After much review, discussion and debate, judges have arrived at the 20 winners of ENR’s Best of the Best Projects competition. This announcement is the culmination of a nearly year-long effort involving just under 100 construction industry experts selected by ENR editors to judge various stages of the contest. The projects listed below represent the pinnacle of design and construction achievement in their respective categories from across the U.S., for work completed between May 2021 and May 2022.
The competition began last March with a call for entries, which resulted in more than 600 teams submitting their best work to regional Best Projects competitions. In each of the 10 regions, editors assembled a panel of judges to select winners in 18 categories—from airport/transit to sports/entertainment—in that region. Special awards were also given for Excellence in Safety and Excellence in Sustainability.
Top winners in each category from each region then moved up to the national competition – some 180 projects in total. A new group of 15 judges from across the nation and industry sectors examined each project to select the best of the best in terms of teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation and quality.
The judges were Connie Crawford, ASTM North America; Keith Douglas, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.; Bart Eberwein, Hoffman Corp.; Steven T. Halverson, The Haskell Co. (retired); Sam Hassoun, GLA Corp.; Randy Iwasaki, Amazon Web Services; Chuck Jablon, Skanska; Sam Mishelow, MEYER NAJEM; Rachel Rasmussen, Architekton; Scott P. Root, Kitchell Integrated Services; Cliff Schexnayder, Consultant; and Edgar Westerhof, Arcadis U.S. Inc.
For the Excellence in Safety award, safety experts Steve Acosta at Blach Construction and Carl Heinlein at American Contractors Insurance Group reviewed incident rates, worker hours and innovation in safety programs to determine the winner.
Green building experts Yayu Lin of Sares Regis Group of Northern California, Shefali H. Sanghvi at Dattner Architects and Jeff Stanton at SmithGroup selected the Excellence in Sustainability award winner, based on the level of innovation and intensity of a project's sustainability strategy, and the success of its outcome.
The judges and winning projects will be featured in more depth in the March 20 issue of ENR. Also in that issue, the editors of ENR, in collaboration with the judges, will select three Project of the Year Finalists, which will be revealed in the coming weeks. One will be deemed the Project of the Year, which also will be revealed in the March 20 issue.
Come celebrate these projects in New York City on April 13-14. Teams will be recognized as a group during ENR's Annual Award of Excellence Gala on April 13 at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City, along with ENR’s Top 25 Newsmakers and Award of Excellence winner. Each winning team will then receive its award and have an opportunity to speak at the Best of the Best Projects breakfast ceremony on April 14 at the Edison Ballroom. For more information, visit https://www.enr.com/aoe
We are just a few weeks from launching the call for entries for our 2023 Regional U.S. Best Projects 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 goes live this spring.)
Airport/Transit
Regional Connector Transit Project, located in Los Angeles. Originally submitted by Skanska USA Civil to ENR California
Cultural/Worship
Audrey Irmas Pavilion at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, located in Los Angeles. Originally submitted by MATT Construction to ENR California
Energy/Industrial
Riazzi Substation, located in Pittsburgh. Originally submitted by Burns & McDonnell to ENR MidAtlantic
Government/Public Building
Ardie R. Copas State Veterans Nursing Home, located in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Originally submitted by OHLA Building, Inc. to ENR Southeast
Health Care
Children’s Hospital Hubbard Center, located in Omaha. Originally submitted by HDR to ENR Midwest
Higher Education/Research
The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, located in Nashville, Tenn. Originally submitted by R.C. Mathews Contractor to ENR Southeast
Highway/Bridge
Chelsea Viaduct Rehabilitation, located in Chelsea, Mass. Originally submitted by Skanska USA Northeast Inc. to ENR New England
Interior/Tenant Improvement
BART Headquarters, located in Oakland, Calif. Originally submitted by Turner Construction to ENR California
K-12 Education
San Francisco Day School, located in San Francisco. Originally submitted by Herrero Builders to ENR California
Landscape/Urban Development
Francisco Park, located in San Francisco. Originally submitted by Sherwood Design Engineers to ENR California
Manufacturing
Genentech Clinical Supply Center, located in South San Francisco. Originally submitted by XL Construction to ENR California
Office/Retail/Mixed-Use
415 Natoma, located in San Francisco. Originally submitted by Swinerton Builders to ENR California
Renovation/Restoration
Four Seasons New Orleans Hotel and Residences, located in New Orleans. Originally submitted by Woodward Tishman, A Joint Venture, to ENR Texas & Louisiana
Residential/Hospitality
Lone Rock Retreat, located in Bailey, Colo. Originally submitted by Hyder Construction to ENR Mountain States
Small Project
Boundary Dam Spillway No. 1 TDG Modifications Removal, located in Metaline Falls, Wash. Originally submitted by IMCO General Construction to ENR Northwest
Specialty Construction
Port of Long Beach Fireboat Station No. 15 at Pier F, located in Long Beach, Calif. Originally submitted by Pinner Construction Co. Inc. to ENR California
Sports/Entertainment
Climate Pledge Arena, located in Seattle. Originally submitted by Thornton Tomasetti Inc. to ENR Northwest
Water/Environment
Cutter Lateral Reach 21 Water Treatment Plant and Associated Items, located in Bloomfield, N.M. Originally submitted by Jacobs (prior CH2M) to ENR Southwest
Excellence in Safety
Meow Wolf Convergence Station, located in Denver. Originally submitted by Turner Construction Co. to ENR Mountain States
Excellence in Sustainability
Department of General Services California Air Resources Board – Mary D. Nichols Campus, located in Riverside, Calif. Originally submitted by Hensel Phelps to ENR California
