Ybbs first Hotel the Donau Lodge was built together with many local companies. Because of the great collaboration and high level of prefabrication, the hotel was opened in just 11 months.

If you come to visit the Stora Enso CLT Mill and Coating Line, (and we hope that you do), perhaps you will stay here at the Donau Lodge, and you will tell us how you experience the natural wood effect on your stay. Take a moment to look up at the ceiling when you are lying one of the 27 über comfortable Schlafzimmers, and notice the beautiful visual grains of the cross-laminated timber (CLT) that Stora Enso is so famous for with the original aesthetic calmness and light colour that looks modern and as fresh as the day it was installed. 

This hotel located within walking distance of the Stora Enso Mill on the Donau is a sustainable sanctuary designed exposed visual surface quality CLT on the ceilings. 

One of the reasons why the wood still looks fresh and new is because it was coated with DANSKE Aqua Holzlasur after installation by the main contractor, Pöchhacker, to prevent discolouration from the natural sunlight. As you can see from the photographs taken both when the hotel first opened in 2019 and later in 2022, the CLT still has a soft lightness to the wood, and the level of darkening is minimal.

For those readers new to building with CLT, it typically darkens in colour over time because it contains lignin, which is sensitive to UV radiation. When the lignin degrades, it doesn't affect the structural performance of wood, but it can affect the visual appearance. 

Nowadays Stora Enso provides CLT precoated with UV protection for even faster installation times from their fully automated coating line. One of the added benefits of precoating wood before it arrives on site is that should the visual surface quality wood get exposed to dirt during the construction phase, it is easy to wipe off with water if it is already coated. Without that layer of protection, natural wood can quickly stain and can require sanding and expensive remedial work to remove, resulting in lengthy and expensive downtime.