Witnessing the Diverse Vitality of Urban Renewal at CIFTIS

BEIJING, Sept. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — China’s urban development is currently shifting from a stage of large-scale incremental expansion to one focused on improving the quality and efficiency of existing stock. Urban renewal concerns people’s wellbeing, bears on the improvement of urban quality, and also offers vast opportunities for the transformation of the construction industry. At the Engineering Consulting & Construction Services Section of the 2026 CIFTIS held from Sept. 9 to 13, exhibitors highlighted urban renewal practices. A batch of old building renovations and area-wide renewal plans are no longer just isolated innovations, but a replicable and scalable connected landscape.

Revitalising and utilising underperforming buildings is both a policy direction and a public need. The Lishiju Renovation Project in Beijing’s Xicheng District, undertaken by the Decoration Company of China Construction Second Engineering Bureau and fully occupied in 2025, drew the attention of attending guests. Project Commander Lou Maoyuan swiped through old photos on his phone and noted that the site was originally an old factory building constructed in 1976. After serving successively as a printing factory, an office building, and a budget hotel, it had become an “urban corner” in the Financial Street area urgently in need of renewal due to structural ageing and outdated facilities.

Faced with this “old architectural friend” that had weathered nearly half a century, the project team did not demolish and rebuild, but instead preserved as much as possible. On the one hand, they carried out targeted reinforcement of key load-bearing components such as beams, columns, and floor slabs, reinforcing the old building’s structural integrity while preserving its historical memories. On the other hand, they made full use of its strengths – leveraging the old factory’s ceiling height of over four metres to innovatively plan a diverse range of unit types including single-storey rooms, double rooms, and duplex rooms, while adding functional spaces such as a reading room, water bar, communal kitchen, and gym, giving residents a warm sense of everyday life without leaving the building.

“Today, the old factory has been transformed into affordable rental housing for over 200 households, meeting the ‘Good Housing’ construction standards,” Lou Maoyuan introduced. The complete set of plans formed through the renovation has also set a benchmark for the renewal of similar buildings in the future.

Infrastructure renewal is also a key area of urban renewal. At present, the “northern half-ring” of Beijing’s Second Ring Road, completed 34 years ago, is undergoing integrated renewal. Breaking away from the traditional mindset of repairing roads for roads’ sake, the builders have packaged roads, bridges, and landscaping into a single coordinated project, using efficient construction and advanced technology to support the upgrading of urban development concepts. To minimise the impact of construction on traffic, the Second Ring Road renovation is being carried out at night. “We use BIM (Building Information Modelling) technology to conduct scientific calculations and dynamic control of the engineering plan, and to precisely allocate materials, manpower, and machinery. Pavement construction advances in a staggered yet continuous manner, so the road can be completed and opened section by section,” Yang Zhenqing, Deputy Director of the Science, Technology and Quality Department of Beijing Construction Engineering Group, noted while demonstrating a specially developed kerb-laying machine. This machine can vacuum-lift 150-kilogram stone blocks, completing transfer and alignment in one step, improving construction efficiency fourfold compared with traditional manual handling.

“In the age of artificial intelligence, every project will yield a valuable digital asset,” said Yang Zhenqing. In the past, construction relied on experience; now it competes on digital intelligence. The company has integrated and developed a knowledge base from the construction technologies used in various urban renewal scenarios. When facing a new project, the system can automatically configure suitable technical solutions to scientifically assist decision-making.

Urban renewal is also driving the development of China’s green construction sector. The Boao Zero-Carbon Demonstration Zone showcased by China Railway Construction Engineering Group is located on Dongyu Island in Qionghai, Hainan, the permanent venue of the Boao Forum for Asia. A total of 18 renovation and upgrading projects across eight categories – including buildings, landscaping, and transportation – have been completed. The buildings in the demonstration zone are covered with photovoltaic panels on their roofs, kitchen stoves are fully electrified, and equipment and facilities are intelligently managed. The energy consumption of the 1.8-square-kilometre park has dropped significantly and has now entered a stage of regular zero-carbon operation.

“Based on the experience of renovating the Boao Zero-Carbon Demonstration Zone, we have formed a complete green and low-carbon technology system covering the entire building life cycle – from preliminary planning and green construction to smart operation and maintenance – with closed-loop management throughout. This technology system has already been applied in multiple urban renewal projects,” Liu Xuebiao, Manager of the Smart Industry Technology R&D Center of China Railway Construction Engineering Group, noted. Urban renewal brings opportunities for industry transformation.

“In the past, we mostly worked on traditional building construction and railway and subway projects. Now, more than half of our projects are in emerging industries or urban renewal. This also requires traditional construction enterprises to accelerate their embrace of the market, continuously accumulate technology and solutions, and cultivate and expand new business growth points,” said Liu Xuebiao.

From a factory building to a ring road, and then to a park, these cases reflect the new changes and opportunities in urban development. Cities are no longer undergoing massive demolition and reconstruction, but rather organic growth, and renewal plans are expanding from serving single projects to achieving scale. The innovative practices showcased at CIFTIS have become a vivid footnote to China’s high-quality urban development.

Contact person: Ms. Zhu, Tel: 86-10-63074558

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