Candlewood Suites
The new four-story Candlewood Suites, constructed in the former troop barracks area on Redstone Arsenal, became the first hotel in the United States built with Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) when it opened in March of 2016. This wood construction technology originated in Austria and Germany in the 1990s and has been used in Canada since 2012.
Project outcome
Building construction began in December of 2014, and erection of the structure was completed in December of 2015. The 62,688 square foot, four-story wood building has 92 keyed hotel rooms, including studios and suites. Building materials included 1,200 CLT wall panels and 200,000 CLT fasteners.
The typical CLT floor panel is 8 feet by 50 feet, seven inches thick and weighs 8,000 pounds. The stairwell walls are 37-and-a-half feet tall and weigh 3,626 pounds.
CLT is a renewable material that is harvested from sustainably managed forests. The use of CLT on construction sites allows for shorter construction timelines and smaller teams, makes for a strong and robust structure, and has a low carbon footprint when compared to buildings of the same size in the same climate.
CLT is a flexible building system suitable for use in all assembly types including walls, floors and roofs. Made from industrial dried lumber stacked together at right angles and glued over their entire surface, it is considered an exceptionally strong product that retains its static strength and shape, allowing the transfer of loads on all sides.
As of the spring of 2016, Lendlease has completed four CLT projects around the world.