Texas & SoutheastTexas & Southeast Construction NewsBest Projects2018

Southeast 2018 Best Projects Awards Highlight Industry's 'Best'

The South Airport Terminal Automated People Mover Complex at Orlando International Airport was named a Best Projects winner in the airport/transit category.

*PHOTO BY JOE BROOKS PHOTOGRAPHY*

The “biggest” project doesn’t always carry the day in ENR Southeast’s annual Best Projects contest. True, a project’s sizable scope can easily impress, but mostly it’s a design and construction team’s outstanding management, execution and attention to detail that capture the attention of judges as they hand out the major awards.

A case in point is this year’s Project of the Year, the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Fla. After earning a Best Projects award in the small project category, the complex facility went on to beat out other, larger projects for this year’s top prize. The achievement marks the first time that a small project has gone on to claim the Project of the Year prize.

And while relatively “small” in size, the project’s challenges were daunting. From the project’s location on a brownfield site to the museum’s unusual shape and layout, this year’s judges were impressed with the details of how the Oelrich Construction-led team managed to meet the demands that the Cade Museum presented.

Beyond the Project of the Year, impressive construction and design achievements abound. One of the most impressive achievements was delivered by the Kiewit-led team that built the Allen Combined-Cycle Plant—a project that’s on the other end of the size scale from Cade. In addition to winning in the energy/industrial category, the project also took home the Excellence in Safety award. The massive project logged more than 2.7 million work-hours without a single lost-time incident—an achievement that is definitely worthy of industry recognition.

ENR Southeast would like to offer its sincere thanks to this year’s judges, who included: Jamie Breme with Fluor Corp.; Keith Douglas of Whiting-Turner; Baker Glasgow, Clancy Theys Construction; Pam Little, Pond & Co.; Ray Riddle, Holder Construction; and Daniel Whiteman, Coastal Construction. Additionally, a separate panel of safety experts reviewed projects nominated for our safety award. These judges included Jeffrey Ruebesam of Fluor and Deborah Hampton of Odebrecht.

The following pages offer details from all Best Projects and award of merit winners.

KEYWORDS: ENR Southeast Best Projects

Scott Judy is ENR’s Managing Editor. His roughly 34 years as a construction journalist began with an 11-year stint visiting and writing about construction projects in the Midwest region of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Then, in 2000, Judy helped launch ENR Southeast, now known as ENR Texas & Southeast. After all these years, Judy says his favorite part of being an ENR editor is visiting job sites and learning how—and reporting on—a team’s approach to overcoming the project’s design and construction challenges. And Judy says he never turns down an invitation for a project visit.