Dar Al Arkan has marked a regional first with the introduction of the first 3D Construction Printing (3DCP) technology that will accelerate the speed of construction while enhancing safety and reducing wastage and errors.

Launched in collaboration with the Construction of Buildings on Demand (COBOD), Dar Al Arkan is leading the transition of the industry toward advanced and sustainable building practices, and complementing the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 to support economic diversification and digitisation.

Unlike traditional home-building methods, 3DCP cuts the construction time by more than half, is more flexible and requires less manpower since it takes only three workers to build one house. This, in turn, also contributes to decreased Lost Time Injury, creating a safer workplace. Additionally, less concrete is needed to complete a building making the technology more sustainable and a viable solution for a low-carbon construction industry of the future. For consumers, the combination of these advantages ensures lower costs and more affordability compared to traditional construction.

As 3DCP increases the accuracy of construction, there will be less repairs and rework too, helping save long-term costs and adding to the value of the property. The technology is also very important in insulation and reduces the cost of electricity bills. A combination of reduced waste of construction materials, less need for repair or rework and low on-site LTI incidents will enable highly cost-efficient project management than traditional construction.

The first 3D construction printed house will be ready by Q4 2021, and will be located in the Shams Ar Riyadh project.

Ziad El Chaar, Vice Chairman, Dar Al Arkan Properties, said: “Our goal is to develop the Kingdom’s real estate sector by integrating the latest trends and technologies, drawn from global best practices to enhance our industry locally and deliver on the objectives of Vision 2030 at many levels. The introduction of 3D construction printing will revolutionise our approach to construction and enable us to focus on greater flexibility of design, strengthen productivity and achieve higher cost efficiency. This will raise the industry standards, achieve excellence and position the Kingdom as a leader in this sector, while making us highly competitive in 3DCP technology.”

Capable of printing three-story large scale residential units, 3DCP is based on the Gantry System, which consists of an agile large scale frame structure that supports the printhead, along an X/Y axis. The printhead can move in various directions to lay a special strong and sustainable concrete formula in a specific pattern based on a predetermined digital design of a home or a building directly on site.

of different sizes, further making it extremely effective and efficient building method for the construction sector.

The technology will revolutionise how customers buy their homes in the near future given that very soon they will be able to select from various digital building designs and simply authorise the printing of their home with a click of a button.