Engineering firm Skanska licenses Loughborough technology for 3D concrete printing.
Skanska, a UK-based engineering firm, is looking to utilise concrete 3D printing technology for construction following the signing of a collaboration agreement with Loughborough University.
The deal will see the company utilise under license technology for the construction industry which the institution has been developing since 2008. Much like its plastic and metal counterparts, a concrete 3D printer can produce objects which cannot be produced by conventional means through the laying down of successive layers of concrete by the printer under computer control.
Skanska will now work with the university over the next 18 months to develop a commercial concrete printing robot – a world first. The engineering firm hopes that the agreement will put it into a good position to capitalise on the emerging 3D printing sector with a solid line into construction-specific technologies.
Rob Francis, Skanska’s Director of Innovation and Business Improvement said: “3D concrete printing, when combined with a type of mobile prefabrication centre, has the potential to reduce the time needed to create complex elements of buildings from weeks to hours. We expect to achieve a level of quality and efficiency which has never been seen before in construction.”
