On 16 April 2021, more than 20 students and staff from the Department of Civil Engineering at University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) visited a prefabricated steel structures demonstration site built by the Ningbo Construction Engineering Group Limited (Ningbo Construction). This is also a part of teaching activity for the module Civil and Structural Steel Design Project in the civil engineering UG programme. This site visit gave the civil engineering students a great opportunity to understand the main features and design considerations of prefabricate steel structures.

The engineer from Ningbo Construction first delivered a presentation on the latest development of steel structures, the whole construction process of steel structures, and the features of their prefabricated steel structures. The students from UNNC also asked questions about the selection of steel structural system and main advantages of steel structures.

Afterwards, the students visited the prefabricated steel structure residence building in their demonstration site. During the visit, the students learned about the whole construction process of prefabricated steel structures, the typical beam-column connections, lightweight infilled walls as well as novel slab systems. The students also had an opportunity to see a decorated apartment in this steel structure building. This site visit enriches students’ knowledge about steel structure design and green construction method.

The international students also joined this site visit through MS Teams. They watched the details of the steel structure and interacted with the engineers during the visit, which maximizes their learning experience in the module.

Site visit is essential for engineering course as it links theoretical knowledge with the practical experience. In the civil engineering programme, project-based learning has been implemented through the whole course. For example, year 3 students are asked to design a steel structure building as the hall of residence at UNNC this semester. They are exposed to the whole design process, including conceptional design, load evaluation, detailed design and producing working drawings. This visit can strengthen their understanding on design considerations for steel structures.

In addition, the civil engineering programme at UNNC combines theoretical knowledge with practical examples. An Industrial Advisory Board consisting of professionals from international and local engineering consulting companies was established to review and maintain the quality of civil engineering programme at UNNC.

What is the prefabricated steel structure?

A prefabricated steel structure refers to the residual assembled on site with prefabricated components which produced by the factory. With the development of modern industrial technology, as long as the prefabricated steel components are transported to the construction site to assemble, buildings will be manufactured as same as machine produced in batch.

The advantages of prefabricated steel structure:

Green: less in-situ pouring work; less noise pollution; less dust pollution

Quality: less cracking; less leakage; high durability of the building

Cost: high material-use-efficiency; less on-site work

Speed: fabrication in the factory; directly assembled on-site; short construction period

Safety: high strength of steel; good seismic performance

Space: smaller cross-section of structural members; increase living space