Metsä Group's Kerto LVL mill project is progressing as planned in Äänekoski, Finland, and the mill has reached its rooftop height. The mill's topping out ceremony was held today on Wednesday 14 August 2024. Topping out ceremony is a traditional event that is celebrated when the ceilings are ready and buildings are at the rooftop height. Metsä Wood’s Executive Vice President Jaakko Anttila, Metsä Wood’s Project Director Eero Lampola, and SRV’s Chief Executive Officer Saku Sipola gave their greetings at the event. The construction work will be completed in the autumn of 2025 and production at the mill is expected to start production in the second half of 2026.
“The construction of the Kerto LVL mill in Äänekoski has progressed safely and in a high-quality manner according to plan. A construction project of this magnitude requires excellence and seamless cooperation between different parties, and I would like to thank every partner involved in the project, which has made the project progress to this point,” says Jaakko Anttila, Executive Vice President, Metsä Wood.
"The cooperative project management contract has proven to be an excellent project format for the implementation of mill premises suitable for the customer's modern production processes. Metsä Group is a pioneer in the industry's transition to collaborative project formats for its construction investments. In close and good cooperation with the client and a skilled design team, the project is already more than halfway through. The lessons learned from this project will also be fully utilised in the development phase of Metsä Group's new 20 000 square metre fibre products mill planned for the Rauma mill site", states Saku Sipola, Chief Executive Officer, SRV.
The massive building is progressing on schedule
The large-scale Kerto LVL mill has a surface area of five hectares. The building has a length of 400 metres and a width of 150 metres. The construction site is progressing well on schedule, and the construction of the mill is now about halfway. Works inside the building are currently underway in the area. The large building is divided into six different sections, where the work is progressing in stages. Land construction work will also continue almost until the very end of the construction project.
At the moment, the site's personnel strength is at its highest, with around 200 people working on the site. A total of up to a thousand employees will work on the site throughout the project. It is estimated that half of the employees come from Central Finland.
When completed, the mill's annual production capacity will be about 160,000 cubic metres of Kerto LVL, which will increase Metsä Group's Kerto LVL capacity by approximately 50 per cent. Kerto LVL, made of wood veneers, is a high value adding building material. Strong Kerto LVL products are a material-efficient solution to increase the use of wood in construction and they store carbon throughout their life cycle. Kerto LVL is suitable for highly versatile construction purposes, such as elements and modular construction, due to its excellent technical properties.
The progress of the Kerto LVL mill project can be followed through live, real-time web cameras at: www.metsagroup.com/metsawood/about-metsa-wood/projects/web-cameras