The northern home building industry could be revolutionized by an innovative concept based on a report co-authored by a University of Saskatchewan professor.

Ken Coates is an advocate of 3-D Printing Construction.

The Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation says it involves an on-site machine that is fed with soft fluid substances like concrete producing the materials needed to build a house.

Coates stresses by eliminating high transportation expenses because of travel over ice roads and with sealifts during tight timelines, the cost of building a basic house in the far north could be reduced from 350-thousand to about 30-thousand dollars.

The next step is testing the practical and economic viability of the technology in a northern setting.

If proven viable, Coates would like to see private northern and Indigenous companies build the homes and make the profits while helping solve the severe housing shortage in Canada’s far north.