Cross-industry innovation in China’s building materials sector has led to significant growth in decoration and renovation consumption.

In 2024, China’s building materials industry ushered in a new era of cross-industry transformation and breakthrough innovation. Information released in November showed that the industry collectively released its latest technological achievements—disruptive, groundbreaking, and original—for the first time in recent years. At the 2024 Building Materials Conference, a number of groundbreaking technological innovation projects in the building materials industry were showcased, including the world’s first all-oxygen combustion carbon capture project for the cement industry, my country’s first zero-carbon ammonia-hydrogen energy combustion project, cement aerogel “super material,” and folding houses that can be assembled and occupied in two hours. Currently, green technology is bringing tremendous changes to the building materials industry. my country’s building materials industry has demonstrated strong development potential and innovation capabilities in areas such as green and low-carbon technology applications, new material development, and digital transformation. The proportion of new building materials in the market continues to rise, reaching 20%, becoming an important support for my country’s strategic emerging industries such as next-generation information technology, aerospace, and rail transportation. As of September 2024, there were over 5,300 certified green building materials companies, with over 12,000 certified products. Currently, my country’s cement industry has achieved carbon peaking, and the entire building materials industry is expected to achieve carbon peaking by 2025. Building materials are no longer limited to raw materials; the empowerment of new technologies is enabling building materials to extend downstream in the industrial chain. In a factory in Hebei, houses are being mass-produced on an assembly line like automobiles and home appliances. This assembly line, from the initial raw material input to the final product quality inspection, is only 120 meters long, yet it can produce a wall in 12 minutes and a room in 2 hours. Here, the traditional construction model has undergone a disruptive cross-industry transformation, producing houses like automobiles. The deputy director of the National Key Laboratory of Green Building explained that this type of house uses a steel-concrete composite structure, replacing the original steel bars with thicker structural steel, much like a more robust human skeleton. The amount of steel used increases by 40% compared to traditional reinforced concrete structures, resulting in greater load-bearing capacity and better seismic performance. The wall panels and columns, fresh from the production line, are assembled to form the basic structure of a house. The exterior walls also have a thick insulation layer, secured with stainless steel bolts to ensure it won’t detach for the same lifespan as the house itself. After being produced in the workshop, the modular houses can be directly transported to the construction site. For example, a 120-square-meter unit can be assembled in about two hours. This type of reinforced concrete modular housing has a particularly prominent advantage: its internal zoning is exceptionally flexible. The entire house has almost no load-bearing walls, and the walls are only about 10 centimeters thick. The entire interior can be completely redesigned according to individual preferences. In the kitchen, pipes and wiring are separated; grooves for these are pre-drilled in the factory according to user needs, saving 60% of on-site pipeline construction time. Building materials consumption is the area with the widest reach among residents. Since 2024, my country’s building materials industry has continuously innovated, effectively promoting the scale growth and quality improvement of the green building materials industry through initiatives such as promoting green building materials in rural areas and the “trade-in” program for old building materials. Recently, relevant organizations jointly launched the “2024 Building Materials Industry Trade-in Campaign” to guide more companies to provide consumers with more green and high-quality building materials and more beneficial measures. Latest data shows that from January to September 2024, consumption in my country’s decoration and renovation sector increased by 6.8% year-on-year. With the nationwide implementation of the “Green Building Materials to Rural Areas” policy, not only have consumers received tangible benefits, but it has also injected strong momentum into the green transformation of the building materials industry. Currently, 72 types of building materials in my country have been included in the green building materials product certification system, and revenue from green building materials has increased by more than 10%.