India’s first 3D-printed post office inaugurated in Bengaluru

Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw has dedicated India’s first 3D-printed post office to the nation. The new post office is located in Bengaluru’s Cambridge Layout. 

The post office was virtually inaugurated by the Union minister from the General Post Office building. It was completed in just 43 days – two days ahead of its deadline. Its construction was carried out by Larsen & Toubro Limited with technological support from IIT Madras under the guidance of Professor Manu Santhanam, Building Technology and Construction Management Division, Department of Civil Engineering. 

“Bengaluru always presents a new picture of India. The new picture that you saw today in terms of this 3D-printed post office building, that’s the spirit of India today. That’s the spirit with which our country is progressing today,” minister Vaishnaw said. 

The post office covers a built-up area of 1,021 sq ft. Its construction was carried out using 3D concrete printing technology which is a fully automated building construction technology wherein a robotic printer deposits the concrete layer by layer as per the approved design, and special grade concrete – which hardens quickly – is used to ensure bonding between the layers for the purpose of printing the structure.  

George Abraham, head of operations (south and east), L&T, explained, “It is because of the robotic intervention that involves pre-embedded designs, that we were able to complete the entire construction activity in a period of 43 days as compared to about 6-8 months taken by conventional method.” 

The construction was carried out at a cost of Rs 23 lakh, around 30-40 per cent less compared to the cost involved in conventional methods. 

Elaborating on the critical requirements for concrete 3D printing, Prof Santhanam stated, “The project primarily involves machines and robots which are indigenous, but needs to be scaled up in the coming days. The special concrete material used for this project provides pumpability, extrudability, buildability and is powered with mechanical properties.”