Region's Winning Teams Withstand Tough 2020

ENR MidAtlantic’s Best Projects judges pick 34 winning projects

Southwest Neighborhood Library, Washington D.C. — The Southwest Neighborhood Library in Washington, D.C., is the region’s first winner of the Excellence in Sustainability award.
*Photo by Jeff Allen, courtesy of Turner Construction*

For the construction industry, 2020 clearly posed major challenges. But ENR MidAtlantic’s Best Projects judges still found good reason to recognize excellence, selecting 34 projects in a variety of categories. Two separate panels of industry judges reviewed almost 100 projects from across the region—which includes Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

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This year’s judges were Ted Holt, vice president at Gilbane Building Co.; Heather McClimans, resident construction manager at Gannett Fleming; Ryan Johnson, architect | computational design specialist at Clark Nexsen; Brian Neckermann, project manager at the Walsh Group; and Pasco Umbriac, vice president at Clark Construction Group.

The criteria used to evaluate projects and their teams included overcoming challenges, contribution to the industry and community, safety and construction and design quality. Judges could select any combination of Best Project category winners and award of merit honorees. Projects had to have been completed between May 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021. Judges could not vote in categories that included projects in which they or their firms were involved.

This year, ENR MidAtlantic included a sustainability category for the first time. That category’s judge—Josh Rollins, senior manager, marketing and pursuit management at Suffolk—scored projects based on overall sustainability strategy, choice of materials and energy savings. Major green designations such as LEED and WELL are preferable, but not absolutely critical. This year’s Excellence in Sustainability award went to the Southwest Neighborhood Library in Washington, D.C.

This year’s safety judges—Bob McCall, Master Builders’ Association of Western Pennsylvania director of safety, and Abby Ferri, senior risk control consultant at Gallagher—selected the Hyatt Place at National Harbor as the Excellence in Safety award winner.

The Wilson and The Elm in Bethesda, Md., was honored as the region’s overall Project of the Year.