Digital Construction

Advancing Sustainable Building Practices in Europe

The Horizon Europe project INBUILT promotes circular construction by integrating digitalisation and the reuse of locally sourced materials. It develops prefabricated wall elements made from reclaimed wood and biogenic materials. The project addresses barriers such as contaminants and metal impurities, and establishes on-site testing and grading processes for recovered timber. Reversible design enables repair, reuse and long-term carbon storage, extending timber lifecycles by up to 200 years.

Project partners

Consortium of 16 partners, including: Université Côte d’Azur (coordinator), CEA, University of Stuttgart, KIT, Leipfinger-Bader GmbH, ITeC, Indresmat, Heinrich Feess GmbH & Co. KG, Baltifloc SIA, Filiater, Greenovate! Europe, Biofab Zero, Lux Façade Engineering, Eskilara, Terrasense.

Project website

The project explores whether Vision Language Models (VLMs) can enable conversational control of industrial construction robots through in-context learning, without costly model training. Building on parameterized robotic skills (picking, placing, cutting, drilling), users describe fabrication goals in natural language while the VLM interprets context, plans sequences, and collaborates adaptively. This approach aims to replace expert programming with intuitive human–robot dialogue, lowering skill barriers and enabling agile, sustainable fabrication workflows. Full-scale experiments will test the boundaries of contextual reasoning for safe, goal-oriented robotic action in construction.

Research into robotic prefabrication of a locally differentiated clay-fibre composite material system

The project combines the established research approach of gradient concrete with traditional earthen construction methods and their functional variations involving aggregate and straw additives, as well as current approaches to horizontally spanning earthen components with integrated biogenic tensile reinforcement.

Project website

Robotics and AI-based recovery of secondary material streams in the digital prefabrication of load-bearing timber-clay composite components

ReSidual uses digital building technology to reduce timber consumption in construction. Production offcuts are joined into load-bearing components using AI and robotic fabrication, while combining timber with building clay further reduces wood demand. The project investigates AI-based planning, robotic fabrication methods, mono-material joining techniques, and clay-timber composites. A 1:1 scale reclaimed timber-clay composite ceiling prototype is built, acoustically tested, and destructively load-tested. The findings assess the constructive and architectural potential of this circular, wood-saving construction method as an alternative to conventional timber-concrete composite slabs.

Project partners

GROPYUS Technologies GmbH

Project website

Sustainable and integrated people centric solutions for building decarbonisation and circularity

SIRCULAR is committed to creating digital tools, technological solutions, and services to drive the decarbonisation of the built environment. The project aims to develop a methodology for assessing the circularity of buildings, which will evaluate the impact of new construction technologies in demonstration projects. These solutions will be accessible to both non-experts and construction professionals, allowing for easier access to information on decarbonisation and tools to improve circularity.

Project partners

Consortium of 22 partners from six European countries, coordinated by RINA-C, including universities, SMEs, NGOs and industry partners such as CERTH, CARTIF, ICLEI, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, ITeC, UPC, TalTech, KIT, ZRS Architekten, Hormipresa, Balti Vara, GNE Finance, ICP, Rimond and STRESS.

Project website