The construction industry should adopt 3D printing tech to cut costs

The construction industry needs to adopt additive construction tech like 3D construction printing, which will help to save money and speed up the build process. The industry is facing difficult challenges around the globe, and it seems things are not going to ease up any time soon. Supply chain issues, rising labour costs, skills shortages and the increasing cost of materials and finance are impacting the viability of many building and construction companies.

Why is 3D printing are no-brainer?

3D printing is now one of the fastest growing areas of advancement in the building and construction industry. Countries across the world are already mandating minimum build requirements for 3D printing for residential and commercial structures. The sector has come such a long way that 3D printed homes are now some of the most desirable and aesthetically pleasing. They cost up to 70% less to build and can be built in under a week.

3D printed homes are not only cheaper and faster to build, they also enable you to change up your design preferences at the click of a mouse. The process is fast, agile and intuitive. It doesn’t matter whether you live in regional NSW or have a block of land in inner Melbourne, you can build a 3D printed home easily thanks to the latest innovations in 3D printing.

Luyten is recognised as the leading 3D printing technology company for the building and construction industry. It designs and manufactures a range of 3D printers and builds homes, industrial buildings and other structures that are building code compliant using the proprietary highly robust eco friendly Luyten Ultimatecrete which is stronger than standard concrete.

Luyten’s printers are being used in North America, South America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe to build high quality low cost homes. In October last year, Luyten launched the largest mobile 3D smart AI powered concrete printer for the building and construction industry.

How is Luyten shaking up things?

Aptly titled, the Platypus X12, to reflect its Aussie design and tech heritage, the printer is being hailed a success story as construction firms worldwide place orders to accelerate build schedules and revolutionise delivery capabilities. Our all-new Luyten Platypus X12 is built with high mobility and accuracy in mind and is big enough to build large scale structures in one go.

It is the most sophisticated mobile 3D concrete printer. In designing the printer, we focused on cutting edge tech and useability to ensure the printer delivered the most elaborate and precise results possible while also providing the most user-friendly experience possible.

Flexible in scale, the printer can transform in size to a 12 x 6 mobile crane in 20 minutes, expanding its capability to print large scale structures. It extends to 12m in width, six metres in height and thanks to its robotic nature takes a few minutes to unfold to complete size.

Despite its size and robotic ability to extend and to any size, it is also very light, yet robust and mobile. The printer is unmatched thanks to its capacity to incorporate acoustic and optical based AI for data driven concrete printing. It also has a patented anti-clogging printer head, which means that the technology can produce state-of-the-art results time after time.

What is the market expertise of Luyten?

Since launching in 2020, Luyten has reached significant milestones including the build of the first ever 3D printed house in the southern hemisphere in Melbourne, Victoria in 2021.

The house, called the ‘Heptapod’, is ANZ building code (AS/NSZ 1170) compliant and was built using Luyten’s eco-friendly Ultimatecrete 3D printable concrete which results in 82.5 MPa compressive strength after 28 days, four times stronger than the 20 MPa residential building code requires. The elements were printed in two days and assembled on day three.

Printed elements were ready to handle and be moved within only five hours of being printed. This is the great thing about our special concrete mix, it cures quickly and delivers results that supersede what is currently available at four times less cost. The build cost was 70% less in comparison to traditional methods. Luyten also signed an MOU with the University of NSW to develop 3D printing capabilities for base camps on the moon and other planets.

In August 2022 Luyten printed the ‘Warle Akweke’, the first ever 3D printed house in situ using the largest 3D concrete printer in Australia and the southern hemisphere in an uncontrolled environment (outdoors conditions). This is the first 3D printed indigenous housing project.  In addition, Luyten has just signed a new partnership with RMIT to provide a 3D concrete printer for the Centre for Innovation Structures and Materials (CISM). 

Luyten is focused on bridging the technological gap in large-scale and manufacturing industries through the introduction of robust construction automation tech like cutting-edge 3D printing and additive tech. The company designs and manufactures custom large-scale three-dimensional construction printers for domestic and commercial construction.

Since launching, Luyten’s mission has been to make construction easier and more sustainable across a broad range of industries by reducing the time and cost to build, the amount of construction waste generated, and the impact of build activities on the surrounding environment. Luyten’s cutting-edge 3D printing and additive technologies have become a worldwide success story as companies across the globe scramble to purchase its printers.

Luyten transforms projects that would take months or years and finishes them within a few days. The 3D concrete printing innovative tech reduces 60% of construction waste, 70% of production time, and 80% of labour costs when comparing hands-on construction projects.

The tech is proven to increase construction site efficiency with 60% costs savings, 300 to 500 times shorter execution times, and an 80% total reduction in monetary expenses without formwork in concrete construction. The world has never seen capabilities like these.

When forming Luyten, we were cognisant of the construction industry’s carbon footprint, and determined to create construction solutions for generations to come. Our unmatched tech employs up to 40% less CO2 emissions through mixes that reduce use of cement, and the robotic systems reduce construction site and logistics carbon dioxide footprints by 50-70%.