HS2 is set to unlock huge regeneration and development projects across the whole of the UK, whilst other proposals to deliver an expressway between Oxford and Cambridge, the delivery new infrastructure to drive the Northern Powerhouse agenda and many more are also set to drive economic growth across our city regions. These projects, alongside other key pillars such as the industrial strategy, will create thousands of jobs but with those comes the need for available housing.

There’s no hiding the fact that currently the delivery of housing is too slow to meet those needs – which is why the Government and local authorities are focusing on driving and accelerating the creation of new homes. So how can we create more homes, more quickly – and could 3D printing be one of the answers?

This week a family in France were the first to move into a 3D-printed four-bedroom home – and the home itself was built in just 54 hours. Fast forward a few months and the contractors had added in the windows, doors and the roof – all at the cost of £176,000 to build – making it 20% cheaper than an identical construction using traditional solutions – and developers working on the project think this time and cost can even be reduced.

Designed in a studio by a team or leading architects and scientists the home was programmed into a 3D printed – which then printed layers from the floor upwards consisting of two layers of the insulator polyurethane, with space in-between which is then filled with cement to create a thick and insulated wall which is completely durable.

The four-bedroom house was a project realised through a collaborative approach – with the city council, a housing association and the University of Nantes leading the project. Their aim was to see if this method of construction could potentially become more mainstream, and solve the social housing problem in France and further afield – with a vision that the methods of construction could even be used on communal buildings such as sports halls.

Francky Trichet, Nantes Council’s Lead on Technology and Innovation, said: ”For 2,000 years there hasn’t been a change in the paradigm of the construction process and we wanted to sweep this whole construction process away. That’s why I’m saying that we’re at the start of a story. We’ve just written ‘Once upon a time’.”

They’re now looking for the private sector to continue the story and look at 3D-printing as an alternative form of delivery.

Beniot Fouret, who headed up the project at the University of Nantes, said that the cost could reduce by a further 25% in the next few years and by about 40% in 10-15 years times as technology advances and becomes cheaper to use, alongside increased scale as more houses are built in this way.

This style of building has allowed architects to be more creative – with this example highlighting the ability to add a curved wall into the design to protect ancient trees where the property sits – which also helps the home’s air circulation, reduces potential humidity and improves thermal resistance. The home was also built to allow wheelchair access with the ability for everything within the home to be controlled through a smartphone.

Due to there being no waster it was also more environmentally-friendly than traditional construction methods.

The next steps? They’re now working on a project in Paris which will see the delivery of 18 homes using this method, whilst they’re also working on a large commercial building measuring 700 sq m.

It’s another development in the innovative housing sector which is a real focus at the moment for the UK as we look to increase the amount of homes we’re delivering annually.