Associated Builders and Contractors recently presented Aurora’s Adolfson & Peterson Construction with a national award for its work on the Garden City High School and District Stadium in Garden City, Kan. The project earned the contractor a Pyramid Award in the Institutional ($25 - $100 million) category of ABC’s National Excellence in Construction Awards. A&P representatives accepted the award on February 20 during the 23rd annual Excellence in Construction Awards celebration at the Harbor Beach Marriott Resort in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Photo courtesy of Adolfson Peterson

The $90-million Garden City High School, Garden City, Kan., which is more like a community college than a high school, earned a Pyramid Award in the Institutional ($25 - $100 million) category of ABCs National Excellence in Construction Awards.

The 384,000-sq-ft school, which was built to accommodate 2,000-plus students, is located on a 121-acre lot and segmented into four distinct academies, referred to as small communities of learning (SCLs). Each SCL is represented by a different color: public service (blue), arts and communication (red), trade and health science (yellow) and a freshman academy (green).

Unified by an expansive common area designed to be anything but common, and cyber cafes meant to foster a special sense of place, the state-of-the-art facility marks a dynamic shift in the district’s and community’s approach to preparing their students for 21st-Century challenges.

“This project is an outstanding example of the innovation and commitment to superior craftsmanship that embody merit-shop construction,” said Michael D. Bellaman, ABC president and CEO.

The Excellence in Construction awards was developed to honor innovative and high-quality merit-shop construction projects. The award honors all construction team members, including the contractor, owner, architect and engineer. The winning projects, selected from entries submitted from across the nation, were judged on complexity, attractiveness, unique challenges overcome, completion time, workmanship, innovation, safety and cost.

A panel of industry experts served as judges. This year's panel included representatives from the Design-Build Institute of America, Engineering News-Record, the American Institute of Architects, the National Association of Women in Construction and representatives from higher education, among others.