Regional Projects Rise to the Top

The lobby at the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences features a helical spiral staircase. Standing 56 ft tall across three stories, it has a central spine supporting cantilevered stairs.
*Photo by Dsai and Casey Dunn Photography*

Contractors, subcontractors, design firms, owners and other stakeholders from across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas entered 120 projects into ENR Texas & Louisiana’s 2021 Best Projects competition. Out of those, an independent group of judges selected 18 Best Projects and 29 awards of merit across 18 categories.

These judges, selected from all corners of the AEC community, spent weeks reviewing entries for their achievements in five broad categories: project challenges and solutions, safety programs, innovative design and construction solutions, contribution to the construction industry and the community as well as design quality and craftsmanship. Projects could not be eligible for an award if they had a construction-related death.

The 18 Best Project winners will now advance to the national level, competing with winners from nine other regions to be considered for ENR’s Best of the Best awards. Judging for the national contest will begin later this year, with results to be announced in early 2022.

Related link: ENR Texas/Louisiana Best Projects 2021

Two special awards are also featured in this year’s contest: the Excellence in Safety Award, which is now in its ninth year, as well as a new addition to the program: the Excellence in Sustainability Award. For the safety award, a separate panel of safety judges reviewed 50 entries and selected the main category winner and three awards of merit. For sustainability, another separate jury of sustainability experts reviewed 11 entries and selected the Excellence in Sustainability winner and one award of merit.

In addition to selecting category winners, judges chose two finalists for ENR Texas & Louisiana’s 2021 Project of the Year: the First Americans Museum (Best Project in the government/public building category) and the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences (Best Project in sports/entertainment). The region’s 2021 Project of the Year was the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building (Best Project in cultural/worship). Read on to find out more about this year’s 50 winning projects.

Meet the Jury

Three separate panels of judges selected the 50 winning projects in ENR Texas & Louisiana’s 2021 Best Projects contest. Eight judges scored the main contest categories, from airport/transit to water/environment. For the Excellence in Safety award, a team of three safety experts considered factors such as a project’s overall safety program, OSHA recordable incident rate, lost-time accident rate and total worker hours on the job. For Excellence in Sustainability, a team of three sustainability experts considered factors such as how well project teams went above and beyond baseline green requirements, a project’s overall sustainability strategy, choice of materials, energy savings and environmental impact—not only within its own footprint but also on the community it serves.

Special thanks to all of this year’s judges for their help in making ENR Texas & Louisiana’s Best Projects contest possible.