Chinese 3D printed house company WinSun has signed a $1.45bn agreement with a Saudi Arabian contractor that could see 1.5 million affordable homes printed in the Gulf kingdom, which is struggling to cope with a housing shortage.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed 16 March in Beijing in the presence of visiting King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, sees WinSun leasing 100 3D printers to Saudi’s Al Mobty Contracting Co. with a view to the contractor printing 30 million square meters of housing.
WinSun has committed to sending the printers to Saudi Arabia in the next six months, reports 3D printing news site, 3ders.org.
King Salman officiated at the signing of the MoU between WinSun chairman Ma Yi He and Saudi’s Al Mobty Contracting during a four-day visit to China.
WinSun representatives told 3ders.org that its 3D printing technology would cut waste, time and labour, and would use "eco-friendly printing materials".
Interior view of the printed villa WinSun unveiled in 2015 (http://english.gov.cn)
As GCR reported previously, WinSun has led the world in the race to develop mass-produced 3D printed housing, building 10 homes in one day in 2014 by printing components and assembling them, following that with a luxury villa (pictured above) and a five-storey apartment block in 2015.
Property analysts say 400,000 affordable homes are needed to satisfy demand from middle-income households in Saudi Arabia. In 2015 the housing ministry said the oil-rich kingdom would need to build 3.3 million new homes in the next 10 years in order to keep up with rapid population growth.
The Saudi government promised 500,000 new homes after the Arab Spring in 2011. Progress toward that goal has been slow, but last year Saudi officials signed two MoUs, each promising 100,000 homes, with the Chinese government and a consortium from South Korea, respectively. (See below.)
Top image: WinSun unveiled this villa, assembled with printed components, in 2015 (http://english.gov.cn)
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What is the material used by the printer (for the house) ?
Is it thermoform plastic or what ???