Only backward technologies and products exist; there are no backward industries. Traditional productivity is the foundation, and new quality productive forces are the key. New quality productive forces and traditional productivity have both substitutive and complementary relationships. Emerging technologies inject new technological genes into traditional industries, reflecting a "leap" at the qualitative dimension.

As a traditional labor-intensive industry, the development of "new quality productive forces" in the construction industry means bidding farewell to the old technological system, breaking away from the traditional growth path, and driving a "qualitative" transformation of the industrial system through scientific and technological innovation—"promoting quality through the new" to lay a solid foundation for the high-quality development of the construction industry.

Developing new quality productive forces in the construction industry is the prevailing trend

New quality productive forces are contemporary advanced productive forces spawned by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. They are the productive forces formed by contemporary **science and technology, especially under conditions of informatization, intelligentization, and networking; they are the productive forces that reshape production methods and lifestyles to bring high-quality life through high-quality development; and they are the productive forces led by scientific and technological innovation that comprehensively improve factor production efficiency and total factor productivity.

In the final analysis, productive forces are still composed of the three elements of laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor. It is urgent for the construction industry to develop new quality productive forces. In terms of laborers, the "aging" problem of construction workers is becoming increasingly prominent, and construction enterprises may face long-term "labor shortages"; in terms of means of labor, extensive excavation of stone and river sand is no longer possible, and fundamental changes have occurred in construction raw materials; in terms of objects of labor, from "having a house to live in" to "living in a good house," people's requirements for housing quality have greatly increased.

Therefore, developing new quality productive forces in the construction industry is the prevailing trend. Its significance mainly lies in three points: First, it is an inevitable requirement for promoting the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry and achieving high-quality development. For a long time, China's construction industry has mainly relied on input of resource factors and large-scale investment to drive development, and the integration of the construction industry with advanced manufacturing technology, information technology, and energy-saving technology has been insufficient. The construction industry urgently needs to accelerate the coordinated development of intelligent construction and building industrialization, integrate new technologies such as 5G (fifth-generation mobile communication technology), artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, and form an intelligent construction industrial system that integrates the entire industrial chain covering scientific research, design, production and processing, construction and assembly, and operation and maintenance, so as to develop new quality productive forces in the construction industry. Second, it is an important measure to effectively boost domestic demand and stabilize economic growth. Promoting the coordinated development of intelligent construction and building industrialization can spawn new industries, new business forms, and new models, and provide application scenarios for cross-domain, all-round, and multi-level deep industrial integration. This work has huge investment demand and can also drive a massive consumer market, helping to accelerate the formation of a strong domestic market; it is an important measure to effectively ease economic pressure and strengthen new drivers of development at present. Third, it is a powerful lever for conforming to international trends and enhancing the international competitiveness of China's construction industry. Compared with the intelligent construction technologies of some developed countries, there is still a certain gap. It is urgent to take promoting the coordinated development of intelligent construction and building industrialization as a strategic choice to seize the high ground of future scientific and technological development in the construction industry, and to enter the ranks of world powers in intelligent construction by promoting the industrialization, digitalization, and intelligent upgrading of construction.

"Three highs" realize new quality productive forces

New quality productive forces are specifically embodied in the "three highs," namely: high technology, high performance, and high quality. Specifically, this means intelligent production methods, digitalized management methods, and green end products.

For the construction industry, intelligent construction is an important manifestation of "new quality productive forces." "What is visible is in the factory; what is invisible is in the cloud." Intelligent construction builds an advanced construction method that is digitalized, informatized, and intelligent: the visible construction process is placed in the factory, where bulk building materials are intelligently manufactured through large-scale, integrated, and industrialized production, while on-site construction is organized mainly through assembly; the invisible construction organization process is placed in the cloud, where, through digital technology and digital management, "one model to the end" and full-process information interconnection are promoted across design, production, transportation, construction, and operation and maintenance. This construction method promotes and realizes "capacity upgrading, capital aggregation, and industrial clustering" in the construction industry, thereby driving the digital transformation and high-quality development of the construction industry and creating a new engine for economic development; it is a powerful display of "new quality productive forces" in the construction field.

New quality productive forces take as their basic connotation the qualitative transformation of laborers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combination. For laborers, the building of the talent team must be accelerated. High-end and urgently needed talents should be cultivated, the virtuous cycle of education, science and technology, and talent should be kept smooth, a diversified training system should be built, and at the same time a sound incentive mechanism should be established, with professional talent cultivation and vocational training for industrial workers strengthened. For means of labor, technological innovation and management mechanism innovation should be strengthened. Means of labor are all material means or material conditions used by laborers in the labor process to change or influence the objects of labor. Innovation in means of labor in the construction industry is mainly reflected in innovation in science and technology and management mechanisms. In terms of scientific and technological innovation, key technological breakthroughs in key fields should be strengthened, intelligent construction innovation platforms should be cultivated, and the standardization of intelligent construction should be advanced; in terms of management mechanisms, government management models should be innovated, advanced project construction management models should be implemented, digital delivery of engineering projects should be promoted, and an intelligent construction evaluation system should be established. For objects of labor, an industrial ecosystem should be built and pilot projects implemented. Innovation in objects of labor in the construction industry is mainly reflected in building an industrial ecosystem and implementing pilot projects. Building an industrial ecosystem mainly includes industrial chains such as digital design, digital twin platforms, modular intelligent manufacturing, intelligent production, intelligent construction equipment and facilities, intelligent construction, and intelligent operation and maintenance; implementing pilot projects mainly includes releasing catalogs of intelligent construction technologies, carrying out intelligent construction project pilots, promoting diverse applications of intelligent construction technologies, and supporting the construction of intelligent construction projects.

Using the "green content" of the ecosystem to enhance the "gold content" of development

In recent years, national and local levels have successively issued many policy documents to promote the development of new building industrialization represented by prefabricated buildings. The 14th Five-Year Plan proposed to "develop intelligent construction and promote green building materials, prefabricated buildings, and steel-structure residences." The "14th Five-Year Plan for Building Energy Efficiency and Green Building Development" issued in 2022 clearly stated the need to "promote new green construction methods. Vigorously develop steel-structure buildings and develop timber-structure buildings according to local conditions."

Steel-structure and timber-structure buildings naturally possess the excellent genes of new building industrialization and the characteristics of green buildings. The main advantages of steel-structure buildings lie in high strength, light self-weight, fast construction, low resource consumption, and recyclability. Developing steel structures is not only an important way for the construction industry to implement the national "dual carbon" goals, but also an effective way for the steel industry to optimize the consumption structure of steel used in construction, reserve strategic steel resources, and achieve high-quality development. In the past five years, the annual compound growth rate of China's steel-structure building market has been about 10% or more, but the floor area of steel-structure buildings in China accounts for only about 5%–7% of total floor area, a large gap from the 30%–40% ratio in developed countries. Moreover, steel structures in China are mainly used in super-high-rise and large-span building fields, accounting for nearly 80% of all application scenarios, while the proportion of steel-structure residences is very low, leaving considerable room for development. In the future, the steel-structure industry will develop toward high-end steel-structure products and technical standards, intelligent steel-structure production and manufacturing, and greening across the full life cycle of steel structures. It is recommended that the government continue to strengthen policy guidance, especially vigorously promoting demonstration applications of steel-structure residences in urban village renovation and affordable housing construction, and adopting rapid-assembly steel structures in military facilities and disaster prevention and mitigation projects.

Wood is recognized as a sustainable, renewable, reusable, and degradable building material, with advantages such as light self-weight, easy processing, health and comfort, low comprehensive cost, and significant carbon reduction and energy-saving effects. In recent years, although modern timber structures have gradually entered public view, their development remains slow, mostly concentrated in specific scenarios such as tourism real estate, homestays, exhibition halls, and antique restoration, or in buildings not formally submitted for approval. Today, under the national "dual carbon" goals, the advantages of timber-structure buildings in carbon reduction, carbon storage, and carbon mitigation have gradually attracted social attention. China has abundant biomass resources, and proper harvesting, utilization, and replanting can form a virtuous cycle. If the wood of these tree species is developed and promoted for manufacturing new engineered wood products, value can be added while greatly enhancing the stored carbon of buildings, truly achieving "sustainable timber construction, building toward carbon neutrality."

To develop timber-structure buildings, first, research related to carbon emissions in the field of timber-structure building materials and buildings should be strengthened, providing good technical support and policy support for the development of modern prefabricated timber-structure buildings in China. Second, the advantages of timber-structure buildings should be brought into play and actively promoted according to local conditions. In addition to villas and resorts, timber structures can also be used for multi-story and high-rise residences as well as various public buildings, business and leisure venues, such as shopping centers, exhibition centers, schools, and office buildings, as well as cost-effective renovation projects. Third, key technologies for timber structures should be researched and developed, and standards and specifications suitable for timber-structure development should be revised, such as revising relevant fire protection regulations.