To achieve the ambitious goal of being carbon-neutral by 2040, the University of Southern Maine is adopting mass timber construction for its low-carbon benefits. Serving as the hub for the university’s Portland Campus, the brand new, three-story, Career and Student Success Center provides space for students, faculty, employers, and the community. The 42,000 square foot building is a hybrid steel and timber structure, of which 17,000 square feet is mass timber.

Timberlab provided design-build services for the mass timber structure. FSC-certified Glulam beams and columns were fabricated at Timberlab’s facility in Portland, Oregon, and PEFC-certified CLT panels were supplied by Binderholz in Austria. Timberlab installed the timber structure in single-digit temperatures, with work completed in January 2022.

The Career & Student Success Center serves as a campus hub for new on-campus residents and as a crucial resource for many commuter students and community members. Certified to the USGB LEED standard, the project moves USM forward by advancing its social and environmental sustainability goals.