Meet the 2014 Global Best Projects Judges
These independent industry leaders distinguished the Global Best Projects winners based on each entry's innovation, safety performance, global teamwork, quality and success in overcoming challenges.

Halley VI Antarctic Research Station
The $42-million modular research station sits on legs affixed to skis, to help it escape potential hazards in the harsh Antarctic climate.

Photo courtesy of British Antarctic Survey/Sam Burrell

Best Project: Dragon Bridge - Da Nang, Vietnam
Da Nangs new iconic structure built through American-Vietnamese collaboration among engineers and contractors.

Award of Merit: New Europe Bridge - Bulgaria/Romania
This new Bulgaria-Romania link helps stimulate the local economy.

Photo courtesy of Louis Berger

Best Project: Canadian Museum for Human Rights - Winnipeg, Canada
Judges were impressed by the building teams use of virtual design and construction tools to help execute the asymmetrical architecture

Award of Merit: TsingTao Pearl Visitors Center - Qingdao, China
The builders of the TsingTao Pearl Visitors Center combined work on two continents to create a free-form mass-timber frame in China.

Photo courtesy of PCL Construction/Smith Carter Architects

Best Project: Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse - Long Beach, Calif.
The $490-million project is the first in the United States to use a performance-based infrastructure approach.

Award of Merit: U.S. Embassy Compound - Dakar, Senegal
Contractor B.L. Harbert had to import more than 110,000 cubic yards of structural fill to raise the site's grade over the 100-year floodplain.

Photo courtesy of AECOM/Robb Williamson

Best Project: Center for Sustainable Landscapes - Pittsburgh, Penn.
In developing the Center for Sustainable Landscapes in Pittsburgh, the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens took aim at unprecedented levels of achievement in green building.

Award of Merit: U.S. Embassy Compound, Phase 1 - Helsinki, Finland
Repurposing the 100-year-old U.S. Embassy in Helsinki for current and future use challenged the project team to blend historic components with new technology and heightened security mandates.

Best Project: Superabsorbent Polymers Project - Jubail, Saudi Arabia
With an end product that will be used in diapers, this Saudi Arabian plant required high cleanliness standards during construction.

Award of Merit: Y-Tec Keylex Mexico Automotive Parts Manufacturing Facility - Salamanca, Mexico
A multi-cultural approach enables project team to coordinate members across three nations, while a zero incident goal yields an impressive safety record.

Photo courtesy of Fluor

Best Project: The Place, London
The Place builders contended with an extremely complex site, including active bus and rail stations.

Photo Courtesy of Sellar

Best Project: Al Khairat Gas Turbine Power Plant, Karbala, Iraq
Global team, led by Calik Enerji of Turkey, completed the countrys largest power plant, 1,250 MW, which adds 20% to its electricity output.

Award of Merit: Ras Al Khair Aluminum Smelter, Saudi Arabia
Bechtel finished a $4.2-billion smelter ahead of schedule in Saudi Arabia with 14,000 workers and recorded just four lost days.

Photo courtesy of Calik Enerji

Best Project: Repairs to 10,000 Quake Damaged Houses, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
U.S. engineering firm leads the way to safe, cost effective repairs to 10,000 eqrthquake damaged Haitian homes.

Photo courtesy of Miyamoto International

Best Project: Curundu Urban Renovation Rebuilds Community, Panama City, Panama
The $108.8-million urban revitalization project in Panama City, Panama, added 1,000 modern housing units and helped transform a struggling community.

Award of Merit: THR350, Hong Kong
Rough, hilly terrain for construction and unique materials to source created challenges that the buildings crews met.

Photo courtesy Construtora Norberto Odebrecht

Best Project: Shams Abu Dhabi Gateway Towers, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The Shams Gateway Towers set records and managed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis.

Best Project: The Star, Singapore
Collaboration enabled highly productive and efficient construction of a complex geometric structure that recognized local cultural themes.

Photo courtesy Baccar Jazza

Best Project: Panama Wastewater Treatment Plant, Panama City, Panama
Panama City Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest biological nutrient removal plant of its kind in Central America.

Photo by Rodrigo Guerrero