Aiming Higher: Australian Innovator Leads Race to Scale 3D Printing

The mobile tower crane—invented by master engineer Hans Liebherr in 1949—helped rebuild Europe after World War II. In the decades since, however, few innovations have fundamentally changed the way buildings are constructed. That appears to be about to change. As examples across the world have shown, 3D printing is adaptable to all environments, from schools in sub-Saharan Africa to Europe’s biggest 3D printed building—a data centre—completed in Heidelberg, Germany. So far it has been relatively lowscale. The tallest 3D concrete-printed building to date is understood to be Switzerland’s Tor Alva, a 30m structure equivalent to about 10 storeys. ▲ Switzerland’s Tor Alva at 30m is thought to be the world’s tallest 3D-printed concrete building to date. Melbourne-based Luyten is out to change that with its next-generation 3D printing tower crane. The Ascend Series A27 Printer—coming in at $1.2 million—enables construction at heights of up to 100m and offers a working radius of up to 45 metres. Luyten chief executive Ahmed Mahil has a background in mechatronics, aerospace and mechanical engineering. “The concept of leverage the pharaohs used to build the pyramids was the same principle that Mr Liebherr brought into the mobile crane. We have failed to find a better system or a better principle—but there is genius in simplicity,” Mahil says. ▲ Luyten’s 3D printing tower crane is considered one of the first in the world. “We’ve seen many folks trying to repurpose the wrong, or not the most efficient, robots into construction. “We decided to design robots specific to construction, so that we can achieve adoption at a high rate, because sometimes even though it’s a nice technology, if it’s not the right fit.” Construction-specific robotics The Ascend printer crane can be installed and commissioned in two days, according to Luyten, and print up to 33 storeys. It sounds fantastical, but Luyten has already cut its teeth on smaller projects with its Platypus series of printers. Luyten developed the first 3D printed First Nations home with the Aboriginal Housing Corporation’s Ilpeye Ilpeye in the Northern Territory in 2022, and followed that with Australia’s first 3D printed multi-storey house in Melbourne’s Wyndham in 2025. It was completed in five weeks. ▲ Luyten completed Australia’s first 3D printed multi-storey house last year. the build took five weeks. The Luyten team, including chief scientific officer Dr Godfrey Keung and chief technology officer Dr Michael Stanley, is backed by Platypus series sales as well as investors and government grants. That investment and expertise has set Luyten up to progress its capabilities beyond lowrise buildings. “Combining a crane with modern day technology, including fluid dynamics simulations, means we can quickly verify results,” Mahil says. “That’s our biggest asset in this day and age—I don’t have to go out and build 100 cranes and see which one falls at certain wind speeds,” Mahil says. 3D concrete printing not an opponent While 3D printing is turning science fiction into science fact, there are major challenges to more widespread adoption. “There is a level of misunderstanding out there from folks who spend a lot of money on certain systems that didn’t pan out,” Mahil says. “Every improvement helps somehow. They shouldn’t see additive construction, which is 3D printing, as an opponent—in fact, if anything, it’s complementary to them.” Awareness and understanding are holding the industry back from adoption, although this may be changing. “It’s a generational issue—many folks cannot actually imagine or fathom it could work.” And the static and unchanging way construction is financed isn’t helping, Mahil says. “Despite how many pilots and projects have been done, they still don’t seem to see it as something feasible, it is a bizarre psychological effect.” ▲ Lowrise 3D concrete printing proved its worth in projects across the world. In Australia though, other issues—from bureaucracy, cost and labour to industrial relations considerations—have made it difficult to properly invest in new methods of construction. “But as a country, we cannot go ahead if one of the most critical pipelines of our advancement is still based on the workmanship of one group or another. That is unsustainable and it’s not repeatable,” Mahil says. Luyten has managed to deploy printers from California to Northumberland and beyond, and has a presence in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as work in the pipeline for Europe. “But in Australia, frankly, we’re stuck to our own prototypes.” Mahil acknowledges that no single robotic platform can optimally serve every application, which can make investing in robotics prohibitive in the short-term. And national testing standards are proving, while not insurmountable, a “significant milestone”. Developing a 3D printing crane While 3D printing has a way to go before becoming standard building practice, these projects are a step in the right direction. The Ascend tower crane marks a “definitive paradigm shift” Mahil says, taking 3D concrete printing past the lowrise limitations of traditional gantry frameworks and opening it up to other sectors and heights. “There needs to be a balance, an alternative where we can have a more skilled and a more responsible labour force, where safety courses don’t cost billions of dollars and all documentation is in the software,” Mahil says. The Ascend Series A27 printer is open for early reservations through to October 2026, which gives developers, contractors, government agencies and infrastructure providers priority access to its first production allocation. “We believe that every builder can upskill and have access to this technology, and that’s the way Australia can teach the rest of the world how to do this,” Mahil says. The technology means that a builder who can do 10 houses can do 50 or 100 with the same crew, reducing their dependence on unsustainable supply chains, he says. “We can’t afford to keep doing things the same way we’re doing it right now.”

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Clare Burnett
Wed 05 Aug 26

Aiming Higher: Australian Innovator Leads Race to Scale 3D Printing

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