CHALLENGING THE CONSTRUCTION LANDSCAPE

A survey by world leader in 3D construction printing solutions, COBOD International, shows that in 2022 the business dominated the market, being responsible for 56% of the world’s printed buildings (of which there were 129).

COBOD’s primary solution to the market is the BOD2 3D construction printer, which uses unprecedented technology to print buildings in a range of shapes and sizes, using a wide range of materials, and of speeds of up to 1000 mm/s, while most customers print with 250 mm/s.

Since its last feature in Business Enquirer, the business has expanded both its geographically footprint and its expertise, and in 2022 saw its revenue grow by 40%. COBOD CEO, Henrik Lund-Nielsen spoke with Business Enquirer about the developments.

Enhancing Its Global Footprint

COBOD is on a mission to disrupt the traditional construction industry, by constantly improving the printing speed of its products, improving efficiency, and reducing labour needs and material cost.

Since being established in 2017, COBOD has worked with major industry players. Having built strong relationships with these, several have entered into shareholder agreements with the business.

With GE Renewables, Peri, and CEMEX already on board, the most recent business to invest into COBOD International is Holcim, the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions.

Whilst its strategic partners collectively own 41% of the business, COBOD (Holdings) remains the main shareholder with 59%.

“Holcim is already a very important partner to us and their focus on making cities greener, build smarter infrastructure, and improve living standards is well aligned with our mission at COBOD,” shared Henrik, “With Holcim on board COBOD now covers both distribution, applications, and materials in 3D construction printing and together we will be able to shape the future of 3D printing in construction”.

Alongside its international growth via its shareholders, COBOD has also established strategic regional competency centres to support its international customers.

COBOD’s head office in Denmark is well placed to support its European clients. Meanwhile, in 2021, the business established subsidiaries in Miami, USA (COBOD North America Inc.) to better serve its North and Latin American customers, and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (COBOD Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd.) to support clients in Asia Pacific.

Now, COBOD is establishing a competency centre in Dubai, UAE to closely support its Middle East and Africa customers.

“Creating a global footprint of competency centres means that we can react quicker to clients needs, with a more local understanding,” explained Henrik.

Setting Records: Tallest, Largest, Fastest 3D printed buildings

Recently, COBOD have been able to stake claim to three milestones - being part of the suppliers responsible for the tallest printed building, the largest printed building, and the fastest printed building.

COBOD supplied another BOD2 to Printed Farms, who used it to print a 10,104 square foot luxury horse barn in Wellington, Southern Florida. The building, which has been constructed to withstand extreme local weather conditions including hurricanes and tropical storms, is 50% larger than the previous record holder.

“The versatility and benefits of 3D printing technology has been demonstrated clearly on this project. Through the structure’s 3D-printed walls a cavity and air gap has been created, which provides natural cooling to the building,” said Henrik.

In November 2022, Dar Al Arkan, a real estate development company located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia revealed their first

Europe’s first 3d printed building, Denmark, Copenhagen bases for wind turbines project: a 3-story 3D printed villa. With a total height of 9.9 metres, the building has taken the title of tallest on-site 3D printed building in the world.

The building is situated within a new development project of 12 million m2 of land, which is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, and was printed with COBOD’s BOD2.

Having completed the build of three buildings in just eight days, GUtech in cooperation with COBOD has taken the moniker of fastest 3D printed buildings.

Together, the first 3D printed coffee shop in the world, a public restroom and a Fisherman’s house was 3D printed in respectively 22, 13 and 19 hours with the total duration including movements of the printer was eight days.

In total, barely US$3,600 was used for the concrete for the three buildings. All buildings have load bearing walls with no columns, roof slabs and 3D printed parapets.

“All the 3D printed buildings were made in cooperation with Teejan, as a general contractor. The buildings were 3D printed with locally available raw materials and the Dfab solution developed by COBOD and CEMEX, which makes it possible to 3D print concrete with 99% locally sourced materials at a very low cost,” explained Henrik.

Most recently, COBOD has also supported 14Trees to print 10 buildings on one site in 10 weeks in Kenya.

The business has also supported the rebuild of Ukraine, 3D printing a school.

Venturing Into New Markets

According to the World Economic Forum the housing deficit will be 1.6 billion in 2025. COBOD and its partners are on a mission to tackle this by building affordable housing.

Whilst COBOD has spearheaded the roll out of 3D printed construction in the housing market, its progress is heavily influenced by economic development.

“The need for affordable housing is there, but we are seeing the housing crisis worsening, and the financing is currently an issue due to the high interest rates,” shared Henrik, “new houses being built in the US, for example, has dropped by a third in the last year”.

As such, COBOD has started to expand into other areas to help benefit the future of the planet and its people.

With the right processing, biogas made from manure can be upgraded to replace mined natural gas and used as a fuel for electricity production, ground transportation, and commercial and residential buildings, and therefore can form part of the wider energy solution.

Additionally, biogas helps to mitigate methane emissions that would have otherwise escaped from the manure. Using methane as a fuel dramatically reduces the climate impact of farming and manure by converting the manure into biogas and further to methane. This emits CO2 when used, and is up to 34 times less potent as a greenhouse gas1

COBOD has started to utilise its expertise to 3D print biogas tanks, which will play a vital role in regions such as Europe, where there is a target reduce the dependency of Russian gas and replace at least 30% of fossil fuels by biofuel.

Additionally, COBOD’s solutions are being used to 3D print water tanks and water treatment tanks across the globe.