The work for what is believed to be one of the largest two-storey buildings built using 3D printing started in Heyuan, Guangdong province, on Monday.

Loaded with a concrete mixture the printer will produce, layer-by-layer, the walls and structural columns of the building.

The office building is designed at 7.2 meters high and with 230 square meters of floor area, with a showroom on the first floor and offices on the second.

Using contour-crafting technology, walls of the building will be hollow within for workers to fill in thermal materials.

The 3.5 meter-high first floor will takes 30 hours to complete if the printer works without stop, before work on the second floor will begin.

The project, a demonstration, is being conducted by the China State Construction Engineering Corp technology center and the China Construction Second Engineering Bureau South China branch, which have jointly developed the necessary materials, equipment, techniques and software.

Compared with conventional building methods, 3D printing is highly automated and time-efficient and produces less waste, according to the South China branch.