Dive Brief:

• A Research and Markets study found that the 3-D-printed concrete market has the potential to be worth $56.4 million by 2021, 3DPrint.com reported.
• The study is broken down into product type, concrete type, software, end-use and regions. It identified the Asia Pacific region — China in particular — as the biggest adopter of 3-D-printed concrete technology in the future due to demand and "openness" to technology.
• Research and Markets also found that the capital investment and the research and development required to enable widespread use of 3-D-printed concrete are "obvious obstacles."

Dive Insight:

The base assumption behind the study's conclusion that the 3-D-printed concrete industry could generate more than $56 million is that, as construction around the world increases, concrete will provide the biggest opportunity for the adoption of 3-D technology. The study also identified the most likely companies to lead the market, including global construction giants like Balfour Beatty and Skanska. 

3-D printing technology in construction has continued to pick up steam, most likely because projects are coming online that have made the technology finally resonate with the industry at large. Last month, Dubai unveiled the world's first 3-D-printed office building as part of The Dubai Future Agenda, which sets the goal of 3-D printing 25% of all city buildings by 2030. The project is the first fully operational 3-D-printed office in the world, and construction, with reinforced concrete, glass-fiber-reinforced gypsum and fiber-reinforced plastic, took only 17 days.

Another recent example of the crossing over of 3-D printing from the theoretical to real-world application was Branch Technology's announcement that it will 3-D print a single-family home designed by architecture firm WATG Chicago as part of a Branch-sponsored competition. The contest aimed to highlight the new freeform 3–D printing technology, called cellular fabrication or C-Fab, developed by Branch.