German Construction Giant Prints HQ and Launches Dedicated 3D Printing Division

Matthäi Schlüsselfertigbau, a subsidiary of one of Germany's 20 largest construction groups, has formally launched a dedicated construction 3D printing division. The move comes immediately after the company completed its new two-story headquarters in Selsingen, Lower Saxony, using a COBOD BOD2 printer.

A Building Printed in 105 Hours

The structure measures roughly 7.4 meters high, 22.5 meters long, and 13.5 meters deep, providing 364 square meters of usable space across two floors. The walls alone took about 105 hours of printing time using Holcim's TectorPrint, a cementitious material designed for extrusion. The foundation, base slab, floors, and roof were built with conventional methods, which is typical for current construction 3D printing workflows.

Architects Schulenburg and planning firm Mense-Korte handled the design, while PERI 3D Construction served as technology partner and supervisor during the print. Bernd Mergard, managing director of Matthäi Schlüsselfertigbau, said the entire Matthäi Group is proud to have realized the first 3D-printed building in Northern Germany.

From One Project to a Business Line

The more significant news is what happened after the print finished. Rather than treating the headquarters as a one-off demonstration, Matthäi turned the capability into an in-house division partnered with PERI. Philip Lund-Nielsen, co-founder and CCO of COBOD International, put it plainly: that step from a single project to recurring business is exactly what the industry wants to see. It signals that construction 3D printing has moved from pilot to everyday business.

Matthäi employs over 3,300 people and generates more than one billion euros in annual revenue. A dedicated AM division at that scale matters because it gives the technology access to real commercial projects, not just publicity builds.

Why It Matters

Europe has been slow to adopt construction 3D printing at scale compared to the United States and Middle East, where several companies have already printed homes and commercial buildings. A major German contractor putting its own headquarters behind the technology, then institutionalizing it as a standalone division, is a strong market signal. If Matthäi begins bidding on residential and commercial projects with 3D printing as a core capability, competitors will have to respond.