Ir. Ronan Collins was invited by the Innovation & Technology Committee of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong to participate in a panel discussion on how the deployment of 3D printing may transform the construction industry. The panel members included Dr Liu King-Lok, Clinical Assistant Professor of Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Harvey Chung, co-founder of Maker Lab and Director of Design & Education at 3D Forge, Jason Cawdell founder of Jumping Monkey and Creative Head at HTI and was moderated by Jeremy Cheng, co-founder of Maker Lab. The panel members presented how 3D printing is transforming healthcare, manufacturing, toy design, architecture, engineering and construction. InteliBuild have experience in the use of 3D Printing of models for building prototypes and scale models. We expect that there will be a growth in the demand and use of these types of models for design reviews and presentations to developers by architects as it becomes quicker and cheaper to 3d print the models. We have also seen contractors, such as Gammon Construction, adopt 3D printing for planning of their works on site and communication of construction sequences to civil engineers and site workers using scale models. In some cases, the contractors have used detailed part models to review steel connection details and E&M pipe assemblies. The use of additive manufacturing for the production of built assets remains a futuristic idea. Examples of laser metal deposition and contour crafting were presented by Ir. Collins. All of the content used in the presentation is referenced below. InteliBuild http://www.intelibuild.com The British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong http://www.britcham.com 3D Printing of Furr High School Model https://youtu.be/zYMtqaSILhE Ero Architects http://goero.com/current/innovation.html#technology Gammon Construction Midfield Concourse, Hong Kong International Airport Tseung Kwan O, Residential Site Formation Tsuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Link, Precast Concrete Viaducts http://www.gammonconstruction.com Laser metal deposition manufacturing (LMD) TWI https://youtu.be/yKnlmfuMSgo A 5 axis laser metal deposition manufacturing method is being developed by TWI. A weld track is formed using metal powder as a filler material which is fed, through a coaxial nozzle, to a melt pool created by a focused high-power laser beam. By traversing both the nozzle and laser, a new material layer develops with precise accuracy and user-defined properties. http://www.merlin-project.eu/ http://www.twi-global.com Loughborough 3D Concrete Printing https://youtu.be/EfbhdZKPHro Concrete Printing Process developed at Loughborough University in the UK is capable of producing building components with a degree of customisation that has not yet been seen. It could create a new era of architecture that is adapted to the environment and fully integrated with engineering function. http://www.buildfreeform.com/

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