Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS.
Speaker 1: Oh now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to
Speaker 1: the Daily OS. It's Monday, the nineteenth of August.
Speaker 2: I'm Emma, I'm Nandini, a journalist here at the Dahlias.
Speaker 1: Nandini is back on the pod today to talk us
Speaker 1: through a really interesting topic, three D printing three D
Speaker 1: printed housing to.
Speaker 2: Be specific exactly. I mean, if you can't afford a home,
Speaker 2: why don't you three D print one? Three D printing
Speaker 2: technology is advancing rapidly and it means that houses can
Speaker 2: be built faster, cheaper and more sustainably, which got me
Speaker 2: thinking could three D printing be the solution to Australia's
Speaker 2: housing crisis. We'll tell you all about how this works,
Speaker 2: where it's being done, and what it means for Australia
Speaker 2: in the Deep dive. But first, Emma, what's making headlines.
Speaker 1: The New South Wales Liberal Party is threatening to take
Speaker 1: legal action against the state's Electoral Commission. At least one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty eight Liberal Party candidates won't run in
Speaker 1: the upcoming local elections after essential paperwork wasn't filed on time.
Speaker 1: The era was blamed on the Party state director Richard Shields,
Speaker 1: who was fired from his role last week. The New
Speaker 1: South Wales division of the Liberal Party requested more time
Speaker 1: to formally nominate all its council candidates. However, electoral officials
Speaker 1: formally denied the extension request on Sunday. According to the
Speaker 1: New South Wales Electoral Commission, acting Commissioner Doctor Matthew Phillips
Speaker 1: was not satisfied that it was possible to lawfully extend
Speaker 1: the nomination period and that it would not be appropriate
Speaker 1: to do so given these significant ramifications it would have
Speaker 1: for the conduct of the elections.
Speaker 2: Authorities in Wa have reported a surge in crocodile sidings
Speaker 2: in the Pilbar region. The States Parks and Wildlife Service
Speaker 2: has confirmed seven saltwater crocs sidings and four unconfirmed sidings
Speaker 2: on the Northwest coast so far this year. That's more
Speaker 2: than the combined total siding for the past decade. The
Speaker 2: Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions attributed this to increasing
Speaker 2: saltwater crocodile populations and heightened public awareness. It noted some
Speaker 2: of the sidings could be the same animal as they
Speaker 2: are not individually tracked.
Speaker 1: Thousands of people in Venezuela have taken to the streets
Speaker 1: in protest of alleged election interference by the government. Nicholas
Speaker 1: Maduro secured another term as Venezuelan president last month, despite
Speaker 1: exit polls predicting opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzales to win by
Speaker 1: a wide margin. Demonstrators gathered across Venezuela over the weekend
Speaker 1: and in other countries, including Spain, Argentina and Colombia. Opposition
Speaker 1: leader Maria Karina Machado called for the government to respect
Speaker 1: the twenty eight July poll results, saying the world and
Speaker 1: everyone within our country must recognize that the elected president
Speaker 1: of Venezuela is Edmundo Gonzales.
Speaker 2: And today's good news. Researchers with the University College London
Speaker 2: have made a breakthrough that could help unravel the scientific
Speaker 2: mystery of an ice age which covered most of the
Speaker 2: Earth's surface for eighty million years. It's believe the event
Speaker 2: turned planet Earth into a kind of snowball for the period.
Speaker 2: The freeze was thought to have eroded many geological records
Speaker 2: from the time. Now well preserved rock layers have been
Speaker 2: discovered in a remote cluster of islands off Scotland, revealing
Speaker 2: new details and insights into life on Earth. Professor Graham
Speaker 2: Shields told the BBC the Discover captures a moment that
Speaker 2: is quote missing in all other localities in the world.
Speaker 1: And anyone chatting about three D printed housing today. And
Speaker 1: this all stemmed from a bit of a deep dive
Speaker 1: that we ended up kind of spiraling into from some
Speaker 1: news that we saw out of the US where a
Speaker 1: company is nearly finished building an entire neighborhood of three
Speaker 1: D printed houses in Texas.
Speaker 2: That's right, one hundred houses to be exact, which got
Speaker 2: me thinking about how three D printing could be used
Speaker 2: for social housing. Well, I wanted to understand more about
Speaker 2: how it works, but also the broader impacts it could
Speaker 2: have on construction, sustainability, housing and costs.
Speaker 1: Okay, before we dive into some of those bigger picture ideas,
Speaker 1: how does three D printing actually work when we're talking
Speaker 1: about housing, Like, I'm kind of imagining an old school
Speaker 1: printer that I would like print off like colored pictures
Speaker 1: of actors from Twilight at home and then get yelled
Speaker 1: at because I use too much ink. But this is
Speaker 1: a very different kind of technology, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, So if you've seen a three D printer. You
Speaker 2: know what it looks like, and just imagine that on
Speaker 2: a massive scale, kind of like these massive cranes that
Speaker 2: go over the foundations of a home and essentially three
Speaker 2: D prints the house. And it's used to print the
Speaker 2: walls of a home by piping out concrete mixture and
Speaker 2: it forms these structures kind of looks like icin And
Speaker 2: this is often done at a building site and then
Speaker 2: once those walls are up, the roof is added in separately.
Speaker 1: There's obviously a pretty major project underway in Texas as mentioned,
Speaker 1: But is three D printing b used for housing on
Speaker 1: a scale like that anywhere else?
Speaker 2: Well, there's been an uptick in three D printed dwellings globally.
Speaker 2: Some parts of the world have actually jumped onto this
Speaker 2: idea quite a while ago, like Dubai. Back in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: their government announced plans for twenty five percent of all
Speaker 2: buildings to be three D printed by twenty thirty.
Speaker 1: That is a big plan. Is this something that's also
Speaker 1: happening in Australia or are there any kind of major
Speaker 1: three D printed housing projects that we know of?
Speaker 2: Well, at first I hadn't heard too much about three
Speaker 2: D printed housing in Australia until last week, where the
Speaker 2: New South Wales government announced Australia's first social and affordable
Speaker 2: three D printed housing project. Construction is set to begin
Speaker 2: next month to build homes for tenants through the New
Speaker 2: South Wales government's Aboriginal Housing Office. Dubbo was chosen as
Speaker 2: the site for the pilot project because they had a
Speaker 2: large demand for social housing in the regional center.
Speaker 1: So that's Dubbo in central western New South Wales. Now.
Speaker 1: Often big housing plan especially when we're talking about social
Speaker 1: housing projects that a government led, come with really big
Speaker 1: time frames. Do we know how long this is going
Speaker 1: to take?
Speaker 2: This is the amazing thing about three D printing to me,
Speaker 2: because this project is expected to be completed in a
Speaker 2: sixteen week time frame and to give a gauge for that,
Speaker 2: according to the New Southwest Government, it would otherwise take
Speaker 2: forty weeks if this social housing project was being built
Speaker 2: using quote unquote traditional methods. And this is actually one
Speaker 2: of the big reasons people are so excited about three
Speaker 2: D printed homes. Like myself, I sat down with Brad Draper.
Speaker 2: He's the managing director at Aboriginal Sustainable Homes and that's
Speaker 2: the organization that's working with the state government on this project.
Speaker 2: So here's what he told me about the benefits of
Speaker 2: three D printing in construction.
Speaker 3: We can get the shell of a house up within
Speaker 3: twenty four to seventy two hours, depending on the complexity
Speaker 3: of the design. Now that's just the walls obviously, then
Speaker 3: you have to put your roof on the like as well,
Speaker 3: so two days. So that means we can do roughly
Speaker 3: one hundred and eighty houses per year with one printer.
Speaker 3: Now if we were to scale that up to fifty
Speaker 3: printers or one hundred printers or more, you're building eighteen
Speaker 3: thousand houses a year.
Speaker 1: So we're talking about a government announcement though this social
Speaker 1: housing project for Dubbo. So has the opposition had anything
Speaker 1: to say about the plan?
Speaker 2: So I reached out to the New South Wales Shadow
Speaker 2: Minister for Planning, Scott Farlow, and he told TDA that
Speaker 2: the Coalition welcomes new innovations and alternative construction methods to
Speaker 2: help alleviate the Carson crisis. However, he did warn that
Speaker 2: the state government will be judged on the delivery of
Speaker 2: new housing.
Speaker 1: We are, of course, in the midst of a housing crisis,
Speaker 1: A cost of living crisis. So I imagine maybe that's
Speaker 1: what Farlow is kind of referring to when he says
Speaker 1: that people will be watching the government closely on this.
Speaker 1: We know that three D printing technology can build homes quickly,
Speaker 1: but what do we know about it in the context
Speaker 1: of kind of those broader issues.
Speaker 2: So I talked to Brad Draper from Aboriginal Sustainable Homes
Speaker 2: about this topic, and he said that the construction industry
Speaker 2: needs to rethink its current strategies to one address the
Speaker 2: housing supply shortage that you've mentioned, but two to address
Speaker 2: a skills shortage in the industry.
Speaker 3: If we continue to do what we're doing at the
Speaker 3: moment in not changing the technology and sticking with traditional
Speaker 3: builds of sticks and bricks, as I call, then we're
Speaker 3: going to be held to ransom by the shortage of
Speaker 3: trades within Australia at the moment.
Speaker 1: So there's been this shift to three D printing because
Speaker 1: it's this time and cost effective way of constructing homes.
Speaker 1: But there's also a sustainability aspect to it, isn't there.
Speaker 2: Yes, So three D printed homes are arguably more energy efficient,
Speaker 2: especially when it comes to the construction process because it
Speaker 2: produces less waste than traditional builds. Brad Draper said that
Speaker 2: the social housing project in Dubbo will create homes using
Speaker 2: a mixture that's two and a half time stronger than concrete.
Speaker 2: He said this reduces long term maintenance costs, which he
Speaker 2: called quote the biggest problem within social and affordable housing.
Speaker 1: So we're talking about structures that are really built to last,
Speaker 1: but it isn't a perfect process just yet. What can
Speaker 1: you tell us about that?
Speaker 2: So that mixture that I was talking about, which is
Speaker 2: twice as strong as concrete, it consists of fifty percent
Speaker 2: concrete and fifty percent fly ash. Now, fly ash is
Speaker 2: a waste that's created by coal fired power stations. So
Speaker 2: this mixture basically repurposes this waste to create material for
Speaker 2: three D printed homes. But while this material is really durable,
Speaker 2: it ultimately comes from a non sustainable practice. Seeing a
Speaker 2: unsw lecturer Ali Kashani told me that researchers are looking
Speaker 2: into what other materials can be used to reduce carbon
Speaker 2: emissions without compromising the strength of a home. Kashani also
Speaker 2: noted that quote in terms of bushfires, three D printed
Speaker 2: homes are going to be more resistant compared to wood
Speaker 2: based products.
Speaker 1: So there is a current skills shortage that is being
Speaker 1: faced by the construction industry. We've heard a bit about
Speaker 1: it in the news, We've spoken about it at the
Speaker 1: daily I was before this sort of labor shortage. Is
Speaker 1: this kind of three D printing technology a threat to
Speaker 1: the construction industry or is it something that could actually
Speaker 1: support it?
Speaker 2: So I spoke to an industry expert and it seems
Speaker 2: like the sector is broadly supportive of innovative construction solutions.
Speaker 2: The chief executive of the Housing Industry Association, Simon Croft,
Speaker 2: told TDA that three D printing could offer greater efficiencies
Speaker 2: and he doesn't see it replacing current jobs, but rather
Speaker 2: quote working alongside them. He said that three D printing
Speaker 2: technology would support growth in areas of construction, including social
Speaker 2: and community housing and emergency accommodation.
Speaker 1: Okay, so to recap, we've got support from social housing advocates, governments,
Speaker 1: researchers and the building industry. Where to next? What do
Speaker 1: we know about the fear future of three D printed homes?
Speaker 2: Well, one emerging component of this technology that came up
Speaker 2: in my discussions with a bunch of different people was prefabrication,
Speaker 2: so think of it as an IKEA flat pack pre
Speaker 2: fabrication involves building parts of a home with a three
Speaker 2: D printer in a warehouse. Those parts are then transported
Speaker 2: to the location and pieced together at the venue. This
Speaker 2: can include roofs and stairs, and there's some excitement about
Speaker 2: what this could mean for the mass production of homes
Speaker 2: as well as the affordability component.
Speaker 1: So like we're talking about a ready to install flat
Speaker 1: pack home kit exactly.
Speaker 2: And one other thing I wanted to mention that Ali
Speaker 2: Kashani from UNSW told me about was design, and he
Speaker 2: talked about how architects actually love working on three D
Speaker 2: printed homes because of the design possibilities that it provides.
Speaker 2: If you look up pictures and footage of the process,
Speaker 2: you'll see what I mean. But three D printed homes
Speaker 2: just look so futuristic. You see these curved walls and
Speaker 2: bumpy textures on the walls, and the way that the
Speaker 2: concrete mixture is piped out creates a really beatiful design.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was really surprised. Some of these homes look
Speaker 1: like high end luxury architecture, and it sounds like that
Speaker 1: could soon become the norm. So I look forward to
Speaker 1: our beautiful luxury high end homes. Nandini, it sounds like
Speaker 1: this is only the beginning for three D printing in
Speaker 1: construction though, so thank you so much for taking us
Speaker 1: through such an interesting topic.
Speaker 2: Of course, I never thought I could get so excited
Speaker 2: about concrete you and me both.
Speaker 1: Nandini has produced a really interesting video carousel on this
Speaker 1: topic as well, so if you want to hear more
Speaker 1: from the experts mentioned throughout the podcast, and if you
Speaker 1: want to get a better understanding of what it all
Speaker 1: looks like and check out how cool they look for yourselves,
Speaker 1: we will pop a link to that in the show notes.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to The Daily oz.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with a friend.
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Speaker 1: with another episode tomorrow. Until then, have a great day.
Speaker 2: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 2: Bunjelung Kalgadin woman from Gadaghl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 2: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Speaker 2: rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 2: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.