L&T Construction prints 3D ground-plus-one building in India

Larsen & Toubro Construction on Thursday said it has successfully 3D printed a ground plus one building, claiming it to be the first in India.

The company has 3D printed the building of 700 square feet built-up area at its Kanchipuram facility with an in-house developed concrete mix, using indigenously available regular construction materials.

"L&T Construction, the construction arm of the $21 billion technology, engineering & construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, announced having successfully 3D printed a G+1 (Ground plus one) Building with reinforcement for the first time in India," the company said in a statement.

With the country aggressively pursuing the objective of creating 60 million houses under the Housing for All by 2022 programme, this achievement will certainly give a huge fillip for the mass housing segment, it added.

Technology disruptor

“3D concrete printing is one of the technology disruptors with the potential to radically redefine construction methodologies, and we are well-positioned to push the boundaries of automated robotic construction," said M V Satish, Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Buildings), Larsen & Toubro.

It will not only accelerate the pace of construction but also significantly improve build quality, he added.

The building was printed with both vertical reinforcement bar and horizontal distributors, using a welded mesh that satisfies provisions in the Indian codes and optimises the cost of construction.

Except for the horizontal slab members, the entire building structure was 3D printed ''Cast in Situ'' at the job site in an ''open to sky'' environment within 106 printing hours, using a fully automated 3D printer, the statement said.

3D printing is a process, in which the material is printed under computer control to build a 3-dimensional product, typically layer by layer. It is predominantly used in manufacturing industries to print rapid prototypes, complex shapes and small batch production using special polymers and metal alloys.

3D printing with concrete is still largely work in progress across the globe.

Earlier in November 2019, the team had 3D printed 240 square feet 1 BHK, in line with the typical EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) building layout to explore the feasibility of this innovative technology.

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