An institute has been launched in western China to expand the market for steel-structured buildings and develop new techniques for their construction.

The CISDI-led West Institute, which is affiliated to China’s National Steel Structures Engineering & Technology Research Centre, will combine skills from Chongqing University, MCC 5 and China Metallurgical Construction Engineering Group.

Steel structures are widely recognised as green and safe and are both swift to construct and recyclable. They are playing ever-increasing role in upgrading economic and living standards and are now used not only for industrial buildings but also for the construction of high rise apartment buildings and public buildings, bridges, overpasses and urban over-bridges.

More and more applications are being found for them, however, in western China there are few steel-structured buildings to be found. This predominantly due to the fact that this area of China lacks expertise in steel structure technology and has a strong demand for capital construction and a high requirement on buildings’ earthquake defense intensity.

Located in Chongqing in western China, the institute will provide systematic prefabricated construction solutions tailored to the geographical needs of the region.

CISDI is a pioneer in the field, with over 60 years of engineering experience and expertise in steel structures. It has poured its resources into their research and development and the exploration of their commercial reach.

As one of the founders of technological engineering applications for such structures, CISDI has been granted more than 40 accolades for excellence in their engineering and construction. The company is also involved in the compilation of national design manuals and instructions on materials for the sector.

With the help of the prefabricated construction research institute, which has over 300 staff, CISDI was contracted on an EPC basis for some 300,000 square metres of steel structure projects in the Sichuan and Chongqing regions.

The institute will become a centre of learning for technology studies into steel structures, an incubation hub producing the highly skilled technologists of the future.

CISDI has put in place over ten ministerial and provincial engineering research centres and platforms, all of which combine the brainpower of commercial enterprises, research institutes and universities.

CISDI Mansion

This grand office building is made from numerous steel structures covering a floor area of 63,000 square metres. The building won first prize for green building innovation in a national Chinese awards scheme and a two-star national green building label.

The Innovation and S&T Incubation Building in the High-tech Zone of Leshan City, Sichuan, was created from a prefabricated steel framework and concrete core structures. It has a floor area of 108,000 square metres and featured curtain walls, inner walls with integrated decoration and rebar truss carriers free of bracing formwork.