34 days, 12 homes, 3 workers: 3D printing arrives in housing

Twelve homes in 34 days with three workers: the 3D printing Europe is watching and Spain ignores

Can you build an apartment block in just over a month with only three workers? In France, they have already done it. The social housing company Plurial Novilia, a subsidiary of the Action Logement group, has completed ViliaSprint: 12 homes across 800 square metres printed in 3D concrete. It is the largest building in Europe constructed with this technology, and the construction timeline —34 days for the structure, partition walls and enclosures— makes traditional building schedules look ridiculous.

The fine print of printed concrete

To be precise: what was printed is the skeleton. The foundations were laid beforehand, and plumbing, electricity, joinery, climate control and finishes still need to be installed. Even so, the savings in labour and time are staggering. While in Spain a similar project would take months of structural work alone, here three workers and a printer have done the job of a dozen bricklayers. The obvious question hanging in the air: why isn't this technology landing in Spain?

The Spanish wall: regulation, vested interests and the bubble

The answer, according to the analysis circulating among critics of the current model, has three layers. The first: the hyper-regulation of land and construction, which turns any innovation into a bureaucratic labyrinth. The second: the State's interest in keeping housing prices artificially high —more taxes, more credit, more dependence on property as a cushion for family savings. The third: political short-termism. A typical Spanish politician, faced with this news, doesn't ask about materials or timelines; they ask what's in it for them.

Some suspect the technology is of interest, but for another purpose: building entire neighbourhoods of housing for migrants in record time. Others believe it will never arrive because it would blow up the traditional property development business and the speculative bubble. The data is stubborn: with three workers and 34 days, Spain's housing problem has a technical solution. What's missing is the will.

A final irony

In France, 3D-printed social housing is already a reality. Here, meanwhile, we're still waiting for someone to ask what's in it for them. Printed concrete doesn't cross the Pyrenees: it crashes into the brick wall of the BOE (Spain's Official State Gazette).