Construction Begins on 5 3D-Printed Affordable Housing Units in Virginia, USA

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Carter Place I residential project in Henrico County, Virginia, USA, has begun construction of 5 affordable single-family homes. Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity will collaborate with Virginia Tech, Virginia Housing, and other institutions to produce residential walls using mobile concrete 3D printing equipment. The project is located at 1590 Darbytown Road, near Richmond International Airport.

The SIRA RC 20 mobile 3D concrete printer used in the project is manufactured by Tvasta of India and uses a robotic arm and nozzle to print concrete walls layer by layer. The Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech purchased the equipment through a $1.1 million Innovation Demonstration Grant provided by Virginia Housing, and is responsible for technical research, personnel training, and construction applications.

In the fall of 2026, the project team will first print wall components in a warehouse at 3340 Lanvale Ave. in Richmond, then transport the formed components to the housing site for assembly. The project also plans to transport the printer directly to the construction site later in 2026 to test the construction method of on-site printing of concrete walls. A single wall panel can weigh up to approximately 2.5 tons, and during on-site demonstrations, some walls took about 45 minutes to print.

Institutions participating in this construction also include the Virginia Tech Myers-Lawson School of Construction, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Henrico County Affordable Housing Trust Fund, U.S. 3D printing construction company HiveASMBLD, and Williamsburg Builder Consultants. The project will record data on the two construction methods in terms of schedule, labor input, cost, and construction organization.

The mobile printing equipment has previously been used in a housing project in Toano, Virginia. In May 2026, a local Habitat for Humanity home was constructed using 3D-printed exterior walls and prefabricated interior walls. Virginia Housing's overall demonstration program plans to use this equipment to build 10 affordable housing units in Virginia and to test both off-site printing and on-site printing methods across different projects.

As early as 2021, Virginia Housing provided $500,000 in innovation funding to support Virginia Tech in introducing large gantry-style 3D printing equipment and conducting residential construction research; in 2024, it provided another $1.1 million for the purchase of the mobile SIRA RC 20 equipment to expand the scope of residential demonstration and industry training for 3D concrete printing.