Swinerton and its mass timber subsidiary Timberlab have topped out the firms’ 192,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for cross-laminated timber, a key component of the renewable building material, according to a Nov. 20 news release.
Swinerton Builders, the firm’s construction division, and project partners Lindgren Development and Lever Architecture, all worked on the facility, named Independence Hall.
Spanning the length of three football fields, it will be one of the largest CLT manufacturing sites in the U.S., according to Swinerton. The firm expects it to produce 7 million to 9 million square feet of CLT annually, ranging from 2 inches to 12 inches thick. When the facility is at full capacity, Swinerton anticipates it will add about 100 jobs with an average total compensation of $80,000, said Danielle Ridgeway, external communications manager for the builder.
The structure broke ground in February, according to the city of Millersburg, Oregon, where Independence Hall is located.
Overall, workers carried out a tightly coordinated installation process using glue-laminated timber, also known as “glulam.” Over five months, crews installed, per the release:
- 192,000 square feet of GLT roof panels.
- 240 GLT columns, which ranged from 32 feet to 45 feet tall.
- 260 GLT beams, which ranged from 90 feet to 110 feet long.
- 72,400 square feet of structurally insulated wall panels.
The construction group also created a digital twin of the structure to speed up the installation process. The model helped verify the CLT manufacturing equipment layout within the facility, as well as specs for machining of all GLT columns. It also provided an Autodesk Construction Cloud VDC model for trade coordination, which helped deliver just-in-time oversize GLT beams.
Swinerton said the timeline illustrates how technology and sustainable materials can come together to deliver large projects faster and more efficiently. The facility is scheduled for completion in early 2027.
Alongside its status as a full mass timber build, many of the materials were made in Oregon. These include wood from Oregon-grown Douglas Fir trees, GLT produced at Timberlab’s Swisshome and Drain facilities and CLT panels fabricated at its Portland location, per the release.
Swinerton and Timberlab are long-time advocates for the material and alternate, yet growing, construction method. Chris Evans, Timberlab’s president, has been bullish on mass timber amid tariff pressures, noting its functional similarity to structural steel.
To wit, mass timber has seen a recent uptick in interest and use across the construction industry. That has led trade groups, including ironworkers, to train their ranks to work with the material and take advantage of mass timber’s growing prevalence.
