|
The HVAC and Buildings industries have traditionally been  conservative and slow moving.....except in China. The Broad Group, started in 1988, became a global leader in large absorption chillers by the turn of the century, an incredible accomplishment by itself. But lead by chairman and founder Zhang Yue who became environmentally conscious on top of his entrepreneurial skills, took the whole concept of how you construct a building and install its sub systems to a new level. Case in point was the article in my favorite magazine WIRED which profiled Zhang in this month's issue with an article titled "Meet the Man Who Built a 30-Story Building in 15 Days".
"Th e best way to cut costs, he decided, was to take building to the factory."With more than 90% of the labor performed in the factory manufacturing a modular steel truss system and installing nearly all of the subsystems in the factory significant gains in quality, speed and costs were obtained in addition to the incredible speed with which a building can be built.
But this is not another story about "low costs from China". It is about the Performance of these buildings dubbed Broad Sustainable Buildings. Consider that this 17,000 m2 hotel -
- is five times more energy efficient than comparable buildings
- can withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake
- air inside the building is twenty times purer than outside air
- cost just $1,000 per square meter to build compared with $1,400 for traditional commercial high-rise construction in China
- produced only 25 tons of construction waste versus about 3,000 tons for a traditional high-rise
- Traditional buildings also require 5,000 tons of water onsite to build, while Broad buildings use none
 And currently, the world's tallest building, the J220, a factory-built 220-floor behemoth is being manufactured in Broad factories.The foundation is scheduled to be laid in November at a site in Hunan with schedule completion by March 2013. All in all, including factory time and onsite time, construction is expected to take just seven months. (Video of 838m Sky City plan and overview of Broad Group)
You can enjoy a great YouTube video of this 30 story building or the 15 story hotel put up in Vancouver is less than on week or Cancun. Yes, these prefabricated buildings are being made in China and exported around the world today. Visit the Broad Group website for more information.
Editors Note: CR4 would like to thank Larry Butz, President and CEO of GEA Consulting, for contributing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.
| 
