As ENR Southwest’s Best Projects Competition nears its second decade of recognizing the most notable construction projects and bringing them to the attention of the construction community at large, this year’s winners are almost universally led by teams that reported doing their job faster and with less overall waste than was expected.
The Los Alamos County Nature Center, a collaboration between Los Alamos County and the local Pajarito Environmental Education Center, is a back-to-basics yet pioneering project in the heart of the New Mexico wilderness and the winner of ENR Southwest’s Project of the Year award.
A July 2013 landslide removed approximately a half-mile section of US 89 south of Page, Ariz., forcing the governor to declare an emergency and implement a temporary detour along Navajo Route 20.
The $85-million, 124,920-sq-ft milk processing facility in Fallon, Nev., includes areas for milk receiving, laboratories, silos, wet processing, evaporating, drying, packaging and storage.
The $105.5-million wastewater treatment expansion project for the city of Chandler increased capacity at the facility to 22 million gallons per day from 15 million.
Sister facilities Hohokam Stadium and Fitch Park underwent concurrent $25.6-million, one-year renovation and expansion projects when the city of Mesa added the Oakland Athletics baseball club to the city’s storied Cactus League.
Jaynes Corp. built this four-level parking structure with a capacity of more than 1,700 vehicles next to Sandia Casino without impinging upon any of the resort’s operations.
Creating the SLS Las Vegas out of the 50-year-old Sahara Hotel entailed a complete reinvention of a 1.5-million-sq-ft property and included three hotel towers.
The new home of the Arizona Burn Foundation features a revamped plaster finish, new exterior paint, a storage room, a multipurpose room, an open office area, a break room, small kitchen and conference room.
Albuquerque Convention Center authorities engaged the project team to transform the 1960s-era building into a structure that would capture “Albuquerque’s unique spirit” while not impinging on operations.
To construct the two-story, 160,000-sq-ft Building One of Liberty Center at Rio Salado, builders first utilized deep dynamic compaction to densify the soil on site—which is located close to the Salt River—to eliminate the potential for differential settlement on the $14.7-million project.
A $9.3-million project has transformed Tolleson’s downtown area into a mile-long pedestrian-friendly destination now rebranded as the Paseo de Luces, or “path of lights.”
The Robert F. Kennedy Charter High School has its first permanent structure thanks to the June 2013 to April 2015 construction of the $4.4-million multipurpose center.
After a budget crunch caused a cancellation of an athletics-only facility, the Maricopa Community College District tasked the construction team to build a multipurpose facility.
This $11.8-million, 17-month, multiphased project rearranged Banner Boswell Medical Center’s operating room department to provide the facility with an up-to-date space designed to maximize efficiency and flow.
The $74-million, 171,000-sq-ft, five-story expansion of Chandler Regional Medical Center created new emergency room facilities, operating rooms, patient rooms, food service facilities and loading docks.
The two-story, 26,000-sq-ft Central & Unser Patrick J. Baca Library in Albuquerque features state-of-the-art systems, including underfloor mechanical, electrical, security and information technology.
This 35,000-sq-ft, $8.8-million multigenerational community center on the Gila River Community includes a fitness center with a gymnasium, elevated running track, weight room, education spaces, activity rooms, gathering spaces and administrative offices.
Joining two prior Copper Mountain Solar projects already online, Copper Mountain Solar 3 in Boulder City, Nev., is one of the country’s largest photovoltaic plants and can generate up to 250 megawatts.
Seeking a home for dance and musical events produced by students, Mesa Community College decided on a $11.5-million project that morphed a 26,000-sq-ft movie house into a 48,000-sq-ft performing arts center.
Replacing boilers, chillers, generators and other major elements of the medical center’s central plant was not only seamless for patients and staff, but also came in under budget and ahead of schedule with no safety incidents.