Located in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Lünen, the innovative construction method is being combined with the conditions of public housing subsidies.

According to the UN Habitat, the world needs to build 96,000 new affordable homes every day to house the estimated 3 billion people who will need access to adequate housing by 2030. This challenge is driven by multiple factors including housing costs rising faster than growth in incomes.

A former centre for coal mining in Germany, Lünen is a modest town of less than 100.000 inhabitants. It will nonetheless host the first 3D-printed social housing apartment building in Europe.

Ina Scharrenbach, minister for home affairs, municipal affairs, construction and digitalization of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said: “With the pioneering project in Lünen, we are showing that public housing can be built quickly, modernly and sustainably despite these challenging times. North Rhine-Westphalia is setting standards in construction and continuing to push for more affordable housing.”

The building project is being carried out by PERI 3D Construction a pioneer in 3D construction printing. The project is PERI’s third larger-scale construction project in Germany alone this year using the 3D construction printers of COBOD, as the project comes on top of the data centre and football clubhouse projects started earlier this year.

The apartment building will contain three floors each with two apartment units for a total of six units ranging from 61 m2 (670 SF) and 81m2 (890 SF). The total build area will be 651 m2 (7.150 SF).

Fabian Meyer-Brötz, managing director of PERI 3D Construction GmbH, said: “We are pleased to be able to demonstrate once again how quickly, efficiently and in a resource-saving manner the 3D printer can create living space and what potential is also opening up in the multi-family house segment. We are convinced that the technology is already ready for widespread use on modern construction sites, and especially for social housing projects.”

The first floor and the second floor are built using the 3D concrete printing process. The top floor is being built using a timber hybrid construction method. The foundation, the base and the filigree slabs will be built using conventional construction methods. The facade structure on the first floor and upper floor retains the original printed concrete structure. The top floor will be cladded using façade panels.

Henrik Lund-Nielsen, founder & general manager of COBOD International, commented on the wider adoption of the 3D construction printing method: “This project continues the trend that we have seen the last coupe of years, where the technology has made some remarkable leaps forward, moving away from just being used for small houses on one floor to also being used for larger and larger projects with multiple floors also outside the residential market.

“PERI’s German projects in 2023 including the data centre, football clubhouse and now an apartment building are a testament to this trend.”