According to an article in Construction Week Online, the Danish firm Cobod International is to deliver a Bod 2 printer to the Saudi Arabian builder Elite for Construction & Development Co (ECDC) in Q2 2019.
This machine can produce buildings up to 12 x 27 x 9m, as well as three-storey structures of 300m
2 per floor.
Cobod CEO Henrik Lund-Nielsen said (
www.cobod.com): “We are very proud to receive this order from Saudi Arabia, which again confirms that our Bod 2 3-D construction printer is second to none.
“It is the fastest 3-D construction printer in the world, and its modular design has allowed us to deliver the size that ECDC wanted.”
Saad Al Shathri, general manager of ECDC, said the output of the 3-D printer’s “revolutionising technology” will be used across Saudi Arabia, adding that “Bod 2 will bring costs down significantly compared to the temporary imported printers using foreign-made materials.
“ECDC’s order comes as Saudi Arabia is rapidly adopting technologies such as 3-D printing to deliver millions of homes as planned within its “Vision 2030 economic mandate”.
This month, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Housing approved a deal that will allow local builder Al Kathiri Holding Co to produce (and use) 3-D printed concrete for the authority’s projects.
Bod 2 is three-times faster than the first generation Bod printer, offering an 18m/min print speed.
Moreover, the gantry has been designed so that the system can be used either in situ or for producing fabricated elements off site. As standard, the print layer produced is 2cm high and 5cm wide.