Judges select the winners of the best Colorado/Wyoming and Intermountain 2025 projects

ENR’s Best Projects competition brings together engineering and construction teams from across the industry to celebrate innovative construction techniques, teamwork, design, quality craftsmanship, safety efforts and the ability to overcome challenges. Now in its 28th year, the program received more than 800 project submissions from across the country, with more than 100 of those submissions coming from the Mountain States.

ENR Mountain States divides its competition into two regions: projects built in Colorado and Wyoming and those in the intermountain area of ​​Utah, Idaho and Montana.

Judges could select a best project and an award of merit if warranted in each category, and did not vote in categories that included projects in which they or their companies participated. Projects had to be completed between May 2024 and May 2025 to be eligible for this year’s program.

Project of the Year finalist Populus Hotel, located in Denver, was also named best project in the specialty construction category.
Photo courtesy of The Beck Group

Meet the judges

We couldn’t hold this annual competition without the help of our expert and dedicated judges, who spend countless hours researching the submissions and discussing the features of each project. This year’s main category judges were: Tara Bettale, HDR; Matt Betts, JE Dunn; Dennis Gypsy, Jacobsen; DJ Gratzer, 4240 Architecture; Becky Hawkins, Method Studio; Powell Hinson, Carollo Engineers; Kris Kreymborg, JHL Constructors; Matt Schlageter, Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers; Tim Springer, PCL Construction; and Courtney Tucker, GH Phipps.

Judging the safety projects, with a special emphasis on safety programs, cultures and results, were Dan Milinazzo, Hensel Phelps; Matt Ogle, JE Dunn; and Rick Zellen, Holder Construction. Mountain States’ sustainability judges were Jillian Cornelius of Method Studio and Kris Kreymborg with JHL Constructors.

The Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Park City, Utah was named Intermountain’s Safety Excellence Award winner and also won an Award of Merit in the office/retail/mixed-use category.
Photo courtesy of Jacobsen Construction

When the final votes were tallied, 51 projects were selected in 20 categories, including safety and sustainability. Our judges then reconvened to choose the Project of the Year, with decisions being made based on their individual scores, category rankings and overall appeal.

Several projects made it to the top, but two clear winners emerged: Whiting-Turner’s T3 RiNo, the first large-scale solid wood office building built in Denver, will take home the top honor for the Colorado/Wyoming region. Deseret Peak High School, located in Tooele, Utah, and presented by Hughes General Contractors, has been named Project of the Year for the Intermountain Area.

You can read more about these projects and all the winners on the following pages.

All winning teams, as well as Mountain States Businesses of the Year and Legacy Award winners, will be celebrated at breakfast programs held during the first week of December. The Intermountain Awards will be presented in Salt Lake City on Dec. 2 at the Marriott Downtown City Creek. The Colorado/Wyoming Best Projects Awards will be presented in Denver on December 4 at the Embassy Suites Downtown Convention Center Hotel.

The LS Skaggs Center for Integrated Wellness at the University of Westminster won the Intermountain Excellence in Sustainability Award and was named Best Project in the higher education/research category.
Photo courtesy of Jacobsen Construction and Cody Brown

The best project in each category will automatically advance to ENR’s national competition, and those winners will be announced at the Best of the Best Awards Brunch in New York City on March 26. Read on to see which projects were recognized as the best in the Mountain States.

Congratulations to all project teams for their outstanding achievements.