The editors of ENR have selected the New York City Dept. of Design and Construction (NYCDDC) as the 2023 ENR New York Owner of the Year, with an agency profile to be featured in the March print issue of ENR New York. 

The agency was chosen for recognition based on project innovation and creativity throughout the region as well as contributions to its communities. Last year, developer SL Green was chosen.

NYCDDC is building two projects worth nearly $2 billion to form a 3.22-mile flexible flood barrier along Manhattan’s east side from the Brooklyn Bridge north to East 25^th Street. The effort began in November 2020 with East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR), the country’s largest urban climate adaptation project. 

In 2023, the agency also began work on the Brooklyn Bridge-Montgomery Coastal Resiliency (BMCR), a companion project. Both are due to be completed by the end of 2026. More than 150,000 residents live in areas that will be protected by the two projects, including many in public housing that was damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

NYCDDC is also building much of the green infrastructure that New York City will rely on to manage cloudbursts and the effects of intense thunderstorms. In 2022 alone, the agency completed 1,823 rain gardens and infiltration basins that improve stormwater drainage on city streets. It is also involved in planning and execution of New York City’s Cloudburst Program, which constructs clustered stormwater management projects in flood-prone communities.

To learn more about NYCDDC work, read the March issue of ENR New York.