The BOD building in Copenhagen, Europe’s first 3D printed building. (Architect Ana Goidea, MAA)
In a refreshing change of pace from most construction 3D printing, Denmark’s 3D Printhuset, which made a name for itself with a three year, government-funded research project into the state of 3D construction printing, takes a more realistic approach to large-scale 3D printing. This enables the company to deliver quality results, such as the Building On Demand (BOD), the first 3D printed building in Europe that met the necessary building codes.
When demand started to increase for construction 3D printers, like the company’s BOD2 with a print speed of 1 meter per second, 3D Printhuset won the first ever EU tender for 3D construction printers. This led to a major decision: create a new company just for construction 3D printing.
COBOD International, which stands for Construction Building On Demand, opened its doors a little over a month ago, and is now responsible for the manufacture and sale of 3D Printhuset’s BOD2. This week, PERI Group in Germany, which is one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of formwork and scaffolding systems in the world, announced that it had acquired a significant minority stake in COBOD International.
“We have been closely following the development of 3D printing in the construction industry. With the current generation of 3D printer of COBOD, this technology is now definitely ready for the market. We are convinced that 3D printing will become considerably more important in the coming years in certain segments of our industry, especially in residential construction,” said Leonhard Braig, a member of the Group Management of the PERI Group. “Together with COBOD, we now want to bring this technology to a breakthrough on a broad basis. Going forward, we are very pleased to be able to offer the best solution to our customers, whether manual or automatic, in cooperation with COBOD.”
This investment by PERI is obviously a major endorsement for COBOD’s 3D construction printing, and is just the latest in a group of other investments made by several multinational companies in the conventional construction industry since 2017 into construction 3D printing. This obviously shows that the technology will continue to play an important role in future construction activities.
“We are very proud that PERI decided to invest in us. This will really strengthen our company going forward,” said Henrik Lund-Nielsen, the CEO of COBOD International. “PERI has followed 3D construction printing intensively for several years. We are therefore extremely proud and pleased that they ended up concluding that we were the best company to invest in. PERI is globally the leading supplier of formwork for the construction industry and we are the leading supplier of equipment for automatic/3D printing of concrete. Together we represent the best of the existing technology and the best of the new.”
As a result of this investment, COBOD’s 3D construction printers will be made available to all of PERI’s global customers.
Signing the investment agreement. L-R: Leonhard Braig, member of the Group Management of the PERI Group; Christian Schwörer, Chairman of the board of the PERI Group; and Henrik Lund-Nielsen, CEO, COBOD International.
“Not only is this significant investment from PERI showing the potential of the 3D construction printing technology in general, but it also emphasizes the leading role our company has taken in a relatively short period of time,” said Lund-Nielsen. “We look very much forward to working with PERI, the know-how, competence and resources they have and together move this exciting technology even further to the benefit of our customers.”
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