Creating Green Boutique Buildings
Create a healthy living environment decoration
BLOG
2014 "Two Sessions": Proposals from Representatives and Members of the Construction Industry
2019-12-18
In recent years, with significant investment in infrastructure construction, the technical level and management experience of engineering construction in our country have greatly improved. However, there are also many existing problems, which have planted numerous safety hazards for the industry's development.
1. Strengthen supervision and punishment of engineering irregularities
Li Gang, Senior Partner at Yingke Law Firm Beijing Headquarters, Director of Construction Engineering Legal Affairs Department
In recent years, with significant investment in infrastructure construction, China's engineering technology level and management experience have greatly improved, but many problems still exist, creating numerous safety hazards for the industry's development.
In recent years, cases of fraud in engineering bidding have been frequently seen in disputes related to construction projects.
After years of development, bidding procedures have become more complete and processes more detailed, but it is undeniable that the shadow of industry unspoken rules has not been eliminated. Although relevant departments issued the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Bidding Law" at the end of 2011, relying solely on an administrative regulation to change the long-standing bidding chaos is somewhat insufficient.
Bidding involves many fields such as engineering, transportation, highways, railways, aviation, and pharmaceuticals. The current bidding process complies with legal procedures on the surface, but beneath the seemingly open and transparent exterior lies blatant collusion of interests, with numerous hidden rules such as low-price winning bids, bid rigging, and collusive bidding.
Illegal subcontracting, unlawful subcontracts, and multiple layers of subcontracting are widespread. Many construction units lack proper qualifications but still secure projects through connections. Additionally, subcontracting is used to extract kickbacks or attach to larger construction units by paying so-called management fees annually, conducting on-site construction in this manner, resulting in poor construction quality. These phenomena are the main reasons for delayed payment of migrant workers' wages and project funds.
At the same time, due to increasingly fierce competition in the construction field, some construction units win bids through low-price strategies but do not follow standards during construction, especially by using inferior materials and simplifying procedures, creating significant safety hazards in construction projects. This is why incidents of "fragile buildings" and "collapsing bridges" have frequently appeared in recent years.
Project payment settlement is the core link for construction companies to recover funds and a major point of dispute between contractors and clients. Due to intense industry competition and limited resources, funded contracting and advance payment construction have become common. Some construction units blindly start projects despite insufficient funds and unconfirmed financing channels. Malicious delays in payment of project funds, material costs, and migrant workers' wages have become urgent issues in the construction industry.
Data released by relevant departments show that over 85% of cases involving delayed project payments stem from inherent funding shortages or additional project investments after budget approval.
Meanwhile, fierce competition in the construction market has objectively created a dominant position for client units. Many clients lack professional knowledge and personnel in engineering, and combined with chaotic management by construction units, some projects are arbitrarily terminated or contracts canceled by clients during construction, causing project stagnation, resource waste, and delayed payments of project funds and migrant workers' wages.
It is said that 90% of construction projects nowadays are predetermined and obtained through connections, i.e., false bidding issues. Moreover, serious attachment phenomena, multiple layers of subcontracting, and unlawful subcontracts are widespread. Chaotic management in construction enterprises causes poor project quality and delayed migrant workers' wages, which is the most prominent problem in the construction industry today.
Over the years, relevant departments have introduced many measures to avoid these problems, but regulatory loopholes still exist. Strengthening supervision of projects and management of construction enterprises has become an urgent task in the construction market. Changing this situation is the inescapable responsibility of construction administrative departments. Effective supervision is the most effective way to change this situation. Therefore, it is recommended that construction authorities strengthen supervision and increase penalties to promote healthy industry development.
2. Rooftop Greening: A New Height in Urban Smog Control
Huang Aiping, General Manager of Jiangxi Quannan Qianye Oasis Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.
Currently, many cities nationwide suffer from severe smog, with PM2.5 levels exceeding standards, becoming a major concern for the public. What are the effective measures to control smog? I believe a two-pronged approach is needed: one to address symptoms by controlling PM2.5 generation through measures such as shutting down or transforming polluting enterprises, switching from coal to gas or electricity, controlling vehicle numbers, and dust control; the other to address the root by absorbing and degrading already generated PM2.5. In land-scarce cities, I believe large-scale rooftop greening to enhance urban ecological self-purification can reach a new height in smog control.
Through years of rooftop greening technology and product development practice, I have realized that urban environmental issues are a problem of spear and shield. The city itself has huge pollution sources such as vehicle exhaust, industrial pollution, domestic waste, building energy consumption, and heat island effects. This pollution spear harms our cities and threatens our health. Plants act as the shield against urban pollution; developing powerful plant sources to block pollution is key to achieving urban ecological balance.
I recall that President Xi said earlier this year that greening with only exotic flowers and plants is unsustainable; we must follow a greening path suited to national and local conditions. I believe our long-developed rooftop greening product—Green Patch—is an innovative product that fits China's national and local conditions. It uses rooftop wild grass and is developed based on the principle of adhesive bandages, following the ecological self-balance concept of natural law and non-interference governance. It solves rooftop insulation, urban heat island effect, rainwater and air purification, and urban waterlogging issues at low cost, high efficiency, and recyclability, with broad public participation.
Our developed complete rooftop greening technology and products have passed expert appraisal. Their self-help characteristics in energy saving and emission reduction, along with widely applied natural ecological landscape balance technology, have been fully demonstrated and applied in rooftop greening in cities across Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, and other provinces.
Unfortunately, although this green product has been recognized and recommended by customers, it still faces many difficulties in large-scale promotion.
First, China lacks clear laws and regulations on rooftop greening and no explicit responsibility for developers. In Germany, where rooftop greening coverage reaches 80%, it is considered an obligation; developers are mandated by the government to implement rooftop greening, or planning approval is denied. This is a model worth learning. Although many local governments have issued policies encouraging residents to green rooftops, nationwide it is fragmented with inconsistent standards, which is unfavorable for the promotion and popularization of rooftop greening.
Secondly, the public's awareness of rooftop greening is insufficient. In this regard, the government's guiding role is very important. It is necessary for the government to take the lead in implementing rooftop greening in public buildings such as government agencies, hospitals, and museums, thereby driving the entire city to invest in the expansion of rooftop greening.
Finally, increasing subsidies for rooftop greening is also beneficial to enhancing the enthusiasm of enterprises and citizens. Through tax incentives, financial compensation, and other means, everyone is mobilized to participate in the development of rooftop greening. This approach has been proven to have strong incentives in many developed countries. The rooftop greening industry should also change its mindset, develop and promote rooftop greening technologies and products suitable for our national and local conditions, which can widely involve the public and gain the broadest support from the masses. Only in this way can the rooftop greening industry achieve healthy and sustainable development.
3. Building energy conservation work must also leave a lasting mark and be firmly implemented.
Chairman of Qingdao Kerui New Environmental Materials Co., Ltd., Zhai Chuanwei
Since the new Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with General Secretary Xi Jinping at its core, expressed its determination to resolutely combat corruption to the Chinese people last year, a warning phrase has been repeatedly quoted by the media and firmly engraved in everyone's mind: "Leave a mark when stepping on the stone, and leave a trace when grasping iron." I believe this warning phrase is also very appropriate when applied to building energy conservation work.
On January 1, 2013, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the "Green Building Action Plan" jointly launched by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. The plan is ambitious and meticulously detailed. So, after more than a year of implementation, what kind of marks and impressions have our efforts left? A comprehensive summary of achievements and progress is the responsibility of government departments, but it is regrettable to say that, at least in the field of external wall insulation, the situation remains not optimistic.
According to the action plan forwarded by the General Office of the State Council from the two ministries, green buildings are those that, throughout their entire life cycle, maximize resource savings, protect the environment, reduce pollution, provide people with healthy, suitable, and efficient usable spaces, and coexist harmoniously with nature. This definition is very precise and clear, with the very first sentence emphasizing the "whole life cycle." This can be said to be the essence of the action plan and precisely captures the key point of this industry. However, whether in new construction or in the renovation of existing buildings, some insulation materials that do not comply with the "whole life cycle" requirements and concepts still flood the construction market. Some building materials do not even guarantee basic fire safety performance; some can only be used on buildings for about 20 years; some high-energy-consuming and high-pollution materials banned a few years ago have reappeared on the market disguised as fireproof materials or by increasing investment. These materials cause huge pollution and damage to the environment after their service life ends. How can the public feel assured using them, and how can they be considered green? These materials attract business with low prices and appear "glamorous" on buildings, but when truly measured by the "whole life cycle," their true nature is exposed. The frightening thing is that these problems have not received the due attention from relevant parties and have not been seriously considered in the formulation of green building standards!
Of course, the ultimate goal of building energy conservation work is to improve people's quality of life, so the main beneficiaries of building energy conservation are the people. Effectively carrying out building energy conservation also requires the participation of the people. In fact, external wall insulation is closely related to people's lives. A house often represents a lifetime of financial investment. In northern regions, heating fees are paid every year. New or renovated houses are built according to national insulation and energy-saving requirements. If they meet energy-saving standards, shouldn't there be a new approach to heating fees? This is the same principle as electricity charges: why should energy-saving lamps be charged the same as incandescent lamps? If energy is saved by 65%, the charges should also be reduced by 65%. But in reality, the compliance rate for building energy conservation is very low, shoddy work is very common, energy consumption cannot be reduced, and costs naturally remain high.
How can this situation be changed? Relying solely on government supervision and inspection is far from enough. The active participation of the public is essential, closely linking their vital interests with energy-saving effects. Energy conservation cannot be done behind closed doors. The government should provide correct guidance to promote the effective implementation of green building energy-saving actions, ensuring that building energy conservation work truly leaves a lasting mark and is firmly implemented.
