ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has established “Sekkei Community”, a platform for matching architects and structural material manufacturers of construction in the areas of construction and planning, and it has started providing services via the platform.

In Japan, labor shortages, rising costs and other phenomena that are causes for growing concerns in numerous industries are collectively referred to as the "2024 problem." In the construction and planning industry, DX is seen as a vital measure to address the shortage of people to maintain operations. To minimize the impact of the increase in costs, the industry believes that there is a growing need to select structural materials of construction and methods in a building's planning stage to adjust specifications, costs, systems, etc. Selecting the proper structural materials of construction at an early stage is also important in terms of disaster control and resilience.

The latest information about structural materials of construction and methods are published on the established “Sekkei Community”. In developing “Sekkei Community”, we interviewed more than 150 companies in the industry to understand market needs and build the website. Through this platform, ITOCHU provides an environment where architects can directly connect with structural material manufacturers of construction.

“Sekkei Community” enables building architects to access the latest information about structural materials of construction and methods, and comprehensively facilitates activities such as consultations with manufacturers, requests for cooperation in planning and the acquisition of estimates from multiple companies. Manufacturers may be able to learn about projects at an early stage and create sales opportunities by directly connecting with the architects who are their potential clients. The platform is designed for structural materials of construction. Going forward, we will consider expanding the service into many different categories such as design planning, facility planning, energy-saving planning and infrastructure and civil planning.

Through “Sekkei Community”, ITOCHU will continue its commitment to solving social issues such as the streamlining of operations and the reduction of labor in the construction and planning industry, the promotion of DX and the increase of Japan's resilience.