I. Policy-Driven: A Dual Orientation Toward Safety Benchmarks and Digital Transformation

As a core support for ensuring building safety and driving the digital transformation of the industry, intelligent inspection and operation & maintenance technologies for steel structure buildings have been incorporated into multiple national and local policy frameworks, creating a promotion model characterized by “mandatory safety requirements plus digitalization incentives.”

At the national level: The “14th Five-Year Plan for Intelligent Construction Development” explicitly calls for “research and development of technologies for building structural health monitoring, intelligent inspection, and operation and maintenance”; the “Code for Acceptance of Quality of Steel Structure Engineering” (GB 50205-2020) introduces new requirements for digital inspection and mandates that steel structures in large public buildings and super-high-rise buildings undergo regular intelligent monitoring; the “Implementation Plan for Peaking Carbon Emissions in the Urban and Rural Construction Sector” proposes “extending the service life of steel structure buildings through intelligent operation and maintenance, thereby reducing carbon emissions throughout their entire lifecycle.”

Local Implementation: Shanghai is piloting an intelligent monitoring system for steel-structure buildings. Starting in 2024, buildings over 200 meters tall and large-scale venues will be required to install intelligent monitoring systems and connect them to the city’s safety platform. Guangdong offers subsidies ranging from 50 to 80 yuan per square meter for steel-structure projects that adopt smart operation and maintenance technologies; Shenzhen has already developed 15 demonstration projects for intelligent monitoring. Zhejiang has issued the "Technical Standards for Health Monitoring of Steel-Structure Buildings," standardizing data interfaces and early-warning thresholds for monitoring.

Industry Restrictions: The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has incorporated intelligent inspection of steel structures into the lifetime responsibility system for engineering quality assessment. Key projects such as super-high-rise buildings and bridges are required to submit annual reports on intelligent operation and maintenance. Projects that fail to meet the standards will be restricted from being considered for awards and future bidding processes.

II. Market Boom: Existing Security Needs and Digital Transformation Create New Growth Opportunities

China boasts a massive existing stock of steel structures, and coupled with the mandatory requirement for intelligent inspection in new construction projects, the market is entering a period of rapid growth, forming a full industrial chain ecosystem encompassing “inspection equipment - data platforms - operation and maintenance services.”

Scale Data: According to statistics from the China Steel Structure Association, in 2023, the market size for intelligent inspection and operation & maintenance of steel structure buildings in China reached 36 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 75%. It is projected that by 2025, this market will surpass 80 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 48%. By 2030, the market size is expected to reach 220 billion yuan. Among this, the proportions of existing building inspections, monitoring of new projects, and operation & maintenance services will account for 42%, 35%, and 23%, respectively.

Industrial chain layout:

Detection Equipment and Technologies: Hikvision and Dahua Technology have launched a drone inspection system specifically designed for steel structures (equipped with infrared thermal imaging and ultrasonic flaw detection modules), achieving a detection accuracy of 0.1 mm. The Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed stress-monitoring sensors for steel structures with a battery life exceeding 5 years and a data transmission accuracy rate of 99.8%.

Digital Platform: Glodon and Huawei Cloud have jointly developed a cloud-based structural health monitoring platform that integrates BIM and digital twin technologies. China Construction Science & Technology Group’s “Steel Structure Intelligent Maintenance” platform has already been connected to over 800 projects, enabling real-time monitoring of data such as stress, corrosion, and deformation.

Operations and Maintenance Services: Beijing Construction Engineering and Shanghai Construction Engineering have established specialized smart O&M companies that provide integrated services encompassing inspection, early warning, and maintenance. Beijing Construction Engineering’s annual area of steel structure buildings under O&M exceeds 50 million square meters. Third-party testing institutions are rapidly growing; the China Academy of Building Research and Shanghai Jianke Group both hold market shares exceeding 30%.

III. Core Values: Dual Enhancement of Safety Assurance and Full Lifecycle Value

Smart inspection and operation & maintenance technologies leverage digital tools to address the pain points of traditional steel structure operation and maintenance, achieving breakthroughs in multiple areas of value.

1. Precision in Safety Alerts: Real-time monitoring of critical indicators such as stress, corrosion, and deformation in steel structures; AI algorithms achieve an accuracy rate of over 95% in issuing early warnings, detecting safety hazards 3 to 6 months ahead of traditional manual inspections. For example, a cross-sea bridge utilized an intelligent monitoring system to promptly warn of the risk of corrosion at steel structure nodes, thereby averting a major safety incident and reducing economic losses by more than 200 million yuan.

2. Optimization of Operations and Maintenance Efficiency and Costs: Drone-based inspection is 8 to 10 times more efficient than manual inspection, reducing inspection costs by 40% to 60%. The digital platform enables centralized management of multiple projects, reducing the demand for operations and maintenance personnel by 35%. By replacing traditional “one-size-fits-all” maintenance with precision repairs, steel structure maintenance costs are reduced by 25% to 30%, and lifecycle maintenance expenses are cut by 18% to 22%.

3. Extended Lifespan and Carbon Reduction with Enhanced Efficiency: By promptly identifying and addressing potential hazards, the service life of steel-structure buildings can be extended by 15 to 20 years. For a 10,000-square-meter steel-structure building, this extended lifespan can lead to a reduction of approximately 800 tons of carbon emissions over its lifetime. Smart operation and maintenance optimize energy consumption management, boosting annual energy savings in commercial buildings by 12% to 15%.

4. Management and Compliance Value: Digital ledgers enable end-to-end traceability of operations and maintenance data, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. In engineering bidding and asset valuation, smart operations and maintenance certification has become a key differentiator, boosting the premium value of steel structure project assets by 8% to 12%.

IV. Development Bottlenecks: The Triple Constraints of Technology, Standards, and Ecosystems

Despite the enormous market potential, intelligent inspection and operation & maintenance of steel structures still face phased challenges that are hindering the industry’s large-scale advancement.

Insufficient technological adaptability: Sensors lack stability under complex environmental conditions (such as high temperature, high humidity, and marine atmospheres), with data drift rates reaching 5% to 8%. In the retrofitting of existing buildings, it is challenging to install smart detection equipment; furthermore, some aging steel-structure buildings lack original design data, which adversely affects detection accuracy.

Inconsistent standards and data systems: Data formats and monitoring indicators from different enterprises’ testing equipment are incompatible, resulting in a cross-platform data-sharing rate of only 30%. Standards for linking intelligent detection results with maintenance plans remain unclear, and there is a lack of unified specifications for alert thresholds.

Imbalance between cost and accessibility: High-end smart inspection equipment—such as LiDAR-based inspection systems—carries a unit price exceeding one million yuan, making it difficult for small and medium-sized construction enterprises to afford. In third- and fourth-tier cities and county-level markets, the coverage of intelligent operation and maintenance services stands at only 18%, and existing building inspections still rely heavily on manual labor.

Talent and Cognitive Biases: There is a shortage of operations and maintenance (O&M) professionals who possess both expertise in steel structure engineering and digital skills. Among industry practitioners, only 29% meet the required standards for smart inspection skills. Moreover, some companies lack a sufficient understanding of the long-term value of intelligent O&M, and the pressure to make short-term investments has dampened their willingness to undergo transformation.

V. Future Trends: Deep Integration of Intelligence, Marketization, and Integration

With technological advancements and policy improvements, intelligent inspection and operation & maintenance of steel structures will evolve toward “precision, low cost, and full lifecycle” approaches:

1. Technological innovation breaks through bottlenecks: The costs of new types of sensors—such as flexible electronic sensors and passive RFID sensors—have dropped by 30% to 40%, while their ability to adapt to complex environments has improved. AI and big data technologies are optimizing early-warning algorithms, with fault-diagnosis accuracy expected to exceed 98% by 2025. Collaborative inspections using drones and robots are becoming widespread, boosting detection coverage in complex scenarios—including indoor environments and high-altitude areas—to as much as 90%.

2. Standardization and Data Interoperability: The state will introduce data standards and interface specifications for intelligent inspection of steel structures, enabling cross-enterprise and cross-regional data sharing by 2026. A nationwide unified database for health monitoring of steel structures will be established to promote mutual recognition of inspection results and reduce redundant testing.

3. Innovation in Market-oriented Service Models: Promote market-oriented service models such as “pay-for-performance” and “operation and maintenance outsourcing” to reduce the upfront investment burden on enterprises; cultivate leading third-party intelligent operation and maintenance enterprises, and establish an integrated service ecosystem encompassing “inspection—early warning—repair—insurance.”

4. Cross-sector integration and scenario expansion: Deeply integrate with smart construction, digital twins, and urban safety platforms to achieve three-level steel structure safety management—covering “buildings - campuses - cities.” Expand into new scenarios such as steel-structure bridges, industrial plants, and offshore platforms; the market for intelligent operation and maintenance of marine steel structures is expected to grow at a rate exceeding 50%.

5. Policy and Industry Synergy for Upgraded Development: Local governments will increase subsidies for smart operation and maintenance services in small and medium-sized cities, thereby promoting the intelligent upgrading of existing building inspections. Universities and research institutions will strengthen efforts to cultivate multi-disciplinary talent; by 2027, the rate of industry practitioners achieving the required smart skills is expected to reach 60%. The insurance industry will launch specialized insurance products for intelligent operation and maintenance of steel structures, reducing the premium surcharge associated with safety risks.