Concreative, a concrete additive manufacturing start-up from European construction company Freyssinet, has established their first 3D printing facility in Dubai.
Khalil Doghri, Middle East India Area Director at Freyssinet, said, “Concreative is the result of a combination of two favorable circumstances: the arrival at maturity of the technology a year ago, and the decision by the UAE to become a major construction market using and promoting 3D printing.”
“Beyond the technology provided by XtreeE, we developed the upstream and downstream services needed to put the architects’ ideas and the engineers’ requirements together and to put the goals of the Emirates into practice.”
Architectural 3D printing in Dubai
In an alliance with Dubai-based engineering firms econstruct and Drawlink, Freyssinet a subsidiary of French concessions and constructions company, VINCI, established Concreative last year to integrate new architectural 3D printing services to the UAE. XtreeE is collaborating with the company with its 6-axis 3D printing arm that is capable of depositing clay and concrete with high precision.
A statement from Concreative explained, “Because of the versatility of the system we are able to explore new complex architectural shapes which were costly to develop with a standard method or even impossible to create.”
“Our solution is to propose a complete integrated service: design, manufacture and installation. This innovation is not only in the 3D printing system but also in our design and manufacture approach. Thanks to our innovative technology we want to merge architects ideas and engineers constraints.”
Advancing Dubai construction industry
Concreative stems from the in-house intrapreneur programme at VINCI’s forward-looking innovation laboratory, Leonard. The company aims to leverage 3D printing to enable cement savings in Dubai of up to 70%. Concreative further states:
“Architects and designers now have the means to design and produce complex concrete architectural and structural elements. This new technology consumes less raw materials, are more reactive, cleaner, quieter and much safer.”
“Our focus will be where the conventional method of construction is not possible such as complex architectural designs and we will see more and more complex buildings such as the Museum of the Future.”
The establishment of the Concreative’s 3D printing facility works in tandem with Dubai’s ambitious mission to implement 3D printing in 25% of new construction over the next six years.
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Featured image shows a 3D printed concrete structure. Photo via Concreative.
