Fuzhou's First Formwork-Free and Support-Free Prefabricated Factory Building Passes Completion Acceptance

Introduction

The G2# and G3# food-processing production factory buildings of the Yuanhong Donggao Standardized Factory Building (Phase I) project are located in the Yuanhong Investment Zone, Fuqing City. They are three-storey buildings above ground with a building height of 23.7 m and a floor area counted in the plot ratio of 23,200 m² per building. The main structure adopts a monolithic precast reinforced concrete frame structure, and the beams and slabs of the second and third floors as well as the roof slab are all constructed using beam-slab integrated fully prefabricated technology. The precast components include precast concrete composite frame beams, precast concrete support-free short-rib slabs, precast beam-slab integrated units, precast drainage channel beams, and prefabricated internal partition walls. In addition, the first floor of the G3# factory building also uses precast foundation cup sockets and precast columns. According to the pre-assessment at the design stage, the prefabrication rate of the G2# factory building is 62% and that of the G3# factory building is 78%, rated as Grade A and Grade AA prefabricated buildings respectively.

As Fuzhou's first project adopting formwork-free and support-free beam-slab integrated prefabrication technology, its construction practice thoroughly implements the relevant requirements of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) "Catalogue of Replicable and Promotable Technical Systems and Products for Prefabricated Buildings (First Batch)", and has important demonstrative and leading significance for promoting the iterative upgrading of prefabricated building technology in Fujian Province.

I. Project completion acceptance

On September 22, 2026, the Yuanhong Donggao Standardized Factory Building (Phase I) project, constructed by the Science and Technology Company of Fujian Construction Engineering Group, successfully completed all construction tasks, passed completion acceptance smoothly, and officially entered the countdown to delivery and operation.

The Yuanhong Donggao Standardized Factory Building (Phase I) project is a key supporting project for the upgrading of industrial carriers and the landing of investment promotion in the area. After the project is officially put into use, it will effectively fill the gap in industrial carriers in the area, further optimize the regional industrial layout, enhance the park's carrying capacity and supporting service level, and inject strong momentum into gathering high-quality industrial resources, helping regional quality and efficiency improvement, and boosting high-quality regional economic development.

Since the start of construction, in the face of many challenges such as the complex cross-connection of prefabricated construction processes, the project team and all participating units have worked together and tackled difficulties in a coordinated manner. Throughout the construction process, the project team scientifically planned construction schemes, strictly refined the construction milestone schedule, carried out regular quality and safety inspections, promptly resolved construction difficulties, efficiently advanced the smooth completion of each sub-item project, and made every effort to build a high-standard, high-quality modern standardized industrial factory building, fully demonstrating the fine tradition of Fujian Construction Engineering workers in overcoming difficulties.

This completion acceptance work strictly followed national engineering construction specifications and project design standards. Led by the construction unit, a professional acceptance team was formed jointly by the five parties of supervision, design, construction, and survey. Adopting a combination of "on-site physical inspection + internal documentation review", the team checked key parts and construction processes one by one, carefully verified the physical construction quality, process details, and usability functions of the works, and comprehensively reviewed the project's internal documentation. After on-site inspection, documentation verification, and collective deliberation, the acceptance team unanimously determined that the project had fully completed all construction content stipulated in the design documents and contract, and that all indicators met the completion acceptance standards; the project's internal documentation was complete, authentic, standardized, and valid, fully meeting the conditions for subsequent production and operation, and agreed to pass completion acceptance.

The smooth passing of completion acceptance this time has laid a solid foundation for the delivery and use of the project. Next, the project department will steadily advance follow-up work such as document archiving, make every effort to ensure the project is handed over to the construction and operation unit, and ensure that the project is put into production and achieves results as soon as possible.

II. Basic project information

(1) Project overview and main technical indicators of prefabricated buildings

The G2# and G3# food-processing production factory buildings of the Yuanhong Donggao Standardized Factory Building (Phase I) project are located in the Yuanhong Investment Zone, Fuqing City, with three storeys above ground, a building height of 23.7 m, and a floor area counted in the plot ratio of 23,200 m² per building. The factory buildings adopt a monolithic precast reinforced concrete frame structure, and the beams and slabs of the second and third floors as well as the roof slab are all constructed using beam-slab integrated fully prefabricated technology. The precast components include precast concrete composite frame beams, precast concrete support-free short-rib slabs, precast beam-slab integrated units, precast drainage channel beams, and prefabricated internal partition walls. The first floor of the G3# factory building also uses precast foundation cup sockets and precast columns. According to the pre-assessment at the design stage, the prefabrication rate of the G2# factory building is 62% and that of the G3# factory building is 78%, rated as Grade A and Grade AA prefabricated buildings respectively.

(2) Participating units

Construction unit: Fuqing Gangcheng Construction and Development Co., Ltd.

Design unit: Fujian Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd.

Detailed design unit: Fujian Construction Engineering Prefabricated Building Research Institute Co., Ltd.

Construction unit: Fujian Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd.

Component and part production unit: Fujian Jiantai Building Technology Co., Ltd.

Supervision unit: Fujian Yicheng Engineering Management Co., Ltd.

III. Prefabricated construction technologies applied in the project and their characteristics

The project successfully applied the "beam-slab integrated fully prefabricated frame system" and the "fully precast column + precast cup socket connection technology" independently developed by Fujian Construction Engineering Group, achieving the goals of formwork-free and support-free main structure and fully prefabricated construction above and below ground. This technical system solves the problems of existing precast concrete floor systems, such as the need for supports and formwork, high cost, and long construction period. It can significantly improve the level of mechanized construction and markedly reduce measure costs, and has outstanding advantages in structural performance, construction efficiency, cost control, and green environmental protection, with significant economic and social benefits.

(1) Beam-slab integrated support-free and formwork-free prefabricated floor technology

The project breaks through the limitation of traditional precast concrete floors relying on on-site supports and formwork, and innovatively adopts the "beam-slab integrated precast unit combination mode". By setting the interface of precast components at the vertical symmetry axis of secondary beams and frame beams, an integrated unit with sufficient stiffness is formed, which can bear transient working-condition loads and realize formwork-free and support-free construction on site under conditions of large span, heavy load, and large storey height. This technology pioneers the design method of non-through vertical-joint composite frame beams and low-visibility primary-secondary beam connection nodes. Verified by full-scale tests, the bearing capacity, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of the nodes all exceed those of conventional precast components, and the structural performance is equivalent to cast-in-situ. The project simultaneously solves key issues such as node connection, component fabrication, and hoisting precision control, realizing rapid construction of "planar modularization" and achieving core technological breakthroughs. Compared with traditional cast-in-situ processes, it can reduce construction cost by 20%–30%, improve hoisting efficiency by 10 times, shorten the construction period by 15%–30%, and reduce on-site solid waste by 90%.

(2) Precast column + precast cup socket connection technology

The project innovatively applies precast column + precast cup socket connection technology to achieve the goal of "fully prefabricated above and below ground". This technology uses a metal guide frame system on the precast foundation to guide the precast columns into precise position, and then forms an integral connection by pouring concrete. Verified by finite element simulation and low-cycle repeated loading tests, the nodes have excellent mechanical performance, good structural stiffness, strong energy dissipation capacity, and can withstand large deformation. Compared with conventional "sleeve grouting connection", this technology solves the process difficulty of insufficient on-site rebar embedment precision; the cup socket foundation node has high assembly precision, and a single pier column can be assembled in only 15 minutes with the aid of a crane and steel wedges, shortening the foundation construction period by 30%. During the assembly of the main structure, indoor equipment foundation construction can also be carried out simultaneously, greatly improving project quality and construction efficiency.

(3) Precast multi-segment column-beam node connection technology

The project innovatively applies "precast multi-segment column-beam node connection technology". The columns are integrally precast, and the precast composite main beams are connected to the precast multi-segment columns using patented technology. This node scheme has reliable shear transfer and does not weaken node stiffness, ensuring structural continuity and mechanical performance while reducing the difficulty of node installation and construction. During the installation of precast components, no temporary supports are required, which can effectively improve safety and installation efficiency and save costs. After completion, the indoor appearance of the nodes is no different from that of cast-in-situ structures.

IV. Project implementation

(1) Comparison of different technical systems

The project verified the technical advantages of the system through comparison of three factory buildings on site:

① Building G1 (fully cast-in-situ): traditional formwork cast-in-situ process was adopted, relying on a full hall support system, with support usage of 100%;

② Building G2 (horizontal components prefabricated): only the beam-slab integrated floor was applied, while columns and foundations still retained the cast-in-situ method, with support usage reduced by 50%;

③ Building G3 (fully prefabricated): beam-slab integrated floor + precast cup socket-precast column foundation were adopted, completely eliminating supports and formwork and realizing fully prefabricated construction.

It can be seen intuitively on site that Building G3 completely achieved support-free and formwork-free construction, greatly reduced the input of on-site temporary facilities, significantly shortened the construction period for formwork erection and removal, and provided favorable conditions for simultaneous multi-disciplinary operations.

(2) Application of the "three substitutions"

1. System replaces brain: through full-discipline BIM forward design, combined with the self-developed "support-free and formwork-free rapid prefabrication system v1.0", zero collision and rapid assembly on site were achieved.

2. Machines replace manual work: a 150T crawler crane was used, and the efficiency of hoisting equipment was significantly improved through the enlargement of components. The 6-person installation team of this project can install 1,500 m² of precast floor per shift, more than 10 times more efficient than the cast-in-situ process.

3. Factory replaces site: the prefabrication rate of Building G3 reached 76%, and a large amount of on-site work was transferred to the factory. If the cast-in-situ process were adopted, 200–250 on-site construction personnel would be required during main structure construction; after adopting prefabricated construction technology, only 70 on-site construction personnel were required during the same period.

(3) Project economic benefits

Through the collaborative innovation of the support-free and formwork-free floor and the precast column + precast cup socket connection technology system, the project significantly reduced the number of precast concrete components, reduced on-site joints, accelerated construction speed, improved hoisting equipment efficiency, improved production efficiency, and improved integration level. Compared with the traditional beam-slab separated precast system, the beam-slab integrated precast method can save 68.4% of hoisting shifts, increase equipment utilization by 80%, significantly reduce hoisting costs, and shorten the hoisting construction period.

V. Application results

Through collaborative innovation of the technical system, the project achieved support-free and formwork-free construction on site, significantly improved the level of mechanized construction, markedly reduced measure costs, and realized support-free and formwork-free construction throughout the entire construction process. This technical system shows outstanding advantages in structural performance, construction efficiency, cost control, and green environmental protection, with significant economic and social benefits.

(1) Improved integrity and stiffness of the prefabricated floor system: the technology solves the problems of poor integrity and insufficient stiffness in existing prefabricated floors. Through optimization of precast component configurations, a precast floor combination unit capable of bearing transient working-condition loads is formed, realizing support-free and formwork-free construction.

(2) Optimized performance of key nodes and improved construction speed: the design difficulties of key nodes such as primary-secondary beam nodes, precast foundation-cup socket nodes, and precast column-beam nodes were solved, the construction of the fully prefabricated system above and below ground was coordinated, node bearing capacity was ensured, ductility and energy dissipation capacity were enhanced, the performance level of "equivalent to cast-in-situ" was achieved, and construction convenience was also taken into account.

(3) Construction coordination of large precast components: key technologies such as factory fabrication precision control of large beam-slab integrated units and multi-segment precast columns, on-site hoisting stability, and joint treatment processes were solved, ensuring construction efficiency and structural safety.

Source: Fujian Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Fujian Construction Engineering Group Technology Co., Ltd., Prefabricated Building Network

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      Zhuwei Architectural Technology is a new-type technical service enterprise mainly engaged in architectural design optimization, BIM design consulting, and prefabricated building design consulting. The team is composed of technical backbones from design institutes, senior managers of the former company, BIM engineers, and prefabricated detailed design personnel, providing whole-process consulting services including design optimization covering construction drawings, BIM consulting, electrical detailed design, and prefabricated building design consulting and detailed design.

      Architectural design optimization business: positioned as an extension and supplement to the design management of real estate developers, with the concepts of "profession creates value" and "quality first", exercising economic, reasonable, and safe control over key design stages to achieve the goals of "cost reduction", "drawing optimization", and "value enhancement".

      BIM design consulting business: cooperating with major state-owned enterprises, central enterprises, and private enterprises, covering the entire stages of BIM consulting, design, construction, and operation and maintenance. High-quality residential design, refined base design, and digital construction reduce errors and improve quality, saving costs and ensuring quality for construction units. Cooperating with mainstream software vendors for construction-stage management, applying BIM models to logistics and on-site management (LOD500 depth).

      Prefabricated design consulting business: using Tekla software for whole-process PC detailed design, spatial parameters and connection methods can be adjusted in the BIM model to avoid construction conflicts, and digital delivery is realized according to Industry 4.0 standards. Providing PC component data (dimensions, rebar spacing, etc.), and using IoT to support production, warehousing, transportation, and installation. Compared with traditional PC detailed design companies, it provides system-level solutions, especially in the fields of logistics warehousing and high-rise buildings.

      The company's expert team comes from large design institutes, with profound technical foundations and rich experience in dual-track design and optimization, and its technical capability and control level are in a leading position in the industry.

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Please credit the source when reposting: Zhuwei Architectural Technology

      Zhuwei Architectural Technology is a new-type technical services company specializing in integrated design optimization, BIM consulting and prefabricated construction design consulting. Our team brings together senior engineers from leading design institutes, former executives of real-estate companies, BIM engineers and prefabrication engineers, delivering integrated design optimization, refined drawing review, BIM consulting with MEP detailing, and prefabricated design services.

      Design optimization consulting: Positioned as an extension and complement to the design management of real-estate developers, we focus on consulting and optimization for civil buildings. Across the whole process — or at key stages required by the client — we control the economy, rationality and safety of the design, eliminating unnecessary cost while measurably improving drawing quality, achieving "lower cost, higher efficiency".

      BIM consulting: Through digital construction technology we help designers reduce errors and improve quality in the design phase, help contractors save cost and plan high-quality MEP installation in the construction phase, and extend BIM models into facility management for the operation phase — in collaboration with mainstream software vendors.

      Prefabricated design consulting: Whole-process design on BIM platforms, using Revit and Tekla for PC detailing. Component geometry and reinforcement are linked parametrically — what you see is what you get. We deliver Industry 4.0-ready drawings with cut-length data for every rebar, and IoT-enabled support for production, storage, transport and installation of PC components.

      Our expert team comes from leading design institutes, with deep technical grounding and extensive experience in dual-track design and optimization; its technical capability and control are industry-leading.

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