3D Printing: An opportunity for the sustainable development of building construction

Traditional construction processes have certain shortcomings, due to the waste generated, the quality, safety, and environmental problems, etc. In this sense, certain technological innovations are presented as an acceptable alternative in a country to improve these construction processes. One of them is 3D concrete printing, which requires a printer that extrudes layers of concrete, supplied through a nozzle, whose trajectory has been previously designed. In that sense, it is necessary to identify the main barriers that could prevent the successful implementation of this technology in a country, to better target state policies and encourage the participation of the private sector. One way to do this is to present the main opportunities offered by this technology in the construction sector. In this research, we started with a literature review that allowed us to identify 6 opportunities and 10 barriers of 3D printing technology for whole houses. Then, a survey was designed to qualify and weigh them through an expert judgment, using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and its simplified version Best Worst (BW) respectively. To validate this procedure, Peru was taken as an example, and 20 professionals from the construction sector with extensive professional experience were interviewed. In this way, it was identified that the main opportunities are greater safety on site, construction quality, and social benefits, while the main barriers to the implementation of full-size 3D printing are the technology under development, the printing material, and the skills required for the management of this new technology.