L&T Construction Prints first 3D Building in India

21 January 2021: L&T Construction, the construction Larsen & Toubro, has 3D printed a building with reinforcement for the first time in India. With the country pursuing the objective of creating 60 million houses under the Housing for All by 2022 programme, this achievement will certainly give a huge fillip to the mass housing segment.

“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,” said M. V. Satish, Sr. Executive Vice President (Buildings).

The 3D printed building, which has a built up area of 7,00 sq. feet and is located at L&T Construction’s Kanchipuram facility, has been built with a special, in-house developed concrete mix using indigenously available regular construction materials. The building was printed with both vertical reinforcement bars and horizontal distributors using welded mesh, that satisfy provisions in the Indian Codes and optimise the cost of construction. Barring 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.

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, metal alloys etc. 3D printing with concrete is still largely work in progress across the globe.