Domestic first case! A turning point for the application and promotion of steel structure buildings
On May 23, 2025, an on-site experience exchange meeting on the collaborative development of the steel structure building industry chain was held in Luoyang, Henan. The meeting focused on breakthroughs in high-strength steel application technology and the collaborative development of the industry chain, and on-site observations were made of the first domestic case of reinforced concrete A steel structure building project with a unit price equal to that of reinforced concrete—the Zhonggang Luonai New Materials Research and Development Center building—was used to thoroughly summarize the excellent experience and practices of collaborative innovation and cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the steel structure building industry chain.
The Zhonggang Luonai New Materials Research and Development Center was designed and constructed by Baosteel Jianke. Construction officially started in January 2024, and the main structure of the building was completed in May 2025. The total construction area is 22,600 square meters, with 5 floors above ground and 1 floor underground. The live load on the floor is 500-1200 kg. A high-strength steel steel frame ( steel pipe reinforced concrete columns) structural system is adopted. The main structure uses Q460C high-strength steel, which significantly reduces the amount of steel used compared to traditional steel structure buildings. This has achieved large-scale promotion and application of high-strength steel, with characteristics such as low cost, low noise, high speed, high precision, and sustainability, embodying the "light, fast, good, and economical" qualities. It has achieved good economic and social demonstration benefits, effectively promoting the progress of China's building technology and steel material solutions.
Xia Nong, vice chairman of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, pointed out that currently, China's steel structure building industry is gradually entering a new development stage driven by both "policy guidance" and "market forces," having previously been primarily driven by policy guidance. The obvious trend in this new development stage is a significant decrease in the construction cost of steel structure buildings, a significant increase in market competitiveness, and continuously improving consumer preference. This project is a model of collaborative innovation in the industry chain and is a turning point and milestone project for the application and promotion of steel structure buildings. The construction cost of this project, including some public area decoration, is 3300 yuan per square meter, achieving parity with the unit price of reinforced concrete.
Xiong Jian, chairman of Zhonggang Luonai, introduced that the project has three main characteristics: First, it is a high-strength steel prefabricated building with construction costs on par with reinforced concrete; second, the construction speed is fast and the usage effect is good, not only increasing the internal usable space but also greatly beautifying the building's appearance; third, it has strong bearing capacity, allowing Zhonggang Luonai's national key laboratory and testing equipment to be located "in the building," resulting in a good product interaction experience.
Xu Kai, vice general manager of Baosteel Engineering and chairman of Baosteel Jianke, believes that steel structure buildings have entered a new stage of high-quality development with high-strength and high-performance steel materials. From the perspective of the entire industry chain, including "architectural designers, materials engineers, and construction engineers," the iteration of steel structure buildings requires collaborative efforts across the industry chain to provide overall solutions and jointly promote the application of high-strength and high-performance steel in steel structure buildings.
At the meeting, Ma Shuxin, deputy general manager of Baosteel Jianke; Ye Changzheng, general manager of Tianjin Green Building; Sun Renjie, deputy director of the New Industrialized Building Research Institute of China 22nd Metallurgical Construction Group; and Ou Yuting, project manager of the Exhibition Department of the Metallurgical Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, gave keynote reports. Representatives from more than 40 units, including relevant national ministries and commissions, relevant industry associations, research institutes, universities, and production enterprises, attended the meeting.
