I am pleased to present the winners of ENR’s Best of the Best Projects for 2016, the culmination of a nearly year-long effort put forth by dozens of industry judges and the ENR editorial team to identify the pinnacle of design and construction achievement in the entire U.S. among projects completed between May 2015 and June 2016.

The competition began last March with a call for entries to the construction industry, which resulted in more than 700 industry project teams submitting their work to the regional Best Projects competitions. In each of the 10 regions, the editors assembled panels of judges to select the regional winners in 20 categories.

Once the regional winners were chosen, the top winners in each category from each region moved up to the national competition. A brand new set of judges from across the country and from all walks of the industry examined each project in an effort to distinguish the best from the best in terms of teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation and quality.

For the Excellence in Safety award, a separate panel if industry safety managers and experts reviewed the incident rates, worker hours and safety programs to determine the winner. That winning project is the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. 

The projects and judges will be featured in more depth in the March 3, 2017 issue of ENR. Also in that issue, the editors of ENR will select one project from the winning projects selected by the judges as the Project of the Year, which won’t be revealed until the issue date. Until then, on behalf of the staff of ENR and all the judges, congratulations to all the winners! 

Come celebrate the winners at the Best of the Best Projects Awards Banquet in New York City. The project teams will be honored at the Award of Excellence gala dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown on April 13, and award plaques will be presented to the project teams at a breakfast ceremony on April 14. For more information, visit www.enrawardofexcellence.com/ .

Note: if you have an outstanding project located anywhere in the world, be sure to submit it to ENR’s next competition – Global Best Projects, which will begin accepting entries in a few weeks. At least one project team member firm must be based outside of the country where the project site is located. Check http://www.enr.com/bestprojects/global for general information about the contest. The entry form will go live in mid-February.

Best of the Best Airport/Transit Project

Number 7 Subway Line Extension, located in New York City. Submitted by Hill International Inc. to ENR New York

Best of the Best Cultural/Worship Project

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Expansion, located in San Francisco. Submitted by Webcor Builders to ENR California

Best of the Best Energy/Industrial Project

Elk Station 2 & 3, located in Abernathy, Texas. Submitted by TIC-The Industrial Co. to ENR Texas & Louisiana

Best of the Best Government/Public Building Project

Onondaga Lakeview Amphitheater, located in Syracuse, N.Y. Submitted by Gilbane Building Co. to ENR New York

Best of the Best Green Project

Google Kirkland Campus - Building D, located in Kirkland, Wash. Submitted by DLR Group to ENR Northwest

Best of the Best Health Care Project

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care, located in Philadelphia. Submitted by Turner Construction Co. to ENR MidAtlantic

Best of the Best Higher Education/Research Project

Allen Institute, located in Seattle. Submitted by McKinstry to ENR Northwest

Best of the Best Highway/Bridge Project

CDOT Twin Tunnels Expansion Program CMGC, located in Idaho Springs, Colo. Submitted by Kraemer North America LLC to ENR Mountain States

Best of the Best Interior/Tenant Improvement Project

Nixon Peabody, located in Washington, D.C. Submitted by DAVIS Construction to ENR MidAtlantic

Best of the Best K-12 Education Project

Wayne County - Grantham Middle School & Spring Creek Middle School, located in Goldsboro, N.C. Submitted by Metcon Inc. to ENR Southeast

Best of the Best Landscape/Urban Development Project

African Adventure at Fresno Chaffee Zoo, located in Fresno, Calif. Submitted by Harris Construction Co. Inc. to ENR California

Best of the Best Manufacturing Project

New Belgium East Coast Brewery, located in Asheville, N.C. Submitted by Adolfson & Peterson Construction to ENR Southeast

Best of the Best Office/Retail/Mixed-Use Project

The Tower at PNC Plaza, located in Pittsburgh. Submitted by Gensler to ENR MidAtlantic

Best of the Best Renovation/Restoration Project

The Gin at the Hutto Co-Op District, located in Hutto, Texas. Submitted by American Constructors Inc. to ENR Texas & Louisiana

Best of the Best Residential/Hospitality Project

Community First! Village, located in Austin, Texas. Submitted by Stantec to ENR Texas & Louisiana

Best of the Best Small Project (under $10 million)

Baltimore Visitor Center Renovation, located in Baltimore. Submitted by Wohlsen Construction Co. to ENR MidAtlantic

Best of the Best Specialty Construction Project

Antony Gormley Sculpture Fabrication & Installation, located in Cambridge, Mass. Submitted by Summit Metal Fabricators to ENR New England

Best of the Best Sports/Entertainment Project

Polk Penguin Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo, located in Detroit. Submitted by DeMaria/Wharton-Smith JV to ENR Midwest

Best of the Best Water/Environment Project

Blue Plains Tunnel, located in Washington, D.C. Submitted by DC Water to ENR MidAtlantic

Best of the Best - Excellence in Safety

T-Mobile Arena, located in Las Vegas. Submitted by AECOM Hunt to ENR Southwest