Report on the Renovation of Old Urban Residential Communities Nationwide: Total Investment Reaches 4 Trillion Yuan, with Enormous Market Demand Potential for Lighting Renovation

The 2022 Government Work Report proposed to start the renovation of another batch of old urban residential communities. Based on the statistics reported by local authorities, in 2022, China plans to newly start the renovation of 51,000 old urban residential communities, involving 8.4 million households.   As a major livelihood project, the renovation of old residential communities has received key attention from the national level in recent years, with repeated calls in government reports to accelerate such renovations. Local governments across the country have also listed the renovation of old residential communities as a key "people's livelihood project" for implementation. In the renovation of old residential communities, lighting renovation has become an important measure to improve the living environment and perfect supporting facilities. Moreover, replacing traditional lamps with LED lighting fixtures can achieve energy-saving and environmental protection effects, contributing to the realization of the country's "dual carbon" goals.   01   National Policies on Old Residential Communities   Since the proposal of "accelerating the renovation of old residential communities" at the 2015 Central Urban Work Conference, the State Council has made important arrangements for the renovation of old residential communities in the Government Work Report for five consecutive years (2018-2022). In 2020, the General Office of the State Council issued the *Guiding Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Renovation of Urban Old Residential Communities* (Guobanfa [2020] No. 23), putting forward overall requirements and basic principles for the renovation work, and clarifying the goal of striving to basically complete the renovation of urban old residential communities built before the end of 2000 that need renovation by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period.   On December 14, 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission, and the General Office of the Ministry of Finance issued the *Notice on Further Clarifying the Requirements for the Renovation of Urban Old Residential Communities*, proposing to adhere to the bottom-line requirements and resolutely make the livelihood project a project satisfying the people; focus on solving difficult problems and give play to the role of urban old residential community renovation as a development project; and improve the supervision and guidance mechanism.   In March 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the *Statistical Survey System for the Renovation of Urban Old Residential Communities in China* to fully grasp the situation of renovated communities and the plans and progress of service facility renovation, providing a basis for governments at all levels to formulate policies and conduct macro management.   At the local level, provinces and cities have listed the renovation of old residential communities as a key government work and people's livelihood project, incorporated it into the annual performance evaluation of municipal governments by provincial governments, and implemented work responsibilities at all levels. They have also issued provincial-level detailed policies to promote the renovation, including implementation opinions, renovation plans, special work guidelines, technical guidelines, and technical standards. Among them, special work guidelines cover aspects such as the addition of elevators, cooperation from franchised units, fund management, optimization of approval procedures, quality and safety management, property management services, and public participation. Different cities have different focuses in their special work policies and measures, with many explorations and innovations.   02   Renovation Status of Old Residential Communities   According to statistics from the Department of Quota of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, there were about 160,000 old residential communities built before 2000 in China, involving over 42 million households. Due to their early construction years, these old communities usually have problems such as poor environmental quality, incomplete building functions, insufficient public activity space, and inadequate supporting infrastructure. The renovation of old residential communities not only improves people's quality of life but also helps build harmonious communities and enhance the positive image of cities, thus becoming an important livelihood measure for the country to improve residents' living conditions and a key project to promote urban development and construction.   Data shows that from 2019 to 2020, a total of 59,000 urban old residential communities were newly started for renovation nationwide, benefiting 10.88 million households. The 2021 Government Work Report proposed to comprehensively promote the renovation of urban old residential communities, with 55,600 such communities newly started for renovation nationwide, benefiting 9.65 million households.   In 2022, China plans to newly start the renovation of 51,000 urban old residential communities, involving 8.4 million households. By the end of July 2022, 44,300 urban old residential communities had started renovation nationwide, benefiting 7.34 million households, accounting for 86.6% of the annual target in terms of the number of communities. Currently, Shandong, Hebei, and Hubei are among the regions with the fastest progress, with all their renovation projects started. Fujian, Tianjin, and Tibet, however, have made slow progress, with start rates of 60.3%, 51.4%, and 35.5% respectively.   In terms of the number of planned newly started renovation projects of urban old residential communities nationwide, Sichuan, Shandong, and Henan rank the top three, with 5,400, 3,889, and 3,787 projects respectively. In terms of renovation quantity and start rate, Sichuan, Hunan, and Henan have great renovation potential and are key regions that lighting enterprises should pay attention to.   03   Opportunities and Prospects of Lighting Renovation   In urban old residential communities, lighting problems are widespread, mainly including: first, incomplete supporting infrastructure, with a lack of lighting equipment (such as street lamps) in certain key areas, posing significant safety hazards; second, some lighting equipment being dilapidated due to age, with severe light decay and dim illumination; third, the use of high-energy-consuming lamps such as sodium lamps and metal halide lamps, resulting in high power consumption; fourth, many lighting devices being blocked by tree branches and leaves, affecting lighting effects.   Therefore, the lighting renovation of urban old residential communities mainly includes the replacement and installation of lighting and emergency lighting in public areas of buildings, as well as the installation and replacement of outdoor public lighting (street lamps) and landscape lighting fixtures. Replacing old lamps with energy-efficient LED lamps will be the focus of the new round of renovation.   What is the size of the lighting renovation market? Take Dingzhou, Hebei as an example. Since 2018, Dingzhou has vigorously promoted the renovation of old residential communities, with a total investment of 170 million yuan, completing the renovation of 112 old communities, benefiting more than 12,000 households, installing 524 street lamps, and replacing 2,974 lighting fixtures in public areas. Based on the average of 26 lamps replaced and 5 street lamps added per community, the renovation of 50,000 communities in 2022 will require 1.3 million lamps and 250,000 street lamps, forming a huge stock market.   It is worth noting that some communities have installed smart lighting equipment, such as sensor lamps, and piloted smart lamp poles for the first time, which not only achieve lighting purposes but also save energy and solve many livelihood problems.   In Changzhou's renovation plan, smart lamp poles are equipped with functions such as free public WIFI, one-key help, mobile phone charging, broadcast release, and manhole cover status detection. Free public WIFI allows residents to access the internet for free outdoors, enhancing life convenience; one-key help directly connects to the community, ensuring timely responses to elderly residents' requests; mobile phone charging enables people to charge their devices at any time when resting, exercising, or engaging in activities in the community; the broadcast release function can conduct community-wide broadcasts based on actual needs such as epidemic prevention, improving information release efficiency and reducing the labor cost of community management; the manhole cover status detection function can monitor the status of manhole covers in real-time, promptly eliminating safety hazards and contributing to the construction of smart communities.   In the renovation plan of urban old residential communities in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, street lamps are equipped with energy-saving LED modules, intelligent control modules, new energy vehicle charging modules, monitoring modules, environmental information monitoring modules, urban public information release modules, and convenient charging interfaces, along with a smart street lamp APP, enabling remote control of street lamps, car charging reservation and online payment, image monitoring and recognition, and environmental information query.   In Hubei Province, to address the problem of weak network coverage in large old residential communities, China Mobile Hubei has innovatively embedded base stations into smart lamp poles. While solving the network coverage issue, the smart lamp poles, with built-in LED and broadcasting functions, have brought convenience to residents' lives and been widely recognized.   In terms of renovation content, China's old residential community renovation is divided into three categories: basic renovation focusing on public areas of communities, which benefits household lighting, emergency lighting, and LED street lamp sectors; improved renovation focusing on environment and supporting facilities, which benefits landscape lighting and energy-saving lighting renovation sectors; and upgraded renovation focusing on community service supply, which benefits smart lighting and smart lamp pole fields.   The renovation of urban old residential communities is both a livelihood project and a development project, with huge economic potential. According to preliminary surveys in various regions, there are currently 170,000 urban old residential communities in need of renovation nationwide, involving hundreds of millions of residents. Previously, Qiu Baoxing, Counselor of the State Council, mentioned that the total investment in old community renovation is initially estimated to reach 4 trillion yuan. If the renovation period is five years, the annual new investment can reach over 800 billion yuan, which will indirectly drive the development of multiple industries such as household renovation, decoration, and home appliance renewal, playing an important role in stabilizing investment growth.