Prefabricated Buildings and Stainless Steel

With the positive development of the stainless steel industry, there have been some innovative projects recently that highlight the use of stainless steel as the preferred building material, all of which involve prefabricated structural design and construction concepts. We found that in the field of prefabricated building design and construction, stainless steel consumption will increase significantly, which also means that there are more opportunities in the future. Juye Metal shares with you the results of the project research on this interesting prefabricated building market and stainless steel materials through blogs.

Prefabricated buildings

Prefabricated buildings usually refer to the construction method of splitting a building into separate construction modules, prefabricating them on the assembly line in the factory, then transporting them to the construction site through the logistics system, and finally assembling and connecting them. In addition to the advantages of reducing time, labor, material/energy consumption, and maintenance costs, the most important feature of the prefabricated building model is that the modules used have the function of reuse and reassembly.

Prefabricated buildings and stainless steel structures

Stainless steel materials in the construction industry are experiencing a development trend of changing from application in building decoration, equipment and enclosure systems to application in main structures. At present, the consumption of stainless steel materials in the construction sub-sectors other than main structure applications accounts for more than 99% of the total consumption of stainless steel materials in the construction industry. Stainless steel materials are in the initial stage as the main structural materials of buildings.

As prefabricated modules need to be recyclable, prefabricated buildings may be an important opportunity to develop stainless steel structures as the main structural materials of buildings. Under the premise of a design life of 110 years, the carbon emissions of stainless steel materials made of 60% scrap steel as the main structure of buildings are expected to be reduced by about 40% compared with carbon steel materials. In addition to considering the economic efficiency of the full life cycle cost of stainless steel materials, in application scenarios where labor and maintenance costs are much higher than raw material costs, stainless steel as a building structural material will be a comprehensive solution to achieve carbon reduction, green environmental protection, long life, and optimal economic benefits.

Application and consumption forecast of stainless steel in prefabricated buildings

Stainless steel structural materials may have more application opportunities in infrastructure such as prefabricated social transitional/security housing and prefabricated public buildings. For example, the 3D prefabricated "living building" project developed by Yuanda Group, in which 100% of the structure and enclosure components are made of stainless steel, was put into use in Xiangyin affordable housing in early 2024. The British prefabricated railway pedestrian bridge project, in which 98% of the materials are stainless steel, has demonstrated the advantages of stainless steel materials in the prefabricated construction mode with its short construction time, low comprehensive cost, less post-maintenance, low carbon and energy saving.

China is the largest market for stainless steel consumption in the world. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China has clearly stated that the area of prefabricated buildings newly started in China in 2025 should account for more than 30% of the total area of new construction. China's prefabricated steel structure affordable housing and public infrastructure buildings are expected to account for 9% of the newly built prefabricated building area, and the amount of steel used in prefabricated steel structures is expected to reach about 26 million tons. If the proportion of stainless steel structural materials in the use of prefabricated steel structures increases by 2%, China will increase its stainless steel consumption by more than 500,000 tons each year. In the future, with the increasing requirements for building environmental protection and the development of prefabricated buildings, the proportion of stainless steel structures in the consumption of stainless steel materials for construction is expected to gradually increase, and stainless steel materials may usher in a larger-scale consumer application field.