- The 65 m2 two story building was printed with real concrete and integral reinforcement.
- L&T Construction developed the 3D printable concrete in house.
- The new building is fully compliant with the Indian building Codes.
- Founder & General Manager of COBOD, Henrik Lund-Nielsen, recognized as one of the 10 most influential people in the 3D printing industry in 2020.
COBOD, which in 2020 made a long series of remarkable announcements, including the 3D printing of Europe’s first 2 story (link) and 3 story (link) 3D printed buildings, and the first 3D printed buildings in Africa (link) are at it again. 2021 has barely seen the light before COBOD makes another couple of remarkable announcements: First, the 3D printing with real concrete of the first two story building in India made by L&T Construction. Secondly, the recognition of COBOD’s founder and General Manager, Henrik Lund-Nielsen, as one of the 10 most influential people in the 3D printing industry in 2020.
L&T Construction is the construction arm of the 21$ billion technology, engineering & construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro. It is India’s largest construction company and ranked among the world’s top 30 contractors. L&T construction has recently 3D Printed India’s first two story building (G+1) of 65 m2, using 3D printable concrete mix developed by their inhouse team, based on locally available raw materials and methods for integrating reinforcement with the 3D printed concrete in an open to sky environment. The 3D printing was successfully completed by using a printer supplied by COBOD and with the support of COBOD. The new two story building is located close to Chennai and is the second building L&T has made with the COBOD printer, the first being a one floor 22 m2 building with a bedroom, hall and kitchen.
M. V. Satish, L&T director & senior executive vice president (buildings) said: “3D concrete printing is one of the technology disruptors with the potential to radically redefine construction methodologies and I am extremely happy that by demonstrating our growing expertise in 3D printing, we are well positioned to push the boundaries of automated robotic construction.”
Until now most 3D printed buildings have been made with ready mix mortars, except for the BOD building, Europe’s first 3D printed building made by COBOD in 2017, where real concrete was also printed. Ready mix mortars have a max particle size of 4mm and are generally much more expensive than concrete and less strong due to the absence of coarser particles. In addition, in most countries the use of mortars does not live up to the building code. Thus, the printing made by L&T marks an important new milestone, where a conventional type real concrete has been printed by a conventional construction company now having adopted the 3D printing technology, believed to be the future of construction.
Henrik Lund-Nielsen, Founder and General Manager of COBOD, commented:
“L&T Construction’s project marks a huge step forward for our industry, on a global scale. Not only is the project showing that more and more conventional construction companies are adapting 3D printing, but the 3D printing of a real concrete made by L&T themselves is significant, as this helps to drive down the cost even further. It is really impressive how L&T developed the 3D printable concrete and applied integral horizontal and vertical reinforcement in the building.”
COBOD is also proud to announce that a leading 3D printing magazine (link) has chosen COBOD Founder & General Manager, Henrik Lund-Nielsen, for their ranking of the 10 most influential persons in 2020 in the 3D printing industry.Jens Berthol Hansen, CFO of COBOD said: “We believe that this recognition of our Founder is also a recognition of our 35 employees and their work. We are immensely proud to be on the list of the 10 most influential. A list that also includes the head of 3D printing of BMW and the CEO of EOS, one of the giants in the 3D printing industry with several hundred million Euros in annual sales.
