Flood-ravaged Merritt, B.C., hopes to build 3D-printed homes as part of recovery efforts
CTV
It's been four months since hundreds of Merritt, B.C., residents were forced out of their homes due to catastrophic flooding, and now the city has an innovative plan to house some of them.
It's been four months since hundreds of Merritt, B.C., residents were forced out of their homes due to catastrophic flooding, and now the city has an innovative plan to house some of them.
Greg Solecki, the city's recovery operations manager, said they are turning to robotic technology to help them rebuild quickly and efficiently.
"So it was almost a joke in our emergency operations center that has become a pretty viable reality now," he said.
It didn’t seem plausible that homes could be built using a 3D printer, but once they started to research it, Solecki said, they realized it's already being done.
"It's really exciting and relieving because our main priority is to get Merrittonians back home and back into some houses, which of course they're not able to do right now, so the 3D printing option is incredible," he said.
The city is teaming up with the University of British Columbia to purchase a $1.5 million printer from Twente Additive Manufacturing, which specializes in architectural 3D printing and has a branch in Nelson, B.C.
Ian Comishin, president of Twente, said his company uses robotic technology to extrude mortar or concrete into layers that build on top of one another, creating the 3D structure.
