Velcro

In early May of 2008 Velcro celebrated their Fiftieth Anniversary in conjunction with the grand opening of the 195,200 sq ft expansion to the Somersworth facility. The expansion included over 65,000 sq ft of insulated sandwich panel siding. In addition, Riess also installed over 5,000 sq ft of metal panel around skylights and installed the entire sub framing for all siding and wall attachments. The siding included some 7” think Thermal safe interior wall partitions and also some 4” think wall partitions. The expansion brings the entire square footage of the plant to 420,000 sq ft. 

Pizzagali Construction of Burlington, Vermont was the general contractor on the job also celebrated their fiftieth year in business. Pizzagali is known for their emphasis on safety. Riess Construction has always been a safety conscious company so meeting the safety expectations was not an issue. Riess continued their normal safety procedures and added in ZAPP (Zero Accident Prevention Plans) reports and on-site safety meetings every other day, Riess met the challenge without incident.

Riess Construction teamed up with Specialty Roofing & Sidewall Products, Inc. of Longmeadow, MA for this project. The fast pace and vast size of the project was just incredible. Mike Riess who headed up the project for Riess developed a good working relationship with Frank Leichthammer, owner of Specialty Roofing & Siding Products, and had to work out a lot of details on the run.

Riess Construction mobilized to the job-site in early October 2007 and finished the punch list on the project in early May 2008. Mike Riess says “This is a job we are very proud of for several reasons, working for Pizzagali for the first time has opened the door for other opportunities, Ray Moran the job super is one of the best supers I’ve ever worked with, working with SRSP was a truly pleasant experience, Frank is one of the true gentle men in this industry, and working on such a large scale project was a challenge I enjoyed”.

Riess Construction was proud to attend the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration and grand opening of the new expansion along with all the other contractors who worked on this project. Employees, City and State officials including Governor John Lynch attended the festivities at the Route 108 facility. The ribbon cutting of the new facility was celebrated not by cutting a ribbon but all in attendance were give pieces of Velcro which were ripped at the same time.