Fei Shaoyun, Secretary of the Party Group of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development: Leading the High Quality Development of the Construction Industry with Intelligent Construction

  The construction industry is a pillar industry, advantageous industry, and wealth industry in Jiangsu Province. In 2024, the total output value of the construction industry in the province reached 4.48 trillion yuan, accounting for 13.7% of the national total. It has been leading the country with an absolute advantage for 19 consecutive years, driving 5.52 million jobs in the province. As an important traditional industry, Jiangsu's construction industry adheres to the main focus of intelligent construction, accelerates transformation and upgrading, and injects new momentum into the high-quality development of the industry.

Intelligent construction is a new construction method that deeply integrates new generation information technologies such as BIM (Building Information Modeling), Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence with industrial construction technology, and integrates the application of full chain technology products such as digital surveying, digital design, intelligent production, and intelligent construction. From the experience of developed countries, the development trend of the construction industry, and the application of technology, intelligent construction is an inevitable requirement for promoting high-quality development of the industry.

From international experience. Developed countries are actively promoting the transformation of the construction industry towards industrialization, digitization, and intelligence. In 2007, the United States mandated the use of BIM for all important engineering projects to enhance the level of informationization in the construction industry. The UK government's "Build UK 2025" proposes to reduce the full lifecycle cost of engineering by 33%, accelerate progress by 50%, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2025. Germany has released a roadmap for the development of digital design and construction, aimed at promoting the deep integration of industrialization and informatization in the field of architecture.

From the perspective of industry development. For a long time, there have been two shortcomings in the development of the construction industry: one is the extensive development model of "three high, three low", which means high investment, high consumption, high emissions, low engineering quality, low production efficiency, and low safety factor, which does not meet the requirements of the new development concept. The second is the labor-intensive production mode, with prominent problems such as high labor costs, aging population, and low skills. In Jiangsu, the proportion of construction workers over 50 years old exceeds 45%, and the phenomenon of homogeneous competition among enterprises is severe. To achieve high-quality development in the construction industry, it is urgent to use technological innovation to lead the transformation of quality and efficiency。

From the perspective of technological application. Intelligent construction has significant advantages compared to traditional construction methods. Efficiency improvement rate, such as the ability of handling robots to operate continuously 24 hours a day, improving construction speed. Improving quality, such as spraying, smoothing, etc., the construction accuracy of building robots is significantly better than that of manual labor; Real time monitoring and detection of component quality and construction processes can be achieved through technologies such as IoT sensors and image recognition. Cost reduction, such as utilizing digital twin technology for simulation analysis, can reduce rework and waste. Reduce emissions, such as prefabricated and modular buildings that reduce construction waste and carbon emissions through "factory prefabrication+on-site assembly". Ensuring safety, such as 5G unmanned tower cranes transforming high-altitude operations into intensive ground and indoor operations.

In recent years, Jiangsu has adhered to coordinated promotion and actively promoted the development of intelligent construction through a combination of measures such as strengthening policy guidance and enhancing pilot cultivation.

Strengthen policy guidance. Incorporate "promoting intelligent construction" into the decisions of the 9th Plenary Session of the 14th Provincial Party Committee and the work points of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee in 2025, and issue documents to clarify the breakthrough point of intelligent construction and promote the transformation of traditional construction methods to new construction methods. It took the lead in introducing the implementation plan nationwide, and innovatively proposed five key technical paths in the fields of construction industry Internet, digital integrated design, construction robots and intelligent equipment, intelligent production of parts and components, and intelligent construction management. At the same time, the departments of development and reform, science and technology, industry and information technology jointly issued guidance opinions, forming a good pattern of multi-party support for the development of intelligent construction.

Strengthen pilot cultivation. Adhering to the principle of pilot first, we have cultivated 107 provincial-level intelligent construction pilot projects, 34 pilot enterprises, and 17 technical service pilot units, covering areas such as housing construction, municipal administration, and water conservancy, and covering 10 prefecture level cities in the province. Sort out and release the first batch of 25 intelligent construction application scenarios for enterprises to refer to and choose from. In 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development designated Nanjing and Suzhou as national pilot cities for intelligent construction, with Suzhou ranking first in the national intelligent construction pilot work for 2024.

Promote industrial agglomeration. Guide various regions to integrate intelligent construction into industrial development plans based on resource endowments and industrial foundations, and promote the agglomeration and development of industrial clusters. Suzhou City has developed an intelligent construction industry base based on the layout concept of "one base, multiple parks", and has attracted 18 upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to settle in. By promoting the intelligent construction technology industrial park, construction robot industry, etc., it promotes the integrated development of "construction and manufacturing". Nanjing is building intelligent construction project clusters in the southern new city and Liuhe district, promoting the application of intelligent construction technology in multiple scenarios throughout the entire lifecycle of engineering construction projects.

Improve the supporting system. Promoting the construction of intelligent construction disciplines, more than 20 higher (vocational) colleges such as Southeast University and Hohai University have opened intelligent construction majors to provide talent support for the development of intelligent construction. Hold the first National Construction Robot Skills Competition to forge intelligent construction skill pioneers. Introduce enterprise level and project level evaluation standards to provide a basis for quantitative evaluation of the development level of intelligent construction. Publish supplementary quotas for intelligent construction consumption in Jiangsu Province, filling the pricing gap for construction robots and other equipment.

Promoting the sustainable development of intelligent construction is a long-term and systematic project that requires continuous efforts in technology, talent, policies, and other aspects.

Strive for breakthroughs in technological innovation. Strengthen the position of enterprises as the main body of scientific and technological innovation, establish a mechanism for cultivating and strengthening industry-leading scientific and technological enterprises, cultivate innovative enterprises in a gradient manner, and support enterprises to match the evaluation criteria of high-tech, specialized, refined, unique and new enterprises. Strengthen the construction of industry university research cooperation platforms, leverage the role of the Provincial Intelligent Construction and Engineering Equipment Engineering Technology Innovation Center, actively collaborate with platforms such as the Intelligent Construction Innovation Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, promote deep cooperation among enterprises, universities, and research institutions, and carry out key core technology breakthroughs. Promote the analysis of the industrial chain technology map, facilitate precise integration of technology supply and demand, and drive scientific and technological achievements from the laboratory to the market. Encourage enterprises to participate in the formulation of intelligent construction standards and promptly incorporate or transform mature technologies into local standards.

Effective results have been achieved in promoting applications. Select a batch of provincial-level intelligent construction pilot cities in counties (cities, districts), and continuously strengthen the cultivation of pilot enterprises and projects. Support the application of intelligent construction technology in new government investment projects for housing construction projects of over 20000 square meters and municipal projects of over 20 million yuan. Promote the updating of construction machinery and equipment, and guide the purchase of intelligent products such as smart elevators and building robots. By 2030, it is planned that intelligent construction technology will account for 70% of the application in large and medium-sized engineering construction; By 2035, intelligent construction technology will be widely applied in engineering construction by large and medium-sized enterprises. Strengthen international cooperation in the field of intelligent construction, carry out multi-level technical exchanges, encourage enterprises to explore the international application market of intelligent construction, and enhance the brand power of "Jiangsu Construction".

Put effort into talent cultivation. The joint education department supports the construction of "artificial intelligence+urban and rural construction" majors such as intelligent construction, actively building a high skilled talent training system for intelligent construction with enterprises as the main body, schools as the foundation, and a combination of government promotion and social support. Adhere to the joint efforts of talents at all levels, strengthen the training of strategic scientists, technology leaders, and technology oriented entrepreneurs, enhance the cultivation of innovative teams and outstanding engineers, and build a talent team that shoulders the mission of technological innovation. Accelerate the transformation of traditional labor models to a new labor model of "construction robots+industrial workers", and cultivate a group of new labor enterprises and labor types.

Focus again on policy support. Intensify the support for the application of national and provincial laboratories and other innovation platforms in the field of intelligent construction, and support the nomination of provincial science and technology awards and other scientific and technological awards for those who have achieved key technological and important scientific research results. Include intelligent construction related equipment and software in the collection scope of the first major equipment and first version software product application promotion catalog. Improve the diversified investment mechanism for scientific and technological innovation, make good use of funds for scientific and technological projects, fully utilize supporting policies for science and technology finance, and encourage financial institutions to help enterprises develop through loan discounts, investment loan linkage, and other means. At the provincial level, a 20 million yuan "Intelligent Construction Loan" will be established to provide loan subsidies to enterprises participating in the research and application of intelligent construction, and to leverage fiscal funds.

Source: Masses Magazine, Issue 15, 2025

Author: Fei Shaoyun (the author is the Secretary of the Party Group of the Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development of Jiangsu Province)