California’s first large‑scale mass timber factory — designed to convert trees removed through hazardous fuel reduction projects into high‑value building products — is set to rise in Redding, near the Sacramento Valley.
Wood Central understands that Fabric Mass Timber – which is now working with Cal Fire and the US Forest Service to identify salvageable thinnings – will construct a 200,000‑square‑foot (18,581‑square‑metre) facility at Stillwater Business Park near Sacramento in Northern California, in partnership with WRNS Studio, serving one of North America’s fastest‑growing markets for mass timber.
“Right now, a lot of that lumber is just turned into wood chips,” said Ben Mickus, a partner at WRNS Studio. “We would like to use that lumber and turn it into boards that can be bundled together to make mass timber products.”
Fabric’s goal is to leverage advanced technology to deliver climate‑positive building materials while strengthening Northern California’s economy. The company envisions the Redding facility as a model of sustainable design and innovation, linking forestry, manufacturing, and education.
“So with Shasta College, they have an advanced manufacturing program that Fabric is very interested in partnering with to really bring up the next generation, with the knowledge of mass timber,” Mickus added.
According to Scott Ehlert, CEO and founder of Fabric, the company can take a proative role in identifying usable material from wildfire thinning projects and forest restoration projects to direct that into our supply chain: “We’re very much looking to add value to that natural resource so that more logs can get processed into lumber and get incorporated into our production line and not left as waste.”
The Shasta Economic Development Corporation has worked with Fabric for two years to bring the project to fruition. CEO Rebecca Baer underscored the quality of jobs expected from the facility. “These are good, higher‑paying jobs,” Baer said. “This isn’t factory work where you’re dirty and sweaty. A lot of that hard labor comes before the product actually reaches the facility for production. This is like clean manufacturing, so to speak, but higher‑paying, of course.”
Wood Central understands that construction on the new facility is slated to begin next fall, with Fabric Mass Timber aiming for the Redding facility to serve as a national model, demonstrating how sustainable materials can create jobs and contribute to a cleaner future.
