A time-honored ‘Topping Off’ ceremony was held to mark the latest milestone in the construction of the F.W. Webb Co. central distribution facility in Londonderry, N.H. Green Leaf Construction raised the final steel beam on the exterior facade of what will be a nearly 1 million-sq.-ft.. building later this year.
The construction milestone comes five months after the official ground breaking last August. Prior to the last exterior beam – painted white for the occasion – being hoisted into place, it was signed by F.W. Webb owner John Pope, F.W. Webb President Jeff Pope, Green Leaf representatives and others in attendance who worked so effectively to quickly bring the project to this point.
The construction team, including many New Hampshire subcontractors, was acknowledged by Jeff Pope and Green Leaf Construction COO Thomas Dube, who impressively provided significant project stats in football parlance.
Dube said the design drawings would cover 10% of a football field, “10 yards, first down.” He said nearly a mile of concrete footing and more than 500 interior footings were in place: “Enough surface area to cover 80% of a football field.” More than 220,000 sq. ft. of precast panels, efficiently installed over a 35-day period, would “cover nearly five football fields.” Fifteen hundred (1,500) tons of joist, girders and columns “stretched end-to-end would span 80 football fields.”
And on and on it went to illustrate the tremendous scope of the work and volume of materials involved in this massive construction undertaking, F.W. Webb noted. Dube also explained how much of the equipment and supplies are coming directly from F.W. Webb, including HVAC, ductwork, building controls, pipe, valves and fittings, fire-protection systems, and plumbing fixtures, faucets and hardware.
The team now is turning the bulk of its time and energy to the interior work, away from the harsh winter wind. Construction is slated to be completed in fall 2017.
About the new F.W. Webb CD
Hailed as one of the largest facilities of its kind in the state of New Hampshire, the new central distribution facility of the F.W. Web will be nearly 1 million sq. ft. and employ about 140 in Londonderry.
The new facility will replace and be more than double the size of the company’s current CD in Amherst, N.H. It is being built to accommodate the company’s rapid growth and future expansion plans throughout the Northeast. It will provide F.W. Webb customers, serviced by more than 80 locations in nine states, full inventory of the products they need to build, maintain, remodel, repair and run homes, buildings, facilities, plants and processes.
The Londonderry CD is expected to be completed and opened in the last quarter of 2017.
To view a video of the topping off ceremony visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HqnWAEnmYY&feature=em-upload_owner
