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 hundreds of project teams and 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 highest achievement in design and construction excellence in their respective categories across the US among projects completed between May 2024 and May 2025.
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. Two additional special awards were also selected: Excellence in Safety and Excellence in Sustainability, each with over 200 additional entries.
Once the regional winners were chosen, the top winners in each category from each region moved on to the national competition – more than 200 projects in total. A new panel of 21 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 Eva Bauer-Furbush, Bauer-Furbush Engineering & Management Advisory; Dan Clevinger, DLR Group; Nicholas DeNichilo, Mott MacDonald (retired); Bart Eberwein, Hoffman Corp. (retired); Ginger Evans, Tower Consult; Camilo Garcia, DPR; Mike Headrick, PCL; Sam Hassoun, GLA Corp.; Randy Iwasaki, Iwasaki Consulting Services; Kai Kaoni, Northern Arizona University; Parham Khoshkbari, Google; Manish Kothari, Sheladia Associates Inc.; David Miles, Kiewit; Rachel Rasmussen, Architekton; John Schaufelberger, University of Washington; Cliff Schexnayder, Arizona State University; Tom Smith, ASCE; Claire Weisz, WXY Studio; Edgar Westerhof, Arcadis.
For the Safety Excellence Award, safety experts Heath Wilson with Brasfield & Gorrie and Carl Heinlein with American Contractors Insurance Group reviewed incident rates, man hours and innovation in safety programs to determine the winner.
Kaoni and Westerhof did double duty and also evaluated the nominees for Excellence in Sustainability. examining how innovative and intense the project’s sustainability strategy was and how successful its outcome was.
The judges and the winning projects will be presented in more depth in the March 16 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 16 issue.
Come celebrate the winners in New York City on March 26th. The project teams will receive their awards at a brunch today at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers, and then don their formal attire and be celebrated again alongside the Top 25 News Producers and Award of Excellence winner during ENR’s annual Excellence Award Gala tonight also at Piers Six New York, Chelsea. For more information, visit enr.com/AOE.
We are just a few months away from launching the call for our Regional US Best Projects 2025 competition. For more information, visit last year’s entry page at www.enr.com/bestprojects/ (Entry dates and eligibility will be updated once the call for entries opens this spring).
Note: Links are provided to previous articles published when the project won in its ENR regional publication.
Airport/Traffic
Delta Air Lines, Inc. LGA Airfield Reconfiguration Program, located in East Elmhurst, NY Originally Posted by Turner Construction Co. to ENR Est
Cultural/Cult
Museum of Natural History – Commons, located in Los Angeles. Originally Posted by Construction MATT to ENR west
Energy/Industrial
Virginia Coastal Windfalls and Trenchless Crossing, located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Originally Posted by Michels Corporation to ENR Est
Government/public building
South Airfield Military Construction Projects (MILCON), Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake, located in Ridegecrest, Calif. Originally Posted by ECC to ENR west
Health Care
Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital, located in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Originally Posted by Barton Malow | Haselden to ENR Mountain States and Southwest
Higher Education/Research
University of Westminster’s LS Skaggs Center for Integrative Wellness, located in Salt Lake City. Originally Posted by Jacobsen construction to ENR Mountain States and Southwest
road/bridge
Hurricane Ian Sanibel Access Project, located in Sanibel, Florida. Originally Posted by Joint Venture Team Superior-de Moya in ENR Texas and southeast
Interior/tenant improvement
Atlantic Council Relocation, located in Washington, DC Originally Posted by DAVIS construction to ENR Est
K-12 education
Emma Willard School, Alice Dodge Wallace ’38 Center for the Performing Arts, located in Troy, NY Originally Posted by Consigli Construction Co. to ENR Est
Landscape/Urban Development
Parklane Park, located in Portland, Oregon. Originally Posted by Stacy Witbeck to ENR west
Manufacturing
Ford BlueOval City, located in Stanton, Tennessee. Originally Posted by Walbridge in ENR Texas and southeast
Office/Retail/Mixed Use
T3 RiNo, located in Denver. Originally Posted by Pickard Chilton to ENR Mountain States and Southwest
Reform/Restoration
Victorian building renovation of the Hotel Del Coronado, located in Coronado, Calif. Originally Posted by Swinerton Builders to ENR west
Residential/Hospitality
First Light, located in Seattle. Originally Posted by MG2 to ENR west
security
Fab 52 (Project Eagle), located in Chandler, Arizona. Originally Posted by Hoffman Construction in the mountain states of ENR and southwest
Small Project
Replacement of the Thomas Brook Railroad Bridge located in Oakfield, Maine. Originally Posted by Sergeant Corp. to ENR Est
Construction specialty
Populus Hotel, located in Denver. Originally Posted by Hunt Electric Inc. to ENR Mountain States and Southwest
Sports/Entertainment
Intuit Dome, located in Inglewood, Calif. Originally Posted by AECOM Hunt – Turner JV to ENR west
sustainability
NYCHA Eastchester and Jackson Houses – DHW upgrade and geothermal heating, located in Bronx, New York Originally Posted by CSA group to ENR Est
Water/Environment
Klamath River Renewal Project, located in Hornbrook, Calif. Originally Posted by Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. to ENR west
