Walmart is going all-in on sustainable construction with its new corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas—tapping mass timber as a major building component across multiple zones of the sprawling campus.

On April 2, Mercer Mass Timber announced it had completed installation of mass timber components for several structures at the future home of the retail giant, marking a milestone in what is shaping up to be one of the largest corporate mass timber projects in the U.S.

The work was performed in collaboration with general contractors Shawmut Design and Construction, based in Boston, and Layton Construction, headquartered in Sandy, Utah. Both firms brought on Mercer Mass Timber—a subsidiary of Mercer International—to install specialized cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam components.

Mercer’s scope of work included two key sections of the new campus: Zone 1, which features four hybrid mass timber buildings spanning four floors and totaling 897,500 square feet, and Zone 3, which includes a five-story office building constructed entirely with mass timber. That structure alone adds 332,615 square feet to the site, according to the release.

“This project showcases how mass timber can transform commercial construction,” said Nick Milestone, senior vice president at Mercer Mass Timber, in the release.

Building a Timber-Forward Future

The new Walmart campus is a massive undertaking. Spanning roughly 350 acres, the headquarters will eventually include 12 office buildings along with a host of support facilities such as amenity buildings, parking garages, and landscaped open spaces.

In keeping with Walmart’s broader sustainability goals, the company opted for mass timber construction for a large portion of the build. Mass timber, which includes engineered wood products like CLT and glulam, is seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional steel and concrete—offering a lower carbon footprint and faster construction timelines.

Mercer Conway, the company’s Arkansas-based facility, supplied an impressive 21,000 cubic meters of CLT and glulam for the project. Beyond materials, the site also created economic impact locally, employing 58 workers in the process.

The project also leveraged Mercer’s expertise in design-assist services, which included early-stage feasibility assessments, logistical planning, and on-site installation guidance—ensuring that the use of mass timber was optimized from both an engineering and constructability perspective.

Zone 1 and Zone 3 are expected to open between late 2025 and early 2026, giving Walmart employees a new kind of workplace experience—one that emphasizes biophilic design, sustainability, and cutting-edge construction.

Originally reported by Matthew Thibault in Construction Dive.