Prefabricated Houses in Taiyuan

The renovation of prefabricated houses in Taiyuan mainly adopts the approach of 'demolishing and rebuilding on the original site,' which requires meeting conditions related to safety, building age, planning, residents' willingness, and funding. The policy has cleared the bottleneck in approval processes, but not all houses can be renovated immediately.

Renovation Background and Policy Support

As an old industrial city, Taiyuan has numerous prefabricated panel houses built in the 1970s and 1980s, which generally suffer from low seismic resistance and poor structural stability. Houses over 40 years old have seen concentrated outbreaks of issues such as wall cracks, roof leaks, and pipeline corrosion. Some have been classified as Class C (partially dilapidated) or Class D (entirely dilapidated) dangerous buildings, posing a serious threat to residents' safety. Conventional renovations of old residential areas can only address surface problems and cannot resolve structural hazards. In 2025, the central government included the renovation of prefabricated panel buildings as a core task of urban renewal, specifying that priority should be given to tackling Class D dangerous buildings and prefabricated panel houses built before 2000 from 2025 to 2027, with a comprehensive conclusion by 2030. Shanxi Province and Taiyuan City have successively issued regulations to support the demolition and reconstruction of dangerous housing and streamline approval processes: Reconstruction within the original land area without changing the planning and without exceeding the original legal building area does not require repeated land use procedures and can directly proceed with planning and construction permits, thus completely clearing policy bottlenecks.

Renovation Models and Cases

Currently, Taiyuan mainly adopts the model of 'demolishing on the original site, building on the original site, and relocating residents back.' For example, the original Shanfang Buildings 1 and 2 (Class D dangerous buildings) in Xiayuan Street, Wanbailin District, started demolition and reconstruction in April 2026 and are expected to be handed over in June 2027, completely eliminating safety hazards. The Recycling Company Community on Qinxian Road (built in 1986) has experienced酥化 (sūhuà, meaning 'crumbling') of the soil layer on the exterior wall tiles of its balconies. In April 2026, the street issued a dangerous building notice, and the property owner is expected to respond to the renovation plan soon. However, some houses have not yet started renovation due to property ownership issues or failure to meet renovation conditions. For example, although the walls of Building 2* in a certain Taiyuan Iron and Steel Company dormitory have crumbled, the property owner has not yet received a demolition notice.

Conditions for Inclusion in 'Demolition and Reconstruction on the Original Site'

1. Safety Compliance: Must be classified as a Class C or Class D dangerous building by a professional institution;
2. Building Age Compliance: Built before 2000, with priority given to prefabricated panel houses over 25 years old;
3. Planning Consistency: Rebuilt on the original site without changing the land use nature or exceeding the original building area;
4. Resident Consent: The consent rate of residents in the building must be ≥90% (meeting both the number and area criteria);
5. Funding Availability: Self-raised funds from the property owner or residents must be in place, with appropriate government subsidies provided.

Policies and cases indicate that Taiyuan is systematically addressing safety hazards in prefabricated panel houses through 'demolition and reconstruction on the original site,' but strict conditions must be met for progress.