ENR’s Best Projects competition brings together engineering and construction teams from across the industry to celebrate innovative techniques, teamwork, design, craft quality, safety efforts and the ability to overcome challenges.

This is the program’s 27th year, and around 800 projects were submitted from across the country, with 100 of those submissions coming from the Mountain States.

ENR Mountain States divides its Best Projects contest into two regions, those constructed in Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas and those in the Intermountain area (Utah, Idaho and Montana).

Judges could select a Best Project and an award of merit if warranted, and they did not vote in categories that included projects in which they or their firms were involved. The projects had to be completed between May 2023 and May 2024 to be eligible for this year’s program.

The heat recovery chiller at UCHealth’s Aurora, Colo., hospital is projected to offset 2,500 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Photo by Caleb Tkach

When the final votes were counted, 58 projects were selected across 20 categories, which include safety and sustainability.

Our judges then reconvened to choose the Project of the Year, with decision-making based on their individual scores, category rankings and overall appeal. The choice was not easy, but several projects rose to the top.

The Air Force Academy Visitor Center in Colorado Springs will take home the top honor for Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas. Runners up are the Chamonix Casino Hotel, Cripple Creek, Colo., and the Colorado School of Mines Labriola Innovation Hub, Golden, Colo. The Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi, Utah, is the 2024 Project of the Year for the Intermountain area. The Intermountain runners up are the Post District in Salt Lake City and Dumke Arts Plaza & The Corner Plaza in Ogden, Utah.

With the nearest concrete plant hours away, crews constructing the Chamonix Casino Hotel mobilized two ready-mix concrete batch plants two miles from the semi-remote project site in Cripple Creek, Colo.  
Photo by Moss Photography

Meet the Judges

We wouldn’t be able to hold this annual competition without the help of our knowledgeable and dedicated judges, who spend countless hours digging into the submissions and discussing the characteristics of each project.

This year’s judges for ENR Mountain States’ 18 main categories were: Tara Bettale, HDR; Matt Betts, JE Dunn Construction; Jeremy Bringard, CRSA; Dennis Cigana, Jacobsen Construction; DJ Gratzer, 4240 Architecture; Becky Hawkins, Method Studio; Powell Hinson, Carollo Engineers; Kris Kreymborg, JHL Constructors; and Courtney Tucker, GH Phipps.

In addition, a team of three judges reviewed the safety award entries, paying special attention to a project’s safety programs, cultures and results. We extend our thanks to Mountain States safety experts Dan Milinazzo, Hensel Phelps Construction; Matt Ogle, JE Dunn Construction; and Rick Zellen, Holder Construction.

The Colorado Convention Center Expansion, located in Denver, is taking home the Excellence in Safety award, and an award of merit goes to the Maybell Diversion Restoration project in Maybell, Colo. The Lone Peak Tram Dock in Big Sky, Mont., earned the Excellence in Safety award for the Intermountain area.

An existing 3,000-sq-ft CMU structure from the 1950s was salvaged and reimagined as a net-zero energy building for the Utah Clean Energy Climate Innovation Center.
Photo courtesy Okland Construction

Each of the ENR regions also assembled a separate set of judges to determine the most sustainable projects of 2024. Our Mountain States sustainability judging experts are Tim Springer, PCL Construction, and Matt Schlageter, Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers.

The UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colo., will take home the Excellence in Sustainability award, and an award of merit will go to the Denver Northwater Treatment Plant, located in Arvada, Colo.

On the Intermountain side, the top honor goes to the Utah Clean Energy Climate Innovation Center, located in Salt Lake City. An award of merit in sustainablity goes to the Waterford School Science Building in Sandy, Utah.

All winning project teams — as well as the Mountain States firms of the year and Legacy Award winners — will be celebrated at breakfast programs held during the second week in December.

Intermountain awards will be presented in Salt Lake City on Dec. 10 at the Marriott Downtown City Creek. Awards for Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas will be presented in Denver on Dec. 13 at the Embassy Suites Downtown Convention Center Hotel.

The top project in each category will automatically move on to the ENR national competition, and those winners will be announced at the Best of the Best awards brunch in New York City on March 27, 2025.

Read on to see which projects earned the distinction as the best in the Mountain States. Congratulations to all the winning project teams!