Im Dialog: Henrik Lund-Nielsen on Construction 3D Printing, Robotics and the Future of Construction

Construction 3D Printing has moved far beyond experimental demonstration projects. Around the world, companies are increasingly exploring how automation, robotics and new design approaches can transform construction. One of the most influential actors in this field is COBOD and today I have the pleasure of speaking with its founder and General Manager, Henrik Lund-Nielsen, whose work has helped shape the global development of construction 3D printing over the past decade.

Henrik, thank you very much for joining BauVolution’s “Im Dialog” series. I would like to frame this conversation not simply as an interview about construction 3D printing, but as a dialogue about the future of construction. While 3D printing is often discussed as a technology, our conversation reveals something much broader: questions of industrialization, automation, sustainability, regulation, trust and the willingness of an industry to rethink established ways of designing and building.

You approach these questions from the perspective of entrepreneurship, technology and global implementation. I explore them through construction research, European innovation projects, standardization and foresight. Together, this creates an opportunity to examine not only the evolution of construction 3D printing, but also the deeper transformation of construction itself.

CK: For readers who may know COBOD but not the person behind it, could you briefly share your professional journey and what ultimately led you to focus on 3D construction printing?

HLN: Let me start with my educational background. Many think that I am an engineer, but I actually have a Ms. In Economics from Denmark and an MBA from the US. For the first 18 years of my career, I was a “hired gun”, meaning I worked for other people. I already got my first CEO position at the age of 27 and then I quickly advanced into bigger and bigger CEO roles ending up at age 35 with my last position as a hired gun being the Group CEO of a company which had 1.000 employees and 14 factories. I had always felt that bigger positions would be better for me, but I learned that bigger positions actually moved me further and further away from doing what I really love doing, being with customers, further develop the business and the company’s offered solutions. Hence, at the age of 38 I decided it was time to start doing my own, smaller companies and I have done that since. First within the mobile internet business, then recycling and lastly with 3D printing, where we saw a huge potential for automating the largest industry in the world, construction, with the help of 3D printing. In essence all companies I have started has been related to new technological developments. I am not good at mastering these myself, but I am good at seeing profitable applications of new technology.

CK: You have worked in several emerging industries before entering construction 3D printing. What attracted you personally to this field and was there a specific moment when you realized it could become more than an experimental niche?

HLN: The scale of the construction industry being the largest industry in the world with a global market has always been a driver me, and the fact that the construction industry had seen no automation similar to what we have witnessed in all other producing industries. When we decided to try to 3D print Europe’s first 3D printed building in 2017, the BOD building in Copenhagen, I realized the tremendous potential the technology had. Sure, we did not master it very well initially, but I was sure we could figure that out and thereby provide a lot of benefits to the users of the technology.

CK: From your experience as an entrepreneur working across emerging technologies, how can we distinguish a real industrial transformation from technological hype?

HLN: Well, underneath the hype there is always a new technology and I find that most often when there is hype there is also technological potential, maybe not as much as the hype would indicate, but significant. So, hype and transformation are two sides of the same coin in my opinion, kind of like smoke and fire. The one cannot exist without the other.

“Hype and transformation are two sides of the same coin.”

CK: In my BauVolution forecast on construction 3D printing until 2035, I argued that the technology will not replace conventional construction as a universal method. Instead, it may become highly relevant wherever scalable, repeatable and reliable construction processes are needed. For many years, construction 3D printing was perceived mainly as a demonstration of technology. In your view, what are the strongest signals that the industry is now entering a phase of real industrial implementation, and do you see its future mainly in scalable, industrialized use cases?

HLN: Yes, for sure. In simple terms to be profitable using the technology is about the volume of concrete that you need to make at one construction site. This is due to that there are quite many one time costs related to a given construction site (architectural drawings, structural engineering solution, permits etc.), so if that cost can only be spread over a small amount of concrete, then this concrete becomes very expensive. Hence, you need to print a lot of concrete on the same site to become profitable either as a function of printing many units or as a function of printing large units.

I will give an example in a Horizon R&D project we have just proven that with the more intelligent design we can give a caisson (under water foundation) we can save 50% of the volume of concrete needed to make it [Editor’s Note: the caissons are part of the EU-funded BEEYONDERS project]. This is because that 3D printing has the unique feature of being able to shape the concrete in precisely that shape that provides the best structural support. For instance, a curved outer wall is far better at withstanding pressure from water, than a straight wall.

Caissons typically measure for instance 60 m in length 20 m in width and 20 m in height, so made by the traditional method more than 3.000 m³ of concrete is needed. That is a lot concrete and would equate to the same amount which would be needed for 150 houses.

Fig. 1: Building caisson with COBOD BODXL (The world’s largest construction robot)

Saving 50% of this equivalent to 1.500 m³, which can justify some pretty high one time cost. In additions in projects where caissons are needed, it is very seldom that only one is needed, it is much normal that 20, 30 or 40 caissons are needed.

So, this is one way to secure the volume needed.

Another possibility as you also point out in your forecast we are now seeing more and more of our customers going from making 1-2 housing units in a project to having projects with 30-40 and 60-80 housing units. This is the way to be profitable, gain competitiveness and take market share. We are happy to report that this is happening for more and more of our costumers, also here in Europe.

“Scale is coming and is the way to use 3D construction profitably.”

CK: One idea that already emerges from your example is that the real value of construction 3D printing may not lie in the printing process itself, but in the possibility of rethinking design, material use and scalability. Looking back at the early years of construction 3D printing, which promises proved realistic and where did the industry clearly overpromise?

HLN: We pride ourselves of never overstating any facts, but yes in the beginning many companies tried launching fake news that printing of a house was done in a day or making the entire house for 4.000 USD. At that time, it was obviously not true, but actually after many years of further development, it might actually become true now at least for the fast execution time.

When we did Europe’s first 3D printed building, The BOD, it took two months to print it, although it was only 50 square meters. When we reprinted a copy 2 years later, it took 28 hours!

Today I am convinced that we could get it down to doing it in a day. This is a function of equipment improvement of mixer and pump capacity, materials and print speed, but also a function of taller layer height. While we printed 2 cm tall layers heights in 2017-2020, today we would print with 5 cm or even taller layers. It speaks for itself, that when you print with taller layers you also execute the projects much faster. I missed mentioning this issue in your BauVolution forecast, as this issue is critical to understand the potential for executing projects much faster.

In your forecast you mentioned ViliaSprint that took 34 days to print. While in itself impressive, it could actually have been done much faster. In the project they used 2cm layer height. Had they used 5 cm layer height and that was technically possible they would have been done with the printing in just 14 days ! This is pretty impressive for a 800 m² building. The sad thing is that they used the 2 cm layer height, because this was what they used when they initially got the building permit, so they could not in the middle of project within their permit change to the much more effective 5 cm layer height.

Doing 800 m² in 14 days would be equal to printing an average of 57 m² per day. At Skovsporet in Denmark where 6 buildings each housing 6 student units, each building was 280 m². The last 280 m² building 3DCP Group printed in just 5 days, equal to 56 m² per day. Havelar, Portugal has just printed a recycling center of 500 m² in 9 days. That equates to 55 m² per day [Editor’s Note: Learn more about further project examples].

So, printing 50-60 m² per day is definitely possible with the correct tall layer height and this will influence not only the speed of execution, but also obviously the cost. Taller layer heights is really a game changer.

“Taller layer heights is really a game changer.”

CK: A recurring topic throughout your examples is that technological progress alone does not automatically lead to adoption. In several cases, organizational structures, permitting procedures and industry practices seem to determine how quickly innovation can scale. During my own research stays at Stanford University, I experienced an innovation culture where experimentation and scaling were closely connected. Construction in Europe, however, often appears more fragmented and cautious in its adoption of new approaches. From your perspective, is the slow transformation of construction mainly a technological challenge or ultimately a cultural and organizational one?

HLN: Or a capital challenge. One thing that positively sets US out from Europe is the access to capital, and with capital comes the ability to scale. Scale your organization and scale the size of the projects undertaken.

However, I think it lies within the nature of construction to be a bit risk averse and slow to adopt changes. Think about it, if you construct something that must last 50 or 100 years you really want to be sure about what you are doing.

Also, I am not sure I would agree that US is more innovative than Europe for our industry. If you look at the projects of PERI, the Grange Close project, ViliaSprint, The Wave data center etc., you will see that the variety of European projects is much higher than in the US, where 90-95% of all 3D printing projects are about 3D printing one story houses of modest size [Editor’s Note: explore construction 3D printing projects worldwide in the BauVolution Innovationsatlas].

CK: Several of your observations suggest that the challenge is no longer proving that construction 3D printing works, but creating the trust required for large-scale adoption. In a recent BauVolution article, I argued that Germany represents a particularly interesting test case for construction 3D printing: technologically advanced, highly regulated and increasingly active in moving from experimental projects toward industrial implementation. How do you see Germany’s role in the international development of construction 3D printing and are projects such as DREIHAUS, the Wave House or recent social housing developments evidence that the industry is moving from experimentation toward industrial implementation?

HLN: Yes, those are clear signs and it is a very good thing. PERI, who is a shareholder of COBOD, has done a tremendous, good job in this respect. I can maybe also say it in a different way. We always make PR about the projects our customers are doing, and PERI’s projects are always among the most published, because they move the industry forward and because there is so much trust, that when the authorities in Germany can accept a given type of structure, then it can be permitted in every other country.

CK: I see in your explanation that Germany’s influence may extend beyond the projects themselves. If approval by German authorities creates confidence that a solution can also be accepted elsewhere, then Germany is not only validating projects, but in some sense validating entire construction approaches.

Germany is often perceived as slower and more cautious than many experimental markets, but also highly systematic and quality-oriented when it comes to approval, testing and technical validation. From your perspective, could this ultimately become a competitive advantage for scaling trusted construction technologies, and where do you see the challenge of balancing rigorous validation with the need for continuous innovation and learning?

HLN: Yes, I do agree that the view on Germany is as you say, and it will become an advantage as soon as Germany have found the right solutions, which then can be repeated over and over again.

The problem of the German way of doing things is that we are still very much an evolving industry where so much is learned in each project leading to desired changes in the way we do things in the next project. Hence, it becomes a setback that even if you got a project permitted say based on one type of concrete, if you change to an even stronger concrete then you need to start the whole permitting process all over with the related loss of time and cost. That’s the downside of the German approach.

I am afraid it is not easy to find the right balance.

CK: The examples from Germany illustrate that industrial adoption depends on much more than technology alone. Validation, trusted partnerships and continuous innovation appear to be equally important. Over more than a decade as an expert for different agencies of the European Commission, I have repeatedly encountered COBOD in research and innovation projects. This suggests that COBOD is not merely developing machines, but actively contributing to the industrial transformation of construction. Is this strong orientation toward research and innovation a conscious part of COBOD’s strategy, and what role do European research projects play in moving construction 3D printing from prototypes toward industrial practice?

HLN: Yes, this is very much the case. Not only are we heavily involved in various EU funded R&D projects, but we also have extensive cooperations with a whole range of universities including the delivery of printers to some of them. These activities help develop and deliver new innovations, like the caisson case I spoke about previously. The construction industry is vast and very complex. Mastering everything yourself is impossible. I usually say, that COBOD is disrupting the world’s largest industry on a global scale, and we need all the help we can get from qualified partners and universities.

CK: What I find particularly interesting in your answer is that innovation alone does not seem to be enough. The picture you describe is one of a highly complex industry in which new technologies must prove themselves across many different partners, projects and real-world conditions before they can achieve broader adoption. This raises the question of what ultimately transforms an innovation into an accepted industrial process. From my perspective, COBOD appears to place a strong emphasis on reliability, validation and long-term industrial applicability rather than pure technological spectacle. How important is reliability in transforming construction 3D printing from an innovation showcase into a trusted industrial process?

HLN: Reliability is everything. If you do not have reliability you can never get execution sped and you cannot deliver a consistent quality. So without reliability, there is no scaling possible.

However, I would not agree with you that COBOD is not focused on the technology, quite on the contrary. You might just not have heard so much about it. We are actually having a strong focus on how we can develop the technology from just being a 3D printing technology that can extrude concrete into making it a multiple functional construction robotics technology capable of doing much more than just printing/extruding concrete. Think about functions like making insulation, plastering, painting etc. Then we can get even more value of the printer/technology.

“Reliability is everything.”

CK: What I find particularly interesting in your answer is that you place reliability at the center of industrial transformation. If reliability is indeed the foundation for scaling, then the next question becomes how this reliability can be demonstrated, validated and trusted beyond individual projects. As someone involved in standardization myself, I increasingly see that new construction technologies only scale when they become certifiable and understandable for regulators, clients, contractors and insurers.

How important are standards, certification and regulation for the future of construction 3D printing and can regulation ultimately become an accelerator rather than a barrier by creating trust and market confidence?

HLN: Yes, I do believe standards are very important and by doing new standards suitable for 3D construction printing (and not copying what was done before 3D construction printing even existed) we can move away from some of the nonsense we are seeing today. With nonsense I mean things like the use of 2 cm layer height in the ViliaSprint project for permitting reasons, when it could have been done with 5 cm and then be made more than twice as fast.

I can give another example. In the Grange Close project HTL [Editor’s Note: HTL = Harcourt Technologies Ltd] used a cavity wall of two walls of 10 cm width each, as they were mimicking the masonry building code (bricks are minimum 10 cm thick). Yet, again this is nonsense as concrete is so much stronger than bricks. In actual fact a 5 cm concrete wall would be far stronger than a 10 cm brick wall. Hence, HTL used twice the amount of materials, just to be able to meet standards set for another time, another process. This is really nonsense also considering the carbon footprint impacts this have.

CK: Interesting in your examples is that the limitations you describe do not seem to originate from the technology itself, but from assumptions and standards inherited from traditional construction methods. In both cases, the underlying logic appears to be based on adapting 3D construction printing to existing rules rather than adapting rules to the characteristics of the new technology. This raises a more fundamental question about how construction 3D printing is perceived and understood by decision-makers. From your perspective, what do regulators and approval authorities still misunderstand most about construction 3D printing today?

HLN: Unfortunately, many, many things. We still have quite a lot that thinks 3D printed layers are separate stacked layers stacked up and not creating a monolithic when when being printed. Therefore, they wrongfully also believe that water might penetrate in through the layers.

To take mystery out of 3D construction printing, we constantly tell people that 3D construction printing is just a tool. It does not dictate how you build, other than the structures will be made layer by layer. So, if you are used to reinforcing your structures in a certain way, that can also be done with 3D printing. It might not be the smartest way of doing it, but it can be done, if so required.

“3D construction printing is just a tool.”

CK: Your remarks suggest that much of the public discussion still focuses on the novelty of 3D printing itself, while practitioners increasingly view it simply as another construction tool. Once the technology is understood in that way, the more relevant question becomes where it can deliver the greatest economic benefit and competitive advantage. In my BauVolution forecasts, I have argued that the real industrial potential of construction 3D printing may not lie in spectacular one-off buildings, but in repeatable typologies, serial housing and standardized construction processes.

Which market segments do you believe are most likely to drive the industrial scaling of construction 3D printing until 2035: social housing, serial residential construction, infrastructure, industrial buildings or entirely different applications?

HLN: Housing has traditionally been what drove the industry, and I believe this will continue to be the case. In Europe it will both be low rise independent houses, but I think we more and more are going to see much more apartment buildings (like ViliaSprint and DREIHAUS) and row houses (like Grange Close project) being made with the technology.

It is a bit unfortunate that low rise housing was the original driver, because housing is not the application where you can realise the biggest advantages in terms of lowering the overall cost of the project.

This is due to that the cost of making the concrete part of a house is only app. 25-35% of the total cost of the house. In more industrial projects like the caissons I mentioned the cost of the reinforced concrete is perhaps 90% of the total cost. Similar for other industrial applications like water tanks (World’s First 3D Printed Large Concrete Tanks), trenches, windmill towers (https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/ge-plans-tallest-ever-wind-turbines-with-print-on-site-200-metre-towers/2-1-827792) etc., but also for warehouses and data centers (The Wave data center) the cost of the reinforced concrete makes up a much higher share of the total cost, say between 50-80%. If we can help save say 20%, it is much more interesting to save the 20% on something which represents 80% of your total cost, instead of saving the 20% on parts which make up 25% of the total cost.

The only way we can influence the cost of making a house more is by developing the type of multifunctional construction robots, which I spoke about previously.

CK: When you speak about multifunctional construction robots is the term “3D printer” already becoming too narrow for what COBOD is actually building, and how close are we to robotic systems that can handle multiple construction tasks beyond printing itself?

HLN: For the time being it is still the correct term to describe what we and our customers are doing, but as I said we are working hard to change that for the economic reasons I explained previously. When we already have set up the printer, it makes perfect sense that the printer can do much more than just extruding concrete. The extra cost of an insulation tool will be minimal compared to the initial cost of the printing system, but with an insulation tool our customers would be able to address much more of the total cost of making buildings.

I would say that we are pretty close to seeing the first systems that can do more than just extrusion of concrete. With TU Braunschweig we have already developed and delivered a printing system, that also can do shotcreting, because the shotcreting is being done by a robotic arm installed on the printer holding the shotcrete gun. That robotic arm might as well do plastering, painting or the like [Editor’s Note: Learn more about the World premiere for COBOD’s Multifunctional Construction Robot made with TU Braunschweig]. We will be working on making such tools in the next 1-2 years.

“I have never believed in autonomous solutions.

I think we will always need to have humans involved.”

CK: Your vision raises a broader question about the limits of automation in such a complex industry. Some technology narratives envision highly autonomous construction sites in the future. Based on your experience, how realistic is that vision? Do you believe the construction site of the future will increasingly resemble a mobile automated factory and could partly autonomous construction become realistic by 2035?

HLN: No, I have never believed in autonomous solutions. I think we will always need to have humans involved. Fewer yes, but we cannot remove all humans from the process. This is due to the complexity of construction. But I do believe we can automate more and more functions, such that the role of the humans will be to supervise rather than to perform physical activities, other than assuring the systems are supplied with enough materials.

CK: Several of your examples suggest that the most significant impact of construction 3D printing may extend beyond automation itself by enabling smarter and more resource-efficient ways of building. This connects directly to what is often called the “Twin Transition”, the convergence of digitalization and sustainability.

In your view, where is the sustainability potential of construction 3D printing truly realistic and how important are real concrete, locally available materials and resource-efficient processes for achieving both economic and ecological scalability?

HLN: Real concrete made from locally available raw materials has been our mantra for years. Both for cost as well as for CO2 reasons. There is no point in printing with special 3D printing mortars, as they are 8-10 times more expensive than concrete and emits much more CO2.

But that is only one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is the intelligent new design and structural engineering solutions which I spoke about previously. I mentioned the caisson case where the use of a completely new design and reinforcement method with steel fiber embedded in the concrete led to savings of respectively 50% and 30% on the concrete and reinforcement volume and 40% lower CO2 footprint.

I can mention another example: water tanks. When water tanks are made in situ with the traditional method of form, what happens is that structural engineers find out how much pressure there will be at the bottom of the tank towards the side walls and then specify the wall thickness. This is because the pressure towards the walls will be highest at the bottom of the tank given that the pressure is a function of how much water is above the point of pressure. Now in traditional construction that wall thickness at the bottom, say 40 cm is repeated all the way up, because in traditional construction varying the wall thickness is virtually impossible. So the 40 cm wall thickness will also be applied in the middle of the tank, where the pressure is 50% less than at the bottom and even at the top where there is hardly no pressure. Now, when our customers do tanks, they also start by making the walls 40 cm thick at the bottom, but as they go up the gradually reduce the wall thickness ending with for instance 20 cm at the top. This way 25-30% of the concrete usage can be reduced and similar for the amount of reinforcement [Editor’s Note: Learn more about the World’s First 3D Printed Large Concrete Tanks].

It is bit mind-blowing to consider that we for decades have made every single concrete water tank (or oil & gas tank) with 30-40% more concrete and reinforcement, than what would be needed with a more clever construction system.

In the present climate crisis, we are convinced that more and more companies will realise that we cannot continue using the wasteful methods of the past, when much smarter and resource efficient solutions exist today.

“We cannot continue using the wasteful methods of the past, when much smarter and resource efficient solutions exist today.”

CK: Several of your examples suggest that the future of construction may depend less on individual technologies and more on the ability to combine intelligent design, resource efficiency, automation and industrial scalability. For me, the most striking observation throughout our conversation is that the greatest breakthroughs often emerge when technology, engineering and process innovation come together rather than from any single innovation alone.

If we meet again in 2035, what do you think will have changed most in construction and where do you believe the greatest breakthrough potential still lies today, in better machines, smarter materials, AI-driven process integration or in fundamentally rethinking the entire construction value chain?

HLN: Rethinking the entire construction value chain is more in line with what I said before. In 2035 we will have seen that

  • the technology became even better and could do more than just concrete extrustion
  • the use of materials have become more efficient due to smarter design and engineering solutions
  • the use of cement in concrete has dropped significantly to lower the carbon footprint
  • AI is more and more controlling the construction process by setting parameters for the equipment

CK: Your outlook suggests that the real challenge is not inventing the next technology, but creating the conditions under which new technologies, materials and processes can work together effectively. If you could change one structural aspect of the construction industry tomorrow in order to accelerate innovation and transformation, what would it be?

HLN: I would like that any architect and structural engineer would automatically start thinking about whether the traditional solutions for the design, engineering solution and construction method is still the best for a given project or 3D printing would be better because 3D printing offers so much more and features which the traditional method is incapable of.

CK: In many ways, that captures a central aspect of the transformation of the construction industry, because real change may depend less on individual technologies than on the willingness to rethink established ways of designing, engineering and building.

With that in mind, let me conclude with a more personal question. Henrik, when people look back at the development of construction 3D printing and automated construction in twenty years, what role do you hope COBOD will have played in that transformation?

HLN: I hope and think that we will have been the global leading factor in making the much needed transformation to realise more economical and sustainable construction. I might not be directly involved all the way with my age in mind, but we already have good people lined up ready to take over after me, so COBOD will get there.

CK: Henrik, thank you very much for this thoughtful exchange. What I found particularly valuable is that our conversation draws a common picture. The future of construction is not simply about faster machines or new technologies, but about rethinking how we design, engineer, build and collaborate. I greatly appreciate your willingness to openly discuss both the opportunities and the challenges that still lie ahead. I am sure our readers will find many insights in your reflections. Thank you for sharing your experience, your vision and your time. I look forward to following COBOD’s journey in the years to come.

Schlagwörter:Construction 3D Printing, COBOD, Baurobotik, Automatisierung im Bauwesen, Digitale Transformation der Bauwirtschaft, Zukunft der Bauwirtschaft, Nachhaltiges Bauen

Diesen Beitrag zitieren:Karl, C. [Christian K. Karl]. (2026). Im Dialog: Henrik Lund-Nielsen on Construction 3D Printing, Robotics and the Future of Construction [Journal-Beitrag]. 17.06.2026.BauVolution, ISSN 2942-9145. online verfügbar

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