On the opening day of BEYOND Expo 2022 on Wednesday, Zheng Xuexuan, chairman and president of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, shared his ideas on the approaches to high-quality innovative development, contributing to China’s carbon neutral goals, and how his firm has demonstrated the benefits of rapid construction in the building of Covid-19 facilities across the country.
The BEYOND Expo 2022 opened online at BEYOND Metaverse on Wednesday. The Expo will have more than 40 talks and panel discussions where leaders and experts across sectors dive deep into the topics of consumer tech, health tech, global investments, sustainability, and Web3.
Please find below the transcript of the opening day keynote speech from Zheng Xuexuan, Chairman and President of China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:
Hello, everyone!
BEYOND is one of the largest and most influential international technology fairs in Asia, and it is a great honor for me to be invited to participate in this technology event.
First of all, on behalf of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), I would like to extend warm congratulations on the opening of this expo!
I would like to take this important opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to all the friends from all sectors of society who have cared for, supported, and helped CSCEC for a long time.
Innovation is the primary driving force for development.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has placed innovation at the core of China’s overall development, attached great importance to scientific and technological innovation, and put forward a series of new ideas, new judgments, and new requirements.
CSCEC insists on following the important discussion of scientific and technological innovation put forward by Xi. We have fully implemented the new development concept, thoroughly implemented the strategy of innovation-driven development, accelerated technological innovation in construction, and worked hard to promote high-quality development.
Tackling core technologies in the construction field
Engineering construction is an important activity for human beings to make use of nature, transform nature, and create life.
We always regard advanced construction technology as the foundation of our existence and our business. Persisting in meeting the urgent and long-term needs of the industry, we will push forward key and core technologies and strive to build the strong core competitiveness of enterprises.
We have mastered the world’s leading construction technologies such as single building translation, large roof sliding, and complex steel structure production and construction. We have successfully developed major construction equipment such as aerial building machines, vertical shield machines and 10,000-ton press, and have taken the lead in breaking through kilometer-level super high-rise construction technology. The domestic three-dimensional engineering image software independently developed by us has been promoted in the market, and the carbon fiber thousand-ton anchor cable system has been successfully applied in bridge engineering construction.
Thanks to these accumulations, we have invested in more than half of the world’s super tall buildings over 500 meters, more than 90% of the world’s super tall buildings over 300 meters, three-quarters of key airports and satellite launch bases, one-half of nuclear power plants, and one-third of urban integrated management corridors, ranking the top of ENR global contractors for seven consecutive years.
Vigorously developing new building industrialization technologies
Construction industrialization is an important trend in the development of the construction industry, which is of great significance to the improvement of construction efficiency and construction quality.
We have taken construction industrialization as an important development direction, planned layout in advance, gathered superior resources, and given full play to the leading and exemplary role of central construction enterprises.
We have pursued a new generation of industrial construction technology, including a series of building industrialization technology systems and product systems and Modular Integrated Construction (MiC). The total production capacity of prefabricated building design exceeds 5 million cubic meters per year, and more than 90% of processes can be integrated into factories, truly realizing “building houses like cars”.
Prefabricated buildings and rapid construction technology have played a key role in the national fight against the Covid-19 epidemic.
We built the 1,000-bed Huoshenshan Hospital in 10 days and the 1,600-bed Leishenshan Hospital in 12 days and completed the construction task of the Hong Kong Infection Control Center project of North Lantau Hospital, assisted by the Central government in four months, according to permanent construction standards. This year, we have completed the construction of 10 anti-Covid-19 projects in Hong Kong at the fastest pace. For three years in all parts of the country, we accumulated construction of more than 700 anti-epidemic facilities.
Firmly developing green and low-carbon construction technology
At the General Debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced China’s goal of achieving a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
Urban and rural construction is one of the main areas of carbon emissions, and effectively reducing the carbon emissions of the whole industrial chain in the construction field is an important link to achieving the “double carbon” goal.
We adhere to the concept of “ecological priority and green development”, which is deeply integrated into the whole process of investment, planning, design, construction and operation.
We have led the formulation of more than 10 national and industrial green construction standards, participated in the formulation of a number of policy documents, and developed a series of innovative products such as ultra-low energy consumption and zero-carbon buildings. It has promoted more than 100 green construction technologies in the industry, vigorously promoted the emission reduction and resource utilization of construction wastes, and basically formed a technology research system covering the whole construction process and the application service capability of the whole industrial chain.
In recent years, we have invested in the construction of green and low-carbon buildings represented by Xiongan Citizen Service Center and an ecological new city represented by Xi ‘an Happiness Forest Belt. Overseas, in the construction of the Brunei Tamburong Cross-sea Bridge project, the “non-landing” construction process was created to solve the problem of environmental protection of local primitive forests, swamps and wetlands.
Exploring digital technology in the construction industry
With the continuous penetration and wide application of a new generation of information technology, the competition rules of the construction industry may change dramatically, and traditional construction enterprises must accelerate on the road to digital.
We adhere to the transformation and development of digital empowerment, strive to build the Internet of the construction industry, and deeply explore the integration and innovation of big data, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and other technologies in the field of construction. We have realized the practical application of building information model (BIM), smart factory MES system and smart site platform, and built the world’s first digital production line for building curtain walls and the first intelligent manufacturing production line of heavy steel structure.
We have vigorously promoted industrial digitalization, laid out construction industrial robots, smart parking, smart venues and other fields, and cultivated and built an e-commerce platform called “Cloud-building-network” with an annual transaction volume of over one trillion yuan, ranking first in the centralized procurement business of similar central enterprises.
Science and technology lead the era, and innovation builds the future.
From this new starting point, we will earnestly learn and make good use of the important achievements of this Expo, focus on frontier areas, increase innovation efforts, strive to provide more high-quality construction products and services to society, strive to expand a broader space for happiness, and contribute to the wisdom of CSCEC for high-quality economic and social development.
To conclude, I wish the expo every success, and I wish you all good health and all the best!
Thank you very much.