effective contact in the repair market, and often there is a phenomenon of’ no one to seek medical treatment’ or’ going to the doctor in a hurry’. In addition, the industrial chain of the repair market is still not perfect, and the scale of repair enterprises is generally small, which cannot provide one-stop professional services from testing, maintenance to maintenance for building users. "
On the technical level, compared with new projects, repair projects involve many technical requirements and require a large number of professional construction technicians. "Professional construction technicians are the foundation for the development and growth of the repair industry. Only a large-scale professional construction team can support the complicated repair requirements of the repair industry." Tan Chunli believes that at present, experts in the repair industry have no smooth channels for suggestions and suggestions, and they can’t play a leading role in the development of the industry. At the same time, construction workers who lack technology can’t get effective training. In addition, the current repair technology is single, the technical level is uneven, and the technical system construction is relatively backward. Once there is a problem in the building, we can only treat the headache and the foot pain, but we can’t comprehensively and accurately evaluate the building to be repaired, and we can’t confirm the effect after the repair.
At the management level, there is a dead end in the supervision of building repair, and there are irregularities such as technical appraisal and acceptance, and the market is full of new materials and concepts, which makes it difficult for ordinary consumers to judge. In addition, a long-term management mechanism needs to be established. At present, there is a general lack of a unified management system for repair funds, reporting procedures, bidding, and especially the implementation of renovation.
With the continuous application of new technologies such as UAV reconnaissance, 3D printing and BIM in building repair, how to better develop the building repair industry in the direction of standardization, specialization and quality has attracted the attention and thinking of many people in the industry. To this end, 10 units including Beijing Urban Construction Science and Technology Promotion Association, Tsinghua University, Beijing Jiaotong University and Beijing Jianzhu University recently initiated the establishment of "Beijing Urban Construction Science and Technology Promotion Association Repair Hospital", hoping to play a better role in information, technology and platform, and promote the development of building repair industry.
According to Tan Chunli, who was elected as the president of the Repair Hospital, the purpose of the establishment of the Repair Hospital is to gather more industry experts, integrate repair resources, help solve the problem of "difficult to see a doctor" in the repair market, and provide all-round guarantee services during the whole life cycle of the building, including daily physical examination of the building, consultation of the building to be repaired, provision of professional "treatment team", supervision and acceptance of "treatment effect"