Broad Group, a Chinese building company, Broad Group, has a youtube time lapse video (which has generated 450,000 hits already) of a jaw dropping feat: They have built a 30-story tall hotel prototype in 15 days, inclussive of all the furnishings in the rooms. They are credited for having a previous record of building a 15-story building in a week earlier in 2011. The 30 storey hotel was completed over Christmas in 2011, in China’s South Central Hunan Province.
Statistics offered on feat include:
Higher precision in fabrication (+/- 0.2mm).
More coordinated on-site construction management.
Shorter construction time span.
Lower construction waste.
Six times less cement.
Five times more energy efficiency.
And other health and energy features.
WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEO HERE:
According to Yahoo News: "The Ark hotel was built using pre-fabricated modules and uses a diagonal steel bracing.
The remarkable building also boasts a filtration system with air 20 times purer inside than outside and can withstand a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, as tested by the China Academy of Building Research.
In 2010, the same firm built a 16-storey residential block in only five days.
And it’s not just the hotel that was built in the 15 days, but all the furniture has apparently been moved into the building, so it’s ready for guests".
One comment on the Youtube page reads thus: "Building and assembling are two different things. And in the case of this building, it was assembled in 15 days, not built."
However that rhethoric was challenged by another viewer with the following:
"Define (verb) Built: Simple past tense and past participle of BUILD.
Define Build: To construct by assembling and joining parts or materials.
(Hopefully to silence the neigh-sayers regarding any doubt that this was BUILT as correctly stated in the video's title and summary.)"
Whichever side of that debate your sentiment swings, it reamains no doubt a jaw dropping feat and makes a strong case for pre-fabrication in delivering high performance buildings at a competitive cost.
