Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Opinions on Improving Housing Quality," making institutional arrangements for building "good houses." The "Suggestions of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" proposed "building safe, comfortable, green, and intelligent 'good houses,' and implementing housing quality improvement projects and property service quality improvement actions." With the advancement of these policies, the construction of "good houses" will be further promoted in 2026. Based on current practices, the reporter conducted interviews to assess the effectiveness of these efforts.
Focusing on people's livelihood needs
The starting point for building "good houses" is to focus on solving the "urgent difficulties and worries" in real life and to meet the people's needs for a better living environment.
The renovation of old residential communities with poor living comfort and certain safety hazards is becoming an important direction for the construction of "good housing." The Lishiju project, located in Xicheng District, Beijing, originally consisted of buildings constructed in 1976 that had become outdated after years of use. Before the renovation, the building suffered from high energy consumption, low space utilization, and aging facilities. Through functional restructuring and space revitalization design, the project was transformed into modern affordable rental housing, effectively revitalizing existing urban resources and promoting the improvement of urban functions in the area. After the renovation, the project offered 264 units in six different layouts, primarily targeting young professionals working in the nearby business district. These homes not only provide a high-quality living experience but also reduce commuting costs, effectively promoting a better work-life balance in the area.
Beyond Beijing, Haikou City is also comprehensively improving residents' quality of life and further enhancing their living environment by adding 15-minute living circle services for the elderly and children, as well as cultural and medical facilities. "Following the principle of implementing a batch, planning a batch, and reserving a batch, Haikou City has implemented 19 urban renewal projects and planned and reserved 27 projects. Urban renewal and renovation will benefit 85,000 people, while effectively solving problems such as difficulty in accessing schooling for residents in the area," said Zhang Jianliang, Party Secretary of the Haikou Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau. He added that Haikou will fully utilize and integrate central government funds to comprehensively improve residents' quality of life and enhance their sense of gain and happiness, in accordance with the urban renewal goals of building "good houses, good communities, good neighborhoods, and good urban areas."
The construction of "good houses" continues to meet the housing needs of new urban residents. At the construction site of the first phase of the Changshan County Talent Community project in Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, a bustling construction scene unfolds. The project covers a total area of approximately 55.6 acres, with a total investment of 880 million yuan. It plans to build 463 talent apartments, with the core concept of "one-stop" talent housing. Upon completion, it will integrate residential, leisure, and commercial functions. "In 2026, we will advance the secondary structure construction and simultaneously dismantle the roof structure scaffolding. The entire project is expected to be completed in October 2027," said Li Liang, the on-site manager of the first phase of the Changshan County Talent Community project.
Improving housing is also a key focus of the "good housing" construction initiative. Recently, the Shandong Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced the third batch of high-quality residential pilot projects, and the Wenyuan·Banshan Yunjing project in Jiaxiang County, Jining City, was successfully selected. It is understood that Jiaxiang County focuses on the requirements of "good housing" construction, from planning and design, material selection, construction to facility support. In the process of promoting high-quality housing construction, it improves surrounding supporting facilities such as education, medical care, and commerce, creating a convenient "15-minute living circle." The Zhongjian·Yunqi Fenghua project, developed by China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau, is located in the Xindongzhan area of Licheng District, Jinan City, with a total construction area of approximately 723,000 square meters. It is one of the first batch of "good housing" pilot projects of China Construction Group nationwide and the only one in Shandong. According to Ru Feng, the project manager of the First Company of China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau, the project deeply integrates China Construction's "good housing" construction system, systematically deconstructing 14 major divisions and 294 key nodes, starting from six dimensions: "good integration, good standards, good design, good materials, good construction, and good operation and maintenance," to create high-quality housing.
Improve institutional standards
The construction of "good houses" cannot be separated from the support of institutional standards. Since 2025, normative documents such as the "Residential Project Specification" have been successively issued, further clarifying the requirements for "good houses" in terms of safety, comfort, greenness, and intelligence. In recent years, many regions have also been actively exploring "good house" construction standards suitable for their local development conditions.
As the implementing company of the "China Centennial Housing Demonstration Project," Baoye Group, located in Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, has partnered with the China Academy of Building Research to establish "Centennial Housing" standards across the entire process from design and building materials to construction. "In October 2025, Baoye Group's 'Centennial Housing' will be showcased at the Zhejiang Good House Exhibition, bringing with it a high-quality, century-old housing technology system," Sun Yuguang, Deputy General Manager of Baoye Group Co., Ltd., told reporters. The group strives to achieve longevity, superior quality, and green, low-carbon construction through industrialization.
"To actively respond to the people's urgent need for high-quality housing, the Hepin project, jointly developed by Jinhua City's Jindong District and Binjiang Group, focuses on the 'five-good' standard across all dimensions," said Lu Kuisheng, a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Housing and Construction Bureau of Jindong District, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province. He explained that Jindong District is actively building a "good housing" construction system, solidifying the foundation of quality and the bottom line of safety. During the construction of the Hepin project, barrier-free design and age-friendly features were set as mandatory basic standards. From barrier-free ramps in community public spaces, elevator cars that allow wheelchairs to turn around, public restrooms equipped with handrails, to emergency call buttons, efforts are made to achieve comprehensive care.
In recent years, Hubei Province has vigorously implemented a housing quality improvement project, focusing on five dimensions: high standards, high design, high materials, high construction, and high operation and maintenance. It is understood that Hubei has successively issued a high-quality housing construction plan and local standards for high-quality housing, raising the floor height to over 3 meters, adding a raised floor on the first floor, expanding the depth of balconies, increasing sound insulation measures, incorporating smart home technology, optimizing unit functions, increasing the usable floor area ratio, and promoting product iteration. In 2025, all newly started real estate projects in the province were high-quality residential buildings, with a sales rate exceeding 80%. Hubei Province has also released guidelines for renovating old houses into "good houses," developing digital surveying and design, and improving the quality of engineering design. It has vigorously developed green and intelligent construction, cultivating the advantages of "one software, one hardware, and two platforms," promoting 60 enterprises and 128 projects to carry out intelligent construction pilot projects, and seven experiences have been promoted nationwide by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
As early as 2023, Hainan had already taken steps to explore ways to improve the quality and upgrade the construction industry. In 2023, Hainan Province issued and implemented the "Three-Year Action Plan for the Development and Upgrading of Prefabricated Buildings (Green Buildings) in Hainan Province (2023-2025)," which clearly stated that by 2025, the high-quality green transformation of the construction industry would reach a new level, with the industrialization, digitalization, and greening of the construction industry developing comprehensively, and the supply and demand of construction products being comprehensively upgraded to create "good houses" suitable for Hainan's tropical climate and marine island characteristics.
Lin Mingquan, Director of the Survey, Design and Technology Division of the Hainan Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, introduced that, in accordance with the strategic positioning of the Hainan Free Trade Port as "three zones and one center" and the national deployment of green development in urban and rural areas, the Hainan Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has continuously promoted the development of green buildings and prefabricated buildings in Hainan Province from the aspects of top-level design, standard system, and institutional construction, and has achieved remarkable results. It has also basically established a policy and standard system related to prefabricated decoration and issued the "Hainan Province Prefabricated Interior Decoration Technical Standards", which provides strong support for the design, production, and construction of prefabricated decoration.
Technology empowers construction
Building "good houses" requires the deep integration of technology and projects, transforming new materials, new processes, and new technologies into tangible and perceptible living environments.
Recently, in Wuhan's Optics Valley, Hubei Province, the construction of the fourth-generation residential project, China Construction One Residence · Hanyun Mansion, has entered the decoration and finishing stage. This project is the first registered fourth-generation residential project in Wuhan, covering an area of 117,500 square meters. It is planned to have only 9 low-rise buildings and 478 residential units, with a low plot ratio of 2.3 and a maximum usable floor area ratio of 109%, leaving ample space for high-end living.
Stepping into the project construction site, the traditional noisy scene of a construction site is nowhere to be found. "This is not a traditional construction site, but a 'digital construction factory'," explained Wu Cheng, the project manager. The secret behind this lies in the "digital construction center." Inside the digital construction center, large screens display various real-time data; simply click on the categories to obtain relevant project information. BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology is the cornerstone of this "digital brain," enabling a seamless, end-to-end design process. It is reported that the project, empowered by BIM technology, has optimized over a hundred areas of overlap, significantly reducing rework rates and saving millions of yuan in costs. Simultaneously, the digital twin will be synchronized to the factory, with each precast slab and each steel bar bearing its own "birth certificate." Scanning a staircase component instantly displays the production date, raw material batch, and quality inspection report. After project delivery, the project team will lightweight the BIM model and integrate it into the property management system. Property management personnel can view the status of public area equipment in real time. Safety functions such as gas alarms and one-button calls are directly connected to the property monitoring center, and the entire service process can be tracked, traced, and evaluated.
"Finally got the keys to my new house! It gives me a real sense of belonging in Hangzhou." Recently, at the handover ceremony of the Qintang Yunzhu Talent Shared Ownership Housing project in Qiantang District, Hangzhou, homeowner Zhang Wenbo, who had just completed the handover procedures, happily said while holding his new house keys. It is understood that the Qintang Yunzhu Talent Shared Ownership Housing project is one of the talent-oriented affordable housing projects in Qiantang District. The project incorporated BIM technology during the design phase, visually presenting the spatial layout of pipelines and components, and proactively avoiding pipeline collisions such as water pipes crossing electrical conduits. This reduces the risk of later wall-breaking repairs from the source, creating a fully digital "construction blueprint" for the project. Lian Jiajia, the project manager of Hangzhou Qiantang Anju Development Group Co., Ltd., explained that through in-depth collision analysis using new technologies, more than 90 issues such as inconsistent building structure elevations and collisions between electromechanical pipelines and the structure were identified and resolved in advance. From the reserved location of a small socket to the pipeline layout in the underground garage, everything was repeatedly verified in the model.
Feicheng, Shandong, leveraging its industrial advantages as a "hometown of construction," is focusing on "green, intelligent, and collaborative" development, implementing the standards for "good houses" down to every brick and tile. Relying on key enterprises such as Shandong Lutai Building Materials Technology Group and Feicheng Hongrui Prefabricated Building Co., Ltd., Feicheng is vigorously promoting BIM digital technology to accelerate the large-scale development of prefabricated buildings. Furthermore, Feicheng has formulated the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Construction and Installation Industry" and "Ten Measures to Promote High-Quality Development of the Construction and Installation Industry," empowering enterprises from a policy perspective and establishing an "Industry Collaborative Supply and Demand Matching Platform," with all 53 large-scale enterprises participating online, achieving efficient resource allocation.
At the construction site of the Chaoyang Port 1303-686 plot project in Shibalidian, Chaoyang District, undertaken by Beijing Housing Construction Group, project manager Yan Ming told reporters that, taking Building No. 10 of the project as a demonstration, the application research of the intelligent construction integration platform has been officially launched. The project is actively exploring the intelligent transformation and upgrading path of prefabricated housing construction, striving to empower with technology, break the inherent construction process habits, improve the level of quality control, enhance safety assurance capabilities, and promote human-machine collaborative operation in "dangerous, complicated, dirty, and heavy" scenarios during construction, so as to achieve a high-efficiency, high-quality, low-consumption, and low-emission construction process.
(Economic Daily article by reporters Li Jing, Wang Jinhu, Han Bingzhi, Liu Jie, Dong Qingsen, and Pan Shipeng)
