The best project teams offer industry lessons

The New York and New England ENR Best Projects regional winners have one thing in common: presentations that highlight the project team’s ability to collaboratively address challenges with solutions at their disposal lessons for the entire industry.

The winning submissions represent 29 projects in 17 major construction categories in the New York region, which includes New Jersey, and 23 projects in 14 major categories in New England, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont .

Industry judges selected the winners after reviewing nearly 80 total entries. Projects were evaluated based on a team’s ability to overcome challenges, demonstrate quality design and construction, execute work safely, contribute to industry innovation and best practice, and benefit the community. All projects were to be completed between May 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024.

The judges did not vote in categories that included projects in which they or their companies were involved. This year’s New York judges in the top categories were Mara Johnston, managing director of Keystone Global, and Schillivia Baptiste, president and CEO of Leland Baptiste.

Judges for this year’s New England Top Category were Scott Bascom, Associate Architect at Boston-based Sasaki Design Firm, and Aidan Sullivan, Assistant Project Manager at Consigli Construction.

Simply the best

The judges also selected one project from each region as Project of the Year.

In New York, the winner was South Fork Wind, which was also named Best Project in the energy/industrial category. The project marks an important milestone in the state’s transition to renewable energy.

Located off the coast of Long Island, the project is designed to meet growing regional energy demands by producing enough clean energy for about 70,000 homes using state-of-the-art wind turbines that are not visible from East Hampton’s beaches. A single transmission line delivers the generated power to the East Hampton substation.

The New England Project of the Year was the Knox Residences in Springfield, Massachusetts. Also selected as Best Project in the residential/hospitality category, it is part of a wider neighborhood initiative that aims to reverse years of decay, high crime and a low Inventory of family communities.

The redevelopment preserves a historically significant structure that had experienced significant deterioration. Working within a tight budget that required multiple funding streams, the team still had strong participation from women- and minority-owned subcontractors who accounted for more than $13 million of project work.

The modernization of Terminal E at Boston Logan International Airport was named a finalist for ENR’s New England Project of the Year and winner of the Best Project Award in the Airport/Transit category.
Photo courtesy of AECOM

Special recognition

Special recognition was also given to project teams for safety and sustainability innovations.

This year, Bob McCall, safety director for the Master Builders Association of Western Pennsylvania, selected the safety awards for both regions.

For ENR New York, he selected Google’s renovation of the St. John’s in Manhattan for the Safety Excellence Award. Winner of Best Project in the Interior/Tenant Improvement category, it had the lowest recordable incident/injury rate in Google’s global construction portfolio over 2 million man hours. The team managed this feat despite safety management being challenged by workspace issues and the variety of work areas for each floor.

The winner of the Excellence in Safety Award in New England was the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Located in a high-traffic area, the project team prioritized campus safety and developed a specific plan to safeguard pedestrians. The project site required the team to install foundations and utilities into the bedrock. Coordination with the university helped ensure safety during the project.

The sustainability awards for both regions were judged by Josh Rollins, director of marketing for Chase Management in Suffolk, and Nate Russo, civil engineer at AECOM. They scored projects based on overall sustainability strategy, choice of materials and energy savings. Major sustainability designations such as LEED and WELL were preferred but not required for recognition.

The New York Excellence in Sustainability winner was 345 Hudson Decarbonization – Phase 1 in New York City. The building retrofit deploys a thermal grid to reduce energy demand, eliminate carbon emissions and avoid penalties under Local Law 97, which requires most buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to meet the new limits of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions from 2024. The masonry office building has steam. and cast iron radiators surrounding each floor. During tenant rotations, crews installed heat pumps on each floor that exchange energy.

Brown University Brook Street Residence Hall in Providence won the Excellence in Sustainability Award for New England. The massive timber project has all-electric systems and relies on renewable energy sources to advance the university towards its goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Design and construction techniques minimize environmental impact and maximize resource efficiency. Designed for LEED Gold certification, the project features renewable building materials and on-site stormwater treatment systems.

Turn the page to learn more about this year’s winners.