Abstract: A multi-storey building construction utilizing prefabricated metal panels of tubular construction which can be erected at the job site by unskilled labor and adapted to support vertically spaced-apart floors, whereby the plurality of floors are separated by parallel rows of walls, each wall comprising the tubular metal panels. Each row of walls is in vertical alignment but not in direct contact with corresponding rows of walls situated on vertically adjacent floors, and each vertically adjacent row is interconnected by high-tensile strength threaded fasteners rigidly interconnecting the upper and lower chord of each panel to an adjacent chord of a vertically adjacent panel. The rows of vertically interconnected prefabricated metal panels provide effective continuous lightweight shear walls extending from the foundation of the building to the roof. The shear walls support loads imposed on the building and provide stiffness to the building to resist natural forces which otherwise tend to overturn the building.