The success of a 3D concrete printed housing project in Dubbo this month will help determine if the construction method becomes the norm for delivering more social housing across NSW.
Aboriginal Sustainable Homes (ASH) has been engaged by the state government to work in partnership with Contour3D to build two two-bedroom duplexes on a vacant block of land. The finished project will provide tenants of the Aboriginal Housing Office with homes.
“3D printing produces significantly less waste, and the concrete mix uses eco-friendly, high-recycled materials to produce robust and energy-efficient homes with substantially reduced life cycle maintenance costs,” the NSW government stated.
Construction of the Dubbo project has just started and is expected to take 16 weeks as opposed to 40 with traditional methods.
NSW Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Rose Jackson, said: “The success of this project will help to determine whether this construction method becomes one of the many ways we can deliver more social housing right across the state in a bid to help us tackle the growing crisis.”
In July 2023, we reported on Contour3D’s 3D concrete-printed toilet block in Dubbo along with its plans to build up to 100 holiday cabins in central western NSW.
Image: The 3D printer arrived on-site in Dubbo last week. Source: ABC Western Plains, Ondine Slack-Smith.
About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is the Editor of Concrete in Australia and at the helm of our magazine for 8 years. She was behind the Institute's weekly news bulletins from 2016-2021 and is now writing our focused news items. Desi has been an engineering news and features journalist/editor across all disciplines since 2013 - part of a 30-year career writing for a wide range of industries.