UC Berkeley student accommodations built by CIMC MBS comes into service

SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Modular building provider CIMC Modular Building Systems Holding Co Ltd (CIMC MBS) is taking its expertise to the United States by building student accommodations for postgraduates at the University of California, Berkeley.

The accommodations, which were constructed using containerized modules, officially opened for use last month.

It is the Shenzhen-based company's first project in the US and the first steel structure module building in the country made by a Chinese company.

The accommodations, which are located not far from the downtown Berkeley, is a four-storey structure which provides 22 well-decorated rooms. Rooms on the first floor are for disabled people, while those on the second, third and fourth floors are standard rooms.

"Berkeley adopts a very stringent green architecture standard by strictly controlling the emission of harmful substances," Marco Ma, regional project manager of North America at CIMC MBS, said.

"We have fully complied with local requirements and used environmentally friendly materials in the whole construction process."

In addition, the company has also raised the earthquake resistance level of the structure as California lies in a seismic zone, with its earthquake fortification intensity reaching E level, Ma added.

Modular buildings are a type of prefabricated building model. Instead of doing all the construction work on-site, it allows more than 90 percent of a building project to be finished in the factory, thereby saving construction time by over 50 percent and reducing construction waste by over 50 percent.

According to the company, all the modules had been transported to the Port of Oakland by May and then transferred to the site by road for assembling. The assembling process was finished within a week.

The project was fully completed in mid-September and officially opened for service on September 30.

Marching into the US market is not an easy job for the company, Ma said. "Not only do we have to meet the country's strict construction standards, we also need to remove local people's misunderstanding on steel structure modular buildings."

According to Ma, the modular building market in the US is now mature, but most are wood structures.

"The successful operation of the project means that we have received recognition from our US customers and this is of great significance to our further exploration in the US market," Ma said.

Patrick Kennedy, owner of the student accommodation, said he is highly satisfied with the project's quality.

"We know that prefabricated building is the future of architecture and we are also exploring it constantly. This project is a very valuable course for us and we are expecting greater cooperation in the future," he said.

CIMC MBS is a subsidiary of China International Marine Containers Group, which is listed on China's Shenzhen Stock Exchange, specializing in providing modern transportation equipment and services.

SOURCE CIMC