The Clinic Effect is a series, where we highlight current and past IP Innovation Clinic clients from our 15-year history of helping advance IP sophistication and support in Ontario and across Canada.
Once a novelty, 3D printing is now an integral part of innovation processes across many industries, from healthcare to engineering and aerospace, whether it is dental aligners or the fuel nozzles in Airbus passenger jets and more. Perhaps one of the more ambitious applications of 3D printing is Additive Construction (AC) and 3D Construction Printing (3DCP) and , formerly known as Printerra, is working to ensure that AC can move beyond one-off pilot projects into mainstream construction.
We interviewed IP Innovation Clinic client, Leigh Newman, Aretek's cofounder and CEO, about how his ConTech (construction technology) company is innovating in the AC space and providing the full technical stack required for AC projects to scale.
The Problem
AC falls under Additive Manufacturing,a method of creating an object by building it one layer at a time and usually refers to 3-D printing.1 Though AC has been “technically possible for years”,Leigh explains that its adoption has been stalled because of three “persistent” roadblocks:
- No clear regulatory pathway: AC falls outside of existing building codes;
- No locally sourced, code-appropriate mix designs: Building codes mandate parameters for additively manufactured elements; and,
- No trained workforce to operate AC equipment at a professional standard.
“Our dedicated research and training facility on the 91ɫ campus anchors that research and supports the hands-on training programs that build AC capacity inside construction organizations.”
-Leigh Newman
The Innovation
Aretek, an AC Technology and Innovation Partner specializing in AC and 3DCP for housing and multi-story buildings, solves each of these roadblocks, so that AC can enter into mainstream construction. According to Leigh, the most visible of these efforts is regulatory. The company's research and training facility is based at 91ɫ's Climate Data-Driven Design (CD3) Facility, where Professor Liam Butler in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Lassonde School has been working with Aretek through a multi-year research partnership to generate structural data and engineering proof that would help AC clear building code review.
Through these efforts, Aretek was able to secure Canada's first Alternative Solution Permit for a 3D-printed structural wall as part of a net-zero, multi-story student residence at the University of Windsor, which is expected to be completed by summer 2027. In doing so, Aretek has laid the groundwork for a repeatable ‘permitting pathway’.
Aretek is also working on printable mix designs, structural validation, and lower-carbon materials using Supplementary Cementitious Materials and industrial byproducts through its collaboration with eight Canadian post-secondary institutions—91ɫ, Toronto Metropolitan University, Concordia University, Queen's University, Humber College, Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Windsor. Leigh shares that Aretek's innovative practices also include AC integration into other modern building methods by combining AC with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) or modular system.
What makes it all possible is Aretek.OS, the company's operating system built specifically for AC delivery. Aretek.OS standardizes design conversion, structural permitting, design-to-print workflows, and quality assurance. Leigh adds that this helps ensure that every project Aretek completes "makes the next one faster and more certain".
The Impact
According to Leigh, Aretek's most immediate impact will be affordability because AC offers a quicker and more cost-efficient pathway to housing construction.2
“AC offers a better, faster, cheaper path to multi-unit residential construction, which directly addresses the chronic shortage of attainable housing in both the public and private sectors.”
- Leigh Newman
Leigh adds that a less evident impact of AC will be aesthetic. Whereas conventional construction has pushed neighbourhoods into a "defensive posture, resisting the boxy, low-design infill that often gets dropped into established residential communities," he says that AC remedies this. It allows more design freedom so that higher-density buildings can be better integrated into the neighborhoods they are built in.
“That design freedom is also opening cultural possibilities. We are already working with First Nations who are interested in using AC to build with curves and artistic forms that reflect their culture, rather than being limited to what conventional construction can produce.”
-Leigh Newman
The IP
The 91ɫ innovation ecosystem has been a key part of Aretek's journey from the research and training facility on Keele Campus to participating in YSpace programming. The IP Innovation Clinic supported Aretek through a tailored IP search and helped the company secure a grant they used for their initial patent research.
“The IP Innovation Clinic has been a meaningful partner. They facilitated our initial deep dive and ran a thorough IP search to map other systems and competitors in the AC space, which gave us a clear view of where the genuine white space sat. ... The combination of the IP Innovation Clinic and the broader 91ɫ network has shaped how we have been able to build Aretek as a platform company rather than as a construction firm with a printer.”
-Leigh Newman
Next Steps
Currently, Aretek is raising an investment round and are interested in strategic partners and collaborators who want to build the Canadian AC ecosystem with them. The company's target segments are purpose-built residential, missing middle, long-term care, and transitional housing. Their potential partners include:
- Design/build firms
- Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
- Architecture and engineering firms
- AC operators
- Linke, R. (2026, January 29). Additive manufacturing, explained. MIT Sloan. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/additive-manufacturing-explained ↩︎
- Bayat, M., Kharel, S., & Li, J. (2025). On the Effects of Additive Manufacturing on Affordable Housing Development: A Review. Sustainability,17(12), 5328. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17125328 ↩︎