Affordable housing solution? Small business may 3D print a new neighborhood in Rochester

ROCHESTER — MADCO3D, a small company located in a quiet corner of the Gonic Mills, is working to bring a new approach to filling the crisis-level need for workforce and affordable housing in New Hampshire.

Dan Bernard, one of the founding partners of MADCO3D, said the company can print a 3D home, using robots, in a week.

The company is in talks with the city of Rochester about creating a 40-home development made up entirely of 3D-printed sand concrete houses. It would be located on city-owned property on Chesley Hill Road.

Rochester City Manager Katie Ambrose said feasibility studies are being done, and the hope is to bring a proposal to the City Council next year.

"We have 46 acres out there," Rochester Mayor Paul Callaghan said. "We are interested in creating workforce housing. There is a real need for this."

Bernard said MADCO3D is also in talks with other area developers like John and Maggie Randolph, who recently built and opened to tenants a neighborhood of small cottage homes in Dover.

How does 3D printing a home work?

"We have a large industrial robot and are soon going to have access to two more," Bernard said. "The robot can print an 800-square-foot house in a week or less. Bigger ones take a bit more time, but nothing like the construction schedule needed to build a more traditional house."

Bernard said they already have demand for more than 100 houses in the state. Costs vary depending on the style and size, but Bernard said they will meet market price for affordable housing. Where other materials, like wood, is needed for parts of the homes like window casings, Bernard said, upcycled materials are used wherever possible.

How did MADCO3D come to Rochester?

MADCO3D has been in the Gonic Mill location since 2018, and it has a home base in New York. It was started by architect Adam Kushner, with partners, Dan Bernard, Steve Bernard and Brian Marshall. The company has nine employees, but expects to add more jobs as it grows locally.

"We had a vision and now it is a reality," said Dan Bernard, who calls himself a nerd and a science geek. His career before MADCO3D was in green technologies. "We saw what others were doing with printed sand concrete and we said, Why not this?"

In addition to houses, the company is working to rebuild and save coral reefs. It also creates pieces of art. And the company leaders say there is no limit to what the future could bring.

Bernard said the houses have a smaller carbon footprint than others. He said they save energy over time, are fire resistant and insect resistant and can stand up to harsh weather.

MADCO3D partnering with UNH

Bernard said MADCO3D is working with the University of New Hampshire through John Roth, director of the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center at UNH.

Roth said interns work at MADCO3D, helping with the printing processes and design.

"Some of it will soon happen at UNH," Roth said. "Most of the interns are studying civil engineering and mechanical engineering. We do not have a program like this at the university, so the experience is great for our students."

"We will soon have a presence at UNH," said Bernard.

Part of MADCO3D's work with UNH and with environmental groups is focused on saving coral reefs and their fragile ecosystems.

"We can 3D print a cement coral reef already, but we are working to create living reefs as well," said Bernard. "People like (famed New Hampshire inventor) Dean Kamen are bioprinting living tissue, so we knew this was a place for us to get involved."

Bernard said MADCO3D is working globally on coral reefs, including in Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia and the Dominican Republic. He said the company is also partnering with The Nature Conservancy to look at projects in the Oyster River in New Hampshire.

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Shaheen, SBA leader tout funding for companies like MADCO3D

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, and Isabel Casillas Guzman, administrator of the U.S Small Business Administration, visited MADCO3D on Friday.

Shaheen, who recently took over as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said she is excited to see the innovation shown by the company.

"It is environmentally friendly," she said. "And it has the potential to address a major need in this country and in New Hampshire for housing."

Guzman said she is pleased the SBA was able to help MADCO3D.

"Ninety-five percent of the world's consumers are abroad, and this company thinks globally," she said. "We release $20 million annually in startup grants through the (State Trade Expansion Program), and this company is exactly the type of innovation we look for."

New Hampshire's Office of International Commerce was awarded $444,366, its largest STEP grant in 2023. Sebastian Roa, communications director for the Senate committee, the STEP program has awarded $235.5 million in grants to 13,000 small businesses over the years.

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: MADCO3D wants to 3D print 40 affordable homes in Rochester NH