The construction of the Macau New Neighbourhood (MNN) project in Hengqin is well underway, with three components of the residential units, comprising façade panels, staircases and autoclaved lightweight concrete (ALC) panels, being built using the more environmentally-friendly prefabrication method, providing high degree of quality and productivity.

Moreover, MNN also provides a platform for Macau construction engineering sector to visit and share experiences on prefabricated construction.

MNN is an integrated livelihood project in Hengqin built for Macau residents. It has 27 residential buildings complemented with auxiliary facilities such as education, health and social services. A considerable number of prefabricated components is used to build the residential units, where over 8,000 prefab façade panels, 1,000 prefab staircases and 175,000 ALC panels are put together to build over 4,000 flats.

The prefabrication method is beneficial to achieving better quality of the whole project, as the manufacturing process of the components, product quality inspection and the logistics from the manufacturing plant to the construction site are all carried out under strict supervision.

For the prefab façade panels, the aluminium window frames are installed at the manufacturing plant, where the window frames are seamlessly fitted into the precast concrete walls, providing a high level of water tightness more effectively than installing the windows on site. In addition, the drip grooves underneath the window sills are part of the precast concrete wall made at the manufacturing plant, which provide a more effective quality control to ensure that its function to reduce the risk of seepage works, as opposed to the use of in-situ concrete in traditional construction.

The construction process of the project adopts the prefabrication method with precast concrete and aluminium moulds, compared with traditional construction method, it uses much fewer wooden planks that would later become construction waste, thus saving energy and reducing the carbon footprint. For more details on the production process of prefabrication for the MNN project, please visit MUR’s official YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/OzvwW-eTKSM.