A crowd of business and political leaders gathered just north of Albany Thursday to hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new mass timber manufacturing facility.
Mass timber is a building technique that uses multi-layered wood panels. It’s becoming more common in the U.S. and was used extensively to build the roof of the new terminal at Portland International Airport.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, who attended the groundbreaking, said the new facility represents Oregon’s ongoing strategy to adapt to changes in the wood products industry.
“We have to go from where we were to something new," she told KLCC in an interview following the event. "That’s what mass timber is. Taking those products to move into a construction material that is sustainable. It is more carbon friendly. We can do that here. We are doing it. We’re a decade into this movement of mass timber, but this will take us to another level.”
The Millersburg plant will be operated by Portland-based Timberlab, which is a subsidiary of Swinerton, a 137-year-old construction firm based in San Francisco. Timberlab operates several other facilities around Oregon, including locations in Drain and Swisshome, as well as a fabrication plant in South Carolina.
Thursday's groundbreaking was attended by officials from Timberlab and Swinerton, as well as state Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis from Albany.
The 190,000 square-foot Millersburg facility is expected to employ about 100 people when it opens, according to the governor's office.
KLCC's Michael Dunne contributed to this report.
