After countless hours of review, discussion and debate, industry judges have arrived at the 20 winners of ENR’s Best of the Best Projects competition.
This announcement culminates a nearly year-long effort by more than 100 members of the construction industry selected by ENR editors to judge the various stages of the competition. The projects listed below represent the pinnacle of design and construction achievement in their respective categories across the US among projects completed between May 2022 and May 2023.
The competition started last March with a call for the construction sector, which resulted in more than 800 project teams presenting their best work in the regional Best Projects competitions. In each of the 10 regions, the editors assembled a panel of judges to select winners in 18 categories, from highway/bridge to residential/hospitality, for that region. Special awards were also selected for Excellence in Safety and Excellence in Sustainability.
Once the regional winners were chosen, the top winners in each category from each region moved on to the national competition – nearly 200 projects in total. A new panel of 17 judges from across the country and across industry sectors examined each project in an effort to distinguish the best of the best in terms of teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation and quality.
The judges were Jamey Barbas, of the New York State Authority; Keith Douglas, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.; Bart Eberwein, Hoffman Corp. (retired); William Haas, AECOM; Marcos Díaz González, STV; Emily Harrold, Multi.studio; Sam Hassoun, GLA Corp.; Randy Iwasaki, Iwasaki Consulting Services; Chuck Jablon, Skanska USA Building Co.; Joan MacDonald, JMM Strategic Solutions; Cliff Schexnayder, Del E. Webb School of Construction, Arizona State University; Mike Medici, SmithGroup (retired); Claire Weisz, WXY Studio
For the Safety Excellence Award, safety experts Steve Acosta with Blach Construction and Carl Heinlein with American Contractors Insurance Group reviewed incident rates, man hours and innovation in safety programs for determine the winner.
Green building experts Yayu Lin of Sares Regis Group of Northern California and Shefali H. Sanghvi with Dattner Architects selected the Excellence in Sustainability Award winner based on the project’s innovative and intense sustainability strategy and success of its result.
The judges and the winning projects will be presented in more depth in the March 11 issue of ENR. Also in this issue, ENR editors, in collaboration with the judges, will select three Project of the Year Finalists, which will be revealed in the coming weeks. One of these winners will be considered the Project of the Year, which will be revealed in the March 11 issue.
Come celebrate the winners in New York City on April 11th. The project teams will receive their awards at a brunch today in the Edison Ballroom, and then don their formal attire and be celebrated again along with the Top 25 Newsmakers and the Award of Excellence. winner during ENR’s Annual Awards of Excellence Gala that evening at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City. For more information, visit https://www.enr.com/enr-award-of-excellence.
We are just weeks away from launching the call for our 2024 USA Best Projects regional competition. For more information, visit last year’s entry page at www.enr.com/bestprojects/ (The dates entry and eligibility will be updated once the call for entries opens this spring).
Airport/Traffic
Orlando International Airport Terminal C, located in Orlando, Florida. Originally Posted by HNTB to ENR South East
Cultural/Cult
Orange County Museum of Art, located in Costa Mesa, Calif. Originally Posted by Clark Construction to ENR California
Energy/Industrial
Microsoft Thermal Energy Center, located in Redmond, Wash. Originally Posted by GLY construction to ENR Northwest
Excellence in sustainability
1021 O Street State Office Building, located in West Sacramento, Calif. Originally Posted by Hensel Phelps to ENR California
Excellence in sustainability
UVA Inn at Darden – The Forum Hotel, located in Newport News, Virginia. Originally Posted by WM Jordan Co. to ENR Middle Atlantic
Government/public building
National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), located in Manhattan, Kansas. Originally Posted by McCarthy Building Cos. to ENR mid west
Health care
Mayo Clinic East Expansion, located in Phoenix Originally Posted by McCarthy Building Cos. to ENR southwest
Higher Education/Research
Bowdoin College, John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies, and Barry Mills Hall, located in Brunswick, Maine. Originally Posted by Consigli Construction Co. to ENR new england
road/bridge
Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project, located in Los Angeles. Originally Posted by HNTB Corp. to ENR California
Interior/tenant improvement
Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center Electrophysiology Lab & Surgical Services Expansion, located in Houston. Originally Posted by Kitchell to ENR Texas and Louisiana
K-12 education
Against the Current Career Academy, located in Macy, Neb. Originally Posted by Boyd Jones to ENR mid west
Landscape/Urban Development
Memorial Park Central Connector, located in Houston. Originally Posted by Ardurra Group, Inc. to ENR Texas and Louisiana
Manufacturing
Riverbend Meat Processing Plant, located in Idaho Falls, Utah. Originally Posted by Big-D construction to ENR mountain states
Office/Retail/Mixed Use
The Spiral, located in New York City. Originally Posted by WSP USA to ENR New York
Reform/Restoration
Kings Bay Dry Dock Recapitalization Project, located in St. Marys, Ga. Originally Posted by Constructors Alberic to ENR South East
Residential/Hospitality
Aston Martin Residences, located in Miami. Originally Posted by Engineering Consulting DeSimone to ENR South East
Small Project
Hybrid Operating Room at Primary Children’s Hospital, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Originally Posted by Jacobsen Construction Co. to ENR mountain states
Construction specialty
Martin Marietta Texas Quarry Highwall Stabilization, located in Baltimore. Originally Posted by International GeoStabilization to ENR Middle Atlantic
Sports/Entertainment
Gainbridge Fieldhouse – Fieldhouse of the Future Modernization Project, located in Indianapolis. Originally Posted by Shiel Sexton Co. to ENR mid west
Water/Environment
Improvements to Johnson County’s Tomahawk Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility located in Leawood, Kansas. Originally Posted by McCarthy Building Cos.to ENR mid west
