Image: Example of a printed concrete element (Concreative)
Vinci has started a new company and factory in Dubai to 3D-print elements for concrete buildings.
The new venture called Concreative, has been launched through Vinci’s civil engineering arm Freyssinet.
Concreative will print structural elements up to 5m long and 3m high such as columns, helical stairs, beams, walls and facade panels, as well as furnishing and architectural elements. It expected to supply the United Arab Emirates with the new products.
The company will use technology patented by French start-up firm XtreeE – a six-axis robotised arm equipped with a print nozzle to print bespoke structural elements with high performance concrete.
Khalil Doghri, Freyssinet’s area director said: “Concreative is the result of a combination of two favourable circumstances: the arrival at maturity of the technology a year ago, and the decision by the United Arab Emirates to become a major construction market using and promoting 3D printing.”
He added: “We applied the global approach that we are used to taking in our specialist civil engineering business activity. 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.”
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