The construction industry in the UK and Europe is facing a significant challenge: a shortage of skilled tradespeople, particularly bricklayers. A company called Monumental is addressing this issue with a fleet of over 150 robots that can lay bricks on construction sites.
Monumental, an Amsterdam-based construction robotics company, has just secured $32 million in funding to expand its operations. The company plans to use the money to grow its engineering team, scale its fleet across Europe, and launch in the US. The funding round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Plural and existing investors.
The timing of this investment is strategic, as the UK needs an estimated 20,000 more bricklayers to meet the government's target of 1.5 million new homes. However, only around 1,990 completed apprenticeships were recorded in 2024, highlighting a significant skills gap in the industry.
Monumental's approach is unique: the company works as an autonomous subcontractor, where general contractors hire Monumental and pay for finished walls. This model spares builders the financial and technical risk of owning and operating the equipment themselves.
The robots used by Monumental are electric and autonomous, equipped with advanced sensors, computer vision, and cranes to lay bricks and mortar with precision. The company's AI platform, Atrium, orchestrates the entire process. The fleet has built over 100 homes, as well as a school, community centre, hotel, and canal walls in the Netherlands and the UK.
Monumental's co-founder and CEO, Salar al Khafaji, believes that machines like his company's robots are necessary to address the industry's capacity issues. "The world simply does not have enough people to build what it needs," he said. "It takes machines that turn up on site and lay real brick all day, to spec, which is what our fleet already does today."
The construction industry has been slow to adopt technology, with manufacturing productivity increasing eightfold since 1945 while construction productivity has gained only 10 per cent. This has resulted in a housing shortage of 6.5 million homes, with the UK having the second-worst rate in Europe.
Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, believes that Monumental's approach can help address the housing crisis. "Construction costs have exploded while the industry itself has barely changed in decades," he said. "That combination has produced the housing crisis: we know how to build, we've just made it too expensive and too slow."
Monumental's success is not isolated, as investors are backing robots to address labour shortages in various industries, including fruit picking. The company's model allows crews to move up to safer, higher-skilled roles operating the machines, while the bricks continue to get laid.
