For construction industry firms, 2021 must have seemed like a repeat of 2020, with ongoing pandemic-related impacts, such as supply-chain problems and workforce challenges.
From climate change to the industry’s mental health crisis to its need for diversity, equity and inclusion, the urgency for industry change was a dominant theme of a joint conference of the Construction Users Roundtable and the Construction Industry Institute Feb. 7-9 in Orlando.
In 2021, the Southeast construction industry needed the best efforts of these talented up-and-coming leaders to not only overcome the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, but also to address massive challenges such as water quality and the coming impacts of climate change.
To deliver the AIRA Residences project in Kuala Lumpur, builders had to overcome the differing challenges of transforming an existing 17-story, 64-unit residential structure built more than 40 years ago into a near replica of the sparkling, brand-new 18-story “twin” they were constructing next to it.
This year’s Best Projects contest covered work completed between May 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021. In other words, the period of time that saw the COVID-19 pandemic at its most virulent and impactful to broad sections of the U.S. economy, including the construction industry.