Dive Brief:
- The International Code Council is developing a new set of guidelines that will apply to what it calls 3D Automated Construction Technology for 3D Concrete Walls, according to the standards board.
- The standard will address requirements for 3D automated construction technology and 3D concrete used to build interior and exterior 3D concrete walls. It covers components built with or without structural steel reinforcing, used as bearing walls, non-load bearing walls and shear walls in one-story or multi-story structures, according to the organization.
- The council has been working on these standards since October 2023 and most recently met on Oct. 11 to approve its public comment draft. The ICC will hold its next meeting Friday, Feb. 14, where members of the evaluation committee will discuss public comments on that proposal.
Dive Insight:
Historically, 3D printing has failed to take off in commercial construction due to what Patti Harburg-Petrich, then a principal in the Los Angeles office of U.K.-based engineering firm Buro Happold, said in 2023 was the result of lagging code adoption.
“The issue is that it takes a really long time for new technologies and building innovations to get incorporated into the building code,” Harburg-Petrich said. “That’s for good reason: safety is the highest priority, so the building code is inherently conservative. But that also makes it a long, time-consuming, expensive process to get new technology incorporated into the code.”
However, contractors continue to experiment with the building method. FMGI, a general contractor out of Woodstock, Georgia, built a 3D-printed addition on WalMart’s Athens, Tennessee, location in partnership with Greeley, Colorado-based Alquist 3D. Work on a second project between the pair — a 5,000-square foot addition to a Walmart Supercenter in Huntsville, Alabama — will start this month, according to FMGI’s website.
The ICC already has measures in place for 3D printing on the residential side of construction, which includes standards for tiny houses and for the general residential code.
