W.G. Yates & Sons worked quickly when Hurricane Ike damaged 20 historic properties in Galveston, relying on its relationships with nationally recognized remediation companies and its network of qualified venders to start work before extreme water infiltration took its toll. The buildings, most of which are on the National Register of Historic Places, had between 4 and 8 ft. of standing contaminated seawater associated with the post-hurricane storm surge. Yates Construction was on the island two days after the storm hit to begin repair efforts. Photo: Yates Staff Related Links: Best of 2009 Best Of Slideshow Award of Excellence Slideshow

The new 11,300-sq-ft municipal courthouse in La Porte was designed for daily court operations, but it will also be used as an emergency control center for the city of La Porte in the event of a disaster. The single-story concrete-tiltwall construction facility is designed to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, while acting as the hub of disaster operations. Related Links: Best of 2009 Award of Excellence Slideshow Best Of Slideshow While LEED certification was not sought for the project, many sustainable features were implemented in a valued-added submittal process. The courthouse features high Solar Reflectance Index value roofing, recycled glass

To say weather was an issue during the construction of the NRG Cedar Bayou combined cycle gas-fired power plant unit would be an understatement. Crews struggled with the devastating effects of Hurricane Ike, along with the loss of employees who were either working to rebuild their homes or had left to take jobs associated with the clean-up effort. Photo: Breck Sacra Related Links: Best of 2009 Best Of Slideshow Award of Excellence Slideshow Despite the setbacks, the job was completed ahead of schedule. When Ike hit the Gulf Coast and the Baytown area in September 2008, the jobsite was forced

The project’s design and construction team – HBL Architects and Fretz Construction Co. – had collaborated on more than a dozen religious projects, forming a working relationship that spelled success for the new Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church. Related Links: Best of 2009 Award of Excellence Slideshow Best Of Slideshow The new church is on a 27-acre master-planned site. It seats more than 1,600 with full nursery facilities and a parish hall with commercial kitchen. A two-story education building features a parish library, religious education offices, classrooms and youth suite. The site development includes numerous prayer gardens and landscaped courtyards,

Located on the southwest side of College Station and 2 mi from Texas A&M University, the 21.5 acres that make up the 2818 Place student apartment community sit on top of an agricultural overflow governed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Jordan Construction was tasked with working around and through wetlands, heavily wooded areas and wildlife habitats to complete the project. Related Links: Best of 2009 Award of Excellence Slideshow Best Of Slideshow Per Texas Department of Environment Quality requirements, there was to be no infiltration of erosion into the area. That required Jordan to maintain strict erosion control throughout

The Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie Basketball is a new practice facility for Texas A&M’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. The 68,000-sq-ft facility adjoins Reed Arena on the south side of the building. Photo: Geoff Lyon Related Links: Best of 2009 Best Of Slideshow Award of Excellence Slideshow The three-story facility includes a grand lobby entrance, multiple coaches and staff offices, two separate practice gymnasiums, a shared weight room, two locker room facilities with multimedia room, two player lounges and a high-tech training facility. The Center for Aggie Basketball is designed to achieve LEED silver certification for using high-efficiency fixtures and

With two main rail lines – one running north to south and the other running east to west – the new $74-million Union Pacific Railroad San Antonio Intermodal Facility serves as a hub for rail traffic to Mexico and the West Coast. The scope of the project included 1,300 container parking stalls and a 200-acre transfer yard for moving containers from trucks to trains and vice versa. To handle rail traffic flow, approximately 20 mi of railroad track were laid and a bridge supported by 10, 198-ft-long girders for trucks to access IH-35 was constructed. At the same time, a

The Billingsley International Business Park 15, the first LEED-gold building in the city, set the bar for “green” construction in Plano. Because of the building’s progessive innovations, the city of Plano now requires any future city building project to be certified LEED gold. Related Links: Best of 2009 Award of Excellence Slideshow Best Of Slideshow The project team building the 185,439-sq-ft office building collected recycled materials and waste, reporting more than 1,680 tons of recycled materials. The recycling efforts by the contractor, Rogers-O’Brien, led to its receipt of the Environmental Star of Excellence from the city of Plano, which gave

The 110,000-sq-ft Birdville Independent School District’s Center of Technology and Advanced Learning is a campus focused on innovations in learning and dedicated to technology and advanced. The facility, set on nearly 15 acres, houses learning pods centered on industries such as culinary arts, engineering and construction technology. Students can gain learning experiences in real-life laboratory settings. Photo: John Thomas Related Links: Best of 2009 Award of Excellence Slideshow Best Of Slideshow Through a series of mockups and pre-construction meetings with each trade, the level of quality was established. With the help of the architect and owner, the contractor–W.G. Yates &

The Border Fence K Project consisted of six contracts connecting to create 38 mi of primary vehicle and pedestrian barrier fence from downtown El Paso east to the Fabens area. The total contract value was $170 million, with the majority of construction work completed in just four months. Photo: marblestreetstudio.com Related Links: Best of 2009 Award of Excellence Slideshow Best Of Slideshow More than 1,100 people and 600 pieces of equipment were mobilized to complete the schedule-driven project. The team was innovative in its approach to the construction of the massive project. During the estimating process, a rolling scaffold system