The construction sector is strategically important to the UK economy, employing 3.1 million people (>9% of the workforce), producing £370 billion in turnover, and exporting more than £8 billion in products and services. However, its current philosophy is resource and cost inefficient and environmentally unsustainable, through its low productivity, slow technology adoption and tendency to demolish and rebuild. Metal 3D printing offers opportunities to solve these challenges and lead to a more productive, innovative and sustainable construction sector. Metal 3D printing technology has transformed other engineering disciplines, including the biomedical and aeronautical sectors, while its application within the construction sector is still in its infancy. The technology has been fundamentally proven through the MX3D Bridge, the first metal 3D printed structure that was opened in July 2021, however there are still a number of barriers preventing more widespread adoption. Current equipment and processes produce elements that have significant material and geometric variability, within the same build and between repeated builds, which is not optimal for real-world use. Furthermore, the limited availability of suitable printing equipment has prevented research into the development of this novel manufacturing technique and its applications to the construction sector. ICWAAM will be a globally unique metal 3D printing facility, dedicated to large-scale, cost-effective applications for the construction sector. It will offer new research capabilities into the printing process, automated manufacture and the repair and upgrade of our critical infrastructure, along with the printing of complex, materially efficient geometries, which are uneconomical or impossible with standard techniques. ICWAAM will fundamentally challenge the current philosophy of the construction industry and lead to its transformation into a more productive, innovative and sustainable sector, with increased worker safety. Without direct access to large-scale metal 3D printing equipment, such as ICWAAM, researchers are unable to undertake this critical research and development, to solve the longstanding challenges in the construction sector.

3D printing, or, Additive Manufacturing (AM), has rapidly come to prominence as a valid and convenient alternative to other production techniques, this is thanks to a growing body of evidence that its advantages in terms of lead-time reduction; design flexibility and capability; and reduced manufacturing waste are not only potential, but very much real. Metal AM techniques can be categorised based upon the form of the material they use (powder or wire), the heat source (laser, electron beam, or electric arc), or the way the material is delivered (pre-placed bed, or direct feed). Each of the metal AM technologies, given its particular properties, is best suited for specific applications. For example, the selective laser-melting of a pre-placed powder bed yields precise, net-shape components that can be very complex in design. However, their size is limited, cost is high, and build rates are low. In contrast, the Directed Energy Deposition (DED) processes can build near-net-shape parts, at many kilograms per hour, and with potentially no limitation to a components' size. To date, most of the work in wire based DED has been carried out at Cranfield University, where a 6-m-long aluminium aero-structure was built in a few days. Research over the last 10 years has also proven the capability to make large titanium parts in a timely manner (weeks instead of months) and with much reduced cost (up to 70% cheaper than machining from solid), resulting in a tremendous industry pull. However, manufacturing such components is extremely challenging; so far, it has been based on engineering principles; a great deal of empirical know-how is required for every new application, leading to long lead times and high cost for new applications and materials. These are ever-varying and numerous, in light of the heterogeneity of the end-users mix. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a science-based understanding of DED processing; this is key to exploit its full potential and enable the industrial pick-up it merits. Such potential could be increased by combining more than one process: E.g. an arc and a laser could be coupled into one symbiotic machine, generating a multiple energy source configuration. Our vision is to radically transform Large Area Metal Additive (LAMA) manufacturing, by pioneering: - new high build-rate wire based DED with greater precision of shape and microstructure - production of net-shape large-scale engineering structures, at low cost - guaranteed 'right-first-time' homogeneous or tailored high performance properties and structural integrity. Four universities (Cranfield U., U. of Manchester, Strathclyde U., and Coventry U.) have joined forces to deliver this ambitious research programme over five years with a budget of £7M. The LAMA programme is formed by four interconnected projects: 1. LAMA's engine room. New wire-based DED processes with two primary aims: simultaneous high build rate with precision net-shape deposition (no finishing process required); and independent thermal control from deposition shape, using active thermal profile management. 2. LAMA's design room: new wire compositions tailored to the newly available thermal process regimes, and capable of producing properties better than the equivalent forged alloys; it will also provide crucial information regarding the formation and criticality of defects. 3. LAMA's modelling room: key fundamental science and understanding, using advanced process and material modelling and state-of-the-art high efficiency techniques. Physics-based thermal and fluid-flow models, as well as microstructural and mechanical models will be developed and implemented. 4. LAMA's quality room: physics-based framework for guaranteed mechanical properties and structural integrity in as-built components; including the development of in-process non-destructive evaluation techniques. LAMA will build on and exploit the UK's substantial lead in wire-based DED technology.