China sees more prefabricated buildings in 2020

BEIJING -- Construction of prefabricated buildings, or prefabs, covered a floor area of 630 mln square meters in China in 2020, up by 50 percent from the previous year, official data showed.

The figure accounted for about 20.5 percent of the country's new floor area last year, said the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

By the end of 2020, China had launched 328 prefab industrial construction bases at the national level and 908 ones at the provincial level, the ministry said.

Last year, new prefabs constructed in key areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta regions accounted for 54.6 percent of the nation's total.

A prefab consists of components partially or wholly manufactured in factories. It is then transported to construction sites and assembled.

Such efficient construction can significantly reduce the waste of building materials and energy while lowering pollution as China is making efforts to achieve its carbon-neutrality goal by 2060.