Building success
June 19, 2011
The Tsingtao brewery, founded by German settlers in 1903, is still running flawlessly today in the port city now known as Qingdao.
Georg Huf, managing partner of the construction firm Huf Haus, insists his prefabricated houses of glass and wood will last just as long. His company, based in the small town of Hartenfels in Germany's Westerwald region, is sending its fourth Huf house to China in May.
Standing in front of a large shipping container, Huf oversees the final preparations: Roof elements are being stacked while fiberglass and other construction materials are carefully packed into shipping containers.
They are then hermetically sealed to protect them from moisture throughout their road journey to the port of Rotterdam and the sea voyage to the other side of the world.
The 22 containers contain all the materials needed to assemble a 900-square-meter mansion in Qingdao, a bustling city of 8 million, about a one-hour flight east of Beijing.
Like many Chinese cities, Qingdao is growing by leaps and bounds and now boasts the globe's tenth largest harbor.
But reminders of its colonial past can be seen in the classic German half-timbered houses that remain.
The Huf house being packed into containers is the fourth of five houses to be built along the promenade of this former Germany colony. The architectural style of Huf prefab houses – a reinterpretation of the traditional German style - fits nicely into the cityscape.
That is likely what the Chinese electronics firm Hisense was thinking when it planned its "Golden Coast" residential complex, where the German-made houses are being assembled.
The first contact between Hisense and Huf was made in 2006, and two years later, the companies had agreed to cooperate on the housing project worth 10 million euros.
"The Chinese market is very different than our own," says Georg Huf, adding that since private individuals cannot buy a lot to build a house on in China, he has to work through so-called "developers" - generally state-run concerns that buy up plots of land.
"The government is the owner and auctions off the units," he explains.
Transport challenges
A family-run company, Huf Haus has been building houses for three generations and that kind of know-how was essential for this project, especially since sending construction materials on a long sea journey involves substantial risks. Wood, in particular can be easily ruined if moisture gets into the containers.
"We travel through the Suez Canal, over the Indian Ocean and the East China Sea," Huf says. "We can have humidity levels of up to 95 percent."
The build-up of mold or wood swelling are the major concerns during the sea transport. "Then you might as well throw the stuff away," says Huf, whose firm is considered a world leader in modern timber-frame architecture.
In order to make sure the house elements arrive in China in top condition, Huf Haus has gone to the pros – the hapack packaging company. Luckily, they're based just 15 kilometers down the road.
When Huf asked hapack to prepare the construction elements for transport, the company knew it had its work cut out for it.
"One of the biggest challenges was insulating the wall elements, with their built-in windows, against jolts," says hapack chief Joachim Hasdenteufel.
Another danger is possible corrosion of electronic components, such as control units for exterior window shutters, which could result from the high humidity during transport. Another challenge is that the wall elements that are taller than the containers themselves, since few architects keep the dimensions of a standard shipping container in mind during the design process.
To solve this problem, the hapack team manufactures container hoods that can accommodate larger elements. It has developed new shock absorption system to keep wood walls, doors and windows from rubbing or knocking against one another, even if the transport ship is tossed around on rough seas.
The materials for the first three houses made the journey successfully and the fourth is expected to arrive in China at the beginning of July. The project as a whole is due to be completed at the end of 2012.
Future outlook
Huf has agreed with Hisense management on a follow-up project - a residential area between Qingdao's airport and its old town, where a new city for 2.5 million people is set to spring up. Hisense bought plots in one neighborhood at auction and plans to build around 19 apartments with Huf.
The work in China came along at the right time for the German company, since business in Great Britain, once its primary market, collapsed in the wake of the economic crisis.
But thanks to China and new projects in several neighboring European countries, Huf has been able to withstand the downturn. These days, about 68 percent of the company's sales are generated abroad.
While the Chinese market, which is responsible for just two percent of the company's overall revenue, doesn't play a large role right now, Georg Huf thinks the country is going to be increasingly important for his firm in the future.
"I think market conditions in China are going to change," he says. "There is going to be private property and then private construction."
While he sits in front of a model house in his company's own "Huf village," dreaming of a free market in China, in the production hall, the last doors and walls are being stacked on a truck bed – just about ready for the long journey ahead.
Author: Zhang Danhong (jam)
Editor: Sam Edmonds