After many hours of review, discussion and debate, industry judges have chosen 20 projects as ENR’s Best of the Best, representing the pinnacle of design and construction achievement in their respective categories from across the U.S.
The competition began last March with a call for entries, which resulted in more than 800 project teams submitting their best work to regional Best Projects competitions. In each of 10 regions, editors assembled a panel of judges to select winners in 18 construction sector categories among entries completed between May 2023 and May 2024. Projects also were chosen for special awards citing Excellence in Safety and Excellence in Sustainability.
Regional winners chosen in each category then moved up to the national competition—more than 200 projects in total. A new group of 19 judges from across the U.S. and industry sectors examined each project to choose the "best of the best" based on teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation and quality.
The judges were Joe Cazares, Jacobs; Nicholas DeNichilo, Mott MacDonald (retired); Keith Douglas, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.; Bart Eberwein, Hoffman Corp. (retired); Camilo Garcia, DPR; Emily Harrold, Multi.studio; Sam Hassoun, GLA Corp.; Randy Iwasaki, Iwasaki Consulting Services; Parham Khoshkbari, Google; A. Ben Perrone, Sundt; Rachel Rasmussen, Architekton; John Schaufelberger, University of Washington College of Built Environments; Cliff Schexnayder, Del E. Webb School of Construction, Arizona State University; Brad Tackett, Sundt; and Claire Weisz, WXY Studio.
Safety experts Steve Acosta at Blach Construction and Carl Heinlein at American Contractors Insurance Group judged for the Excellence in Safety award, reviewing 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 and Shefali H. Sanghvi at Dattner Architects selected the Excellence in Sustainability awardee—based on level of innovation and intensity in a project's sustainability strategy and the success of its outcome.
Winning projects will be featured in more depth in the March 17, 2025 issue of ENR. Also in that issue, ENR editors, in collaboration with the judges, will select three Project of the Year finalists that will include The Project of the Year. Finalist contenders will be revealed in coming weeks.
Join the winners in New York City on March 27 when project teams will receive their awards at a brunch at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City, and later recognized, along with the Top 25 Newsmakers and this year's Award of Excellence winner, during ENR's annual Award of Excellence Gala that evening at Pier Sixty.
For more information, visit https://www.enr.com/enr-award-of-excellence.
Watch for the launch of next year’s 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 in the spring.
Airport/Transit
Northwest Phase II Extension Light Rail Transit, located in Phoenix. Originally submitted by Kiewit-McCarthy, a Joint Venture (KMJV) to ENR Southwest
Cultural/Worship
Missouri Botanical Garden Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center, located in St. Louis, Mo. Originally submitted by IMEG Corp. to ENR Midwest
Energy/Industrial
Baytown Supermodule Furnace, located in Baytown, Texas. Originally submitted by PCL Industrial Construction Co. to ENR Texas & Louisiana
Excellence in Safety
Midtown Union, located in Atlanta. Originally submitted by Brasfield & Gorrie to ENR Southeast
Excellence in Sustainability
County of San Mateo, County Office Building 3 (COB3), located in Redwood City, Calif. Originally submitted by Truebeck Construction to ENR California
Government/Public Building
County of San Diego Southeastern Live Well Center, located in San Diego. Originally submitted by PCL Construction to ENR California
Health Care
Mayo Clinic AZ Bold Forward West Expansion, located in Phoenix. Originally submitted by DPR Construction to ENR Southwest
Higher Education/Research
Advanced Engineering Building at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, located in Las Vegas. Originally submitted by CORE Construction to ENR Southwest
Highway/Bridge
Replacement of Tower Elevators and Miscellaneous Rehab at the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge (MP-09), located in Brooklyn, N.Y. Originally submitted by Kiewit Infrastructure Co. to ENR New York
Interior/Tenant Improvement
Google, St. John’s Terminal, located in New York City. Originally submitted by Structure Tone to ENR New York
K-12 Education
Bard High School Early College, located in Washington, D.C. Originally submitted by MCN Build to ENR MidAtlantic
Landscape/Urban Development
East Midtown Greenway, located in New York City. Originally submitted by Skanska to ENR New York
Manufacturing
United Therapeutics Phase 5 cGMP Warehouse, located in Durham, N.C. Originally submitted by DPR Construction to ENR Southeast
Office/Retail/Mixed-Use
The Aerie On-Mountain Restaurant, located in Frisco (Copper Mountain), Colo. Originally submitted by Hyder Construction to ENR Mountain States
Renovation/Restoration
Victory Lofts, located in Johnson City, N.Y. Originally submitted by LeChase Construction Services LLC to ENR New York
Residential/Hospitality
The Fifth Avenue Hotel, located in New York City. Originally submitted by CNY Group to ENR New York
Small Project
Spellacy Bridge Reconstruction, located in Holmes County, Ohio. Originally submitted by Kokosing Construction Co. Inc.. to ENR Midwest
Specialty Construction
Minnesota Zoo Treetop Trail, located in Apple Valley, Minn. Originally submitted by PCL Construction to ENR Midwest
Sports/Entertainment
Colorado Convention Center Expansion, located in Denver. Originally submitted by Hensel Phelps to ENR Mountain States
Water/Environment
Denver Water Northwater Treatment Plant, located in Arvada, Colo. Originally submitted by Denver Water to ENR Mountain States
