Just outside Ballarat in a town called Winter Valley, a new 3D-printed house is nearing completion. Swinburne University engineers have partnered with Oasis Building Group to deliver the two-bedroom, two-bathroom project, about 121 kilometres north-west of Melbourne’s CBD. Director of Oasis Building Group and Ballarat resident Ash Quiddington said he was “pleased to be able to do this” project in his local area.
“With construction timeframes accelerated by 50 per cent, it means that we can meet the demand for housing using the existing trade workforce and simply upskilling them in this new technology,” Mr Quiddington said.
Beyond shorter construction timeframes, Mr Quiddington said adopting 3D-printing technology had several other possible benefits.
“The wall system we’ve designed is up to 60 per cent more energy-efficient than a standard brick-and-timber home, which means lower energy bills and reduced costs to the client over time,” he said. “Given sufficient time and scale, there will also be a percentage reduction in the overall build price.”
So how does it function? Research fellow at Swinburne University’s School of Engineering and Technology, Hendrik Wijaya, said 3D-printing technology has been used for some time to produce various kinds of materials. Dr Wijaya said the main difference in their work is the scale at which they operate and the material they use.
“Swinburne has been one of the front-runners in making it work with concrete,” Dr Wijaya said. “It’s very durable and has much greater strength than standard concrete.” The structure uses a mix of timber and steel, but only for particular fittings. The walls will be entirely 3D-printed concrete slabs, rather than timber or brickwork.
“The thing is, with timber and bricks, it heavily depends on the skillsets of the builders and the availability of materials,” Dr Wijaya said. If printed consecutively, the entire wall structure could be produced in as little as 23 hours, he said.
Volume builders typically estimate construction times of around four to six months for a 22 square metre, single-level house, comparable in size to the Winter Valley build. With only a 12-week build time, Mr Quiddington said using 3D-printing technology could boost not only efficiency but also longevity.
“This will outlast any timber-framed home or any conventionally built house,” Mr Quiddington said.
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While the construction team says this is the first 3D-printed home in regional Victoria, it is not the first 3D-printed structure. Reality television program The Block 3D-printed a pool house in Gisborne in 2022 and has 3D-printed cabanas for this year’s Daylesford season. There have also been 3D-printed buildings in Melbourne, including a multistorey structure that was being built earlier this year.
Mr Quiddington and Dr Wijaya are both optimistic that adopting 3D-printing technology could potentially tackle both Australia’s housing shortage and construction workforce shortfall.
“We all know that right now we have a shortage of apprentices and trade labour in the industry and we have a shortage of houses,” Mr Quiddington said. “What [this technology] does is help assist existing tradespeople in a way that allows us to build homes faster and make them more economically viable.”
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Mr Quiddington said it is likely more building companies will adopt the technology in the near future.
“I believe we’re on the cusp of this becoming the norm,” Mr Quiddington said. “This home won’t be open to the public just yet, unfortunately, but we will be building Oasis Building Group’s next display home, which we expect to open to the public either by the end of this year or in early 2026,” he said. The Winter Valley project is due to be completed in October.
