The World's First Modular-Built Terminal Constructed by CIMC within Only 9 months

On December 26, Foshan Shadi Airport’s new terminal, the world's first modular-built terminal, was put into use. This terminal is a project funded by China United Airlines and jointly undertaken by Yangzhou CIMC, Southern CIMC and Wetrans Shenzhen with the collaboration of CIMC Security Technology Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of CIMC Group.

As the world's first modular-built terminal that CIMC participated in, the project commenced construction in March 2024 with an aggregate investment amount of RMB100 million and a total GFA of approximately 11,200 square meters, and it is expected to accommodate up to 2.6 million domestic passengers annually by the target year 2028, and will effectively promote regional economic integration and synergistic development in the future.

In order to propel the high-quality development of civil aviation infrastructure, CIMC applied the emerging concept of modular construction to the project’s entire processes, including design, manufacturing, installation and construction. The whole process likes “building toy bricks”, CIMC divided the complicated building process into several independent modules, and the modules will be transported and assembled on site after prefabrication and production in factories, ensuring the quality improvement of the building while further shortening the whole construction period.

The civil aviation industry demands high standards on the application of key infrastructure. CIMC divided the whole terminal project into 299 independent modules by adopting the modern modular construction system of steel structure, each module shall go through rigorous acceptance with high standards. Meanwhile, this project, as a transitional terminal, enables secondary dismantling and assembly, to maximize the use and economic values of the building.

During the construction of the new terminal project, CIMC actively integrated modular construction innovation into civil aviation infrastructure sector, to deepen the integration of advanced technologies, such as factory manufacturing, assembly construction, information management, intelligent application. Such initiatives not only drove civil aviation infrastructure to steadily upgrade towards digitalization and intelligence, but also conformed with the major trend of low-carbon, environment protection and substantial development in current construction industry, giving new momentum to the high-quality development of the industry.

Civil aviation infrastructure gives important support to the building of China’s strength in civil aviation, and plays a vital role in the high-quality development of civil aviation industry. In recent years, the Civil Aviation Administration of China successively issued the Implementation Opinions on Promoting Quality Civil Aviation Development by New Infrastructure Construction, the Guiding Opinions on Building Quality Projects of Civil Airports by Comprehensive Implementation of Modern Construction Management and other policies, which expressly provide China promotes innovative infrastructure construction, focuses on the application of intelligent, information and green environmental protection technologies to promote the high-quality development of the industry.

It is worth mentioning that CIMC has led the civil aviation industry to a new stage of development through its world-leading modular construction technique. The official operation of the new terminal of Foshan Shadi Airport not only marks the successful application of the modular construction technique in the field of civil aviation infrastructure, but also foretells the broad development prospect of this innovative technique in this field in the future.

Looking ahead, CIMC will continue to pursue innovation in the modular construction field, actively incorporate the world's leading manufacturing, construction and management concepts, and create a new chapter in the modular construction field together with companies from various industries, thus contributing to the transformation and upgrading as well as the sustainable development of the modern construction industry, and offering more replicable and popularized “CIMC-Built” experience for the whole country and even for the whole world.