Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has awarded UAE-based Convrgnt Value Engineering a contract to design and construct the first 3D-printed laboratory building in the world.

 The laboratory will also be the first building in the UAE that is fully printed on site. It will be built as part of the Research and Development (R&D) centre at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, and will conduct research on drones, and 3D-printing technology.

The new facility will also conduct research on the use of drones to boost the performance of photovoltaic panels to increase their efficiency, credibility, and lower their cost, as well as study and test different photovoltaic technologies.

The laboratory will comprise four sub-laboratories – the Electronics Lab, the Software Lab, the Mechanical Lab, and the Prototype Lab – besides an outdoor testing facility.  

The UAE recently launched the world’s first 3D-printed building in Dubai. The office, at the Emirates Towers premises, was constructed using a special mixture of cement and a set of building materials designed and made in the UAE and the US.