diff --git a/src/special_arrays.jl b/src/special_arrays.jl
index d8b9ac6..552ca14 100644
--- a/src/special_arrays.jl
+++ b/src/special_arrays.jl
@@ -377,18 +377,32 @@ function transform_with(flag::LogJacFlag, t::CorrCholeskyFactor, x::AbstractVect
     UpperTriangular(U), ℓ, index′
 end
 
-function transform_with(flag::LogJacFlag, transformation::StaticCorrCholeskyFactor{D,S},
-                        x::AbstractVector{T}, index) where {D,S,T}
-    # NOTE: add an unrolled version for small sizes
-    E = _ensure_float(eltype(x))
-    U = if isbitstype(E)
-        zero(MMatrix{S,S,E})
-    else
-        # NOTE: currently allocating because non-bitstype based AD (eg ReverseDiff) does not work with MMatrix
-        zeros(E, S, S)
+@generated function calculate_corr_cholesky_factor(::Type{T}, flag::LogJacFlag,
+                                                   t::StaticCorrCholeskyFactor{D,S},
+                                                   x::AbstractVector, index) where {T,D,S}
+    exprs = [:(ℓ = logjac_zero(flag, T)), :(z = zero(T))]
+    u(row, col) = row ≤ col ? Symbol("u_", row, "_", col) : :z
+    for col in 1:S
+        push!(exprs, :(log_r = z))
+        # above diagonal
+        for row in 1:(col-1)
+            push!(exprs,
+                  :(($(u(row, col)), log_r, Δℓ) = l2_remainder_transform(flag, x[index], log_r)),
+                  :(ℓ += Δℓ),
+                  :(index += 1))
+        end
+        # diagonal
+        push!(exprs, :($(u(col, col)) = exp(log_r / 2)))
     end
-    U, ℓ, index′ = calculate_corr_cholesky_factor!(U, flag, x, index)
-    UpperTriangular(SMatrix{S,S}(U)), ℓ, index′
+    U_elements = (u(row, col) for row in 1:S, col in 1:S)
+    push!(exprs, :(UpperTriangular(SMatrix{$S,$S}($(U_elements...))), ℓ, index))
+    Expr(:block, exprs...)
+end
+
+function transform_with(flag::LogJacFlag, transformation::StaticCorrCholeskyFactor{D,S},
+                        x::AbstractVector, index) where {D,S}
+    T = _ensure_float(eltype(x))
+    calculate_corr_cholesky_factor(T, flag, transformation, x, index)
 end
 
 function inverse_eltype(t::Union{CorrCholeskyFactor,StaticCorrCholeskyFactor},
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index fa352f9..60a55e1 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -819,6 +819,11 @@ end
             @test inverse(t, y) ≈ x
         end
     end
+
+    # allocations
+    t7 = corr_cholesky_factor(SMatrix{7,7})
+    z7 = zeros(dimension(t7))
+    @test @allocations(transform(t7, z7)) == 0
 end
 
 @testset "corr cholesky factor large inputs" begin