This year’s ENR New England Best Projects competition honors projects that used a wide range of materials and construction techniques, from the modular Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab in Boston to the mass-timber University of Massachusetts Amherst Design Building. The winning entries also include trailblazing jobs such as sea2shore: The Renewable Link, a project that interconnected the nation’s first commercial offshore wind farm to the mainland power grid in Rhode Island. Another notable project on this year’s list is the new Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The team helped rewrite state and federal school-security guidelines in a way that was sensitive to the survivors of the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults. These projects are but a few examples of the 24 winners— from 29 entries—selected by the judges.
Five industry professionals, plus a safety specialist, judged projects in 15 categories. The judges considered a team’s ability to overcome challenges; the project’s contribution to the industry and community; safety; and the project’s design and construction quality.