On 15 June, the kick-off meeting for the mandatory national standard on ‘Hot-rolled H-section Steel for Building Structures’ was held in Beijing. Organised by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, this standard is China’s first mandatory national standard for hot-rolled H-section steel in the construction sector. It aims to establish a solid foundation for the quality and safety of steel used in building structures and to promote coordinated development across the entire industrial chain.

At the meeting, Xia Nong, Vice-President of the China Iron and Steel Association, pointed out that hot-rolled H-section steel(Price) is widely used in major engineering projects, and that the drafting and implementation of this standard is a key measure to promote the high-end and green development of the product. He proposed that the drafting process should be guided by the principles of ‘fewer specifications, more combinations and higher efficiency’ to optimise the specification system; that tolerance limits should be strictly controlled to enhance quality stability; and that steel should be upgraded towards higher strength and toughness. At the same time, he emphasised the need to ensure seamless coordination between the standard and related stages such as design and construction.

Wu Baoqiao, an engineering scientist at China Baowu, explained that there is currently a disconnect in application between manufacturers and processing enterprises; the new standard will effectively resolve the challenge of aligning standards across the industrial chain, shorten the supply-demand cycle and reduce manufacturing costs. It is reported that the drafting team had previously visited 25 organisations to gather extensive feedback, and during the meeting, representatives engaged in in-depth discussions on the framework and technical specifications of the draft standard. The convening of this meeting marks a substantial step forward in the collaborative integration of the steel and construction industries.