After countless hours of review, discussion and debate, industry judges have chosen 20 projects as ENR’s Best of the Best for last year.

The selections follow a nearly year-long effort by more than 100 construction industry experts selected by ENR editors to judge entries at various contest stages. Projects listed below represent top design and construction achievement in their respective categories from across the U.S. among entries completed between May 2022 and May 2023.

The competition began last March with a call for entries, which resulted in more than 800 project teams submitting their best work to regional Best Projects competitions. In each of 10 regions, editors assembled a panel of judges to select winners in 18 construction sector categories. Projects also were selected for special awards citing Excellence in Safety and Excellence in Sustainability. 

Regional winners chosen in each category then moved up to the national competition—nearly 200 projects in total. A new group of 17 judges from across the U.S. and industry sectors examined each project to choose the best of the best based on teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation and quality.

The judges were Jamey Barbas, New York State Thruway Authority; Keith Douglas, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.; Bart Eberwein, Hoffman Corp. (retired); William Haas, AECOM; Marcos Diaz Gonzalez, STV; Emily Harrold, Multi.studio; Sam Hassoun, GLA Corp.; Randy Iwasaki, Iwasaki Consulting Services; Chuck Jablon, Skanska USA Building Co.; Joan MacDonald, JMM Strategic Solutions; Cliff Schexnayder, Del E. Webb School of Construction, Arizona State University; Mike Medici, SmithGroup (retired); and Claire Weisz, WXY Studio

Safety experts Steve Acosta at Blach Construction and Carl Heinlein at American Contractors Insurance Group judged for the Excellence in Safety award, reviewing incident rates, worker hours and innovation in safety programs to determine the winner.

Green building experts Yayu Lin of Sares Regis Group of Northern California and Shefali H. Sanghvi at Dattner Architects selected the Excellence in Sustainability awardee—based on the level of innovatiion and intensity in a project's sustainability strategy and the success of its outcome.   

Judges and winning projects will be featured in more depth in the March 11 issue of ENR. Also in that issue, the editors of ENR, in collaboration with the judges, will select three Project of the Year Finalists, to be revealed in coming weeks. One of those will be deemed Project of the Year, also to be revealed in the issue. 

Come join the winners in New York City on April 11 when project teams will receive their awards at a brunch at Edison Ballroom in New York City, and later recognized, along with the Top 25 Newsmakers and Award of Excellence winner, during ENR's annual Award of Excellence Gala that evening at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City.  For more information, visit https://www.enr.com/enr-award-of-excellence.

We are just a few short weeks from launching the call for entries for our 2024 Regional U.S. Best Projects competition. For more information, visit last year's entry page at www.enr.com/bestprojects/  Entry dates and eligibility will be updated once the call for entries goes live this spring.

See below the winners for last year:

Airport/Transit

Orlando International Airport Terminal C, located in Orlando, Fla. Originally submitted by HNTB to ENR Southeast

Cultural/Worship

Orange County Museum of Art, located in Costa Mesa, Calif. Originally submitted by Clark Construction to ENR California

Energy/Industrial

Microsoft Thermal Energy Center, located in Redmond, Wash. Originally submitted by GLY Construction to ENR Northwest

Excellence in Sustainability

1021 O Street State Office Building, located in West Sacramento, Calif. Originally submitted by Hensel Phelps to ENR California

Excellence in Safety

UVA Inn at Darden – The Forum Hotel, located in Charlottesville, Va. Originally submitted by W.M. Jordan Co. to ENR MidAtlantic

Government/Public Building

National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), located in Manhattan, Kan. Originally submitted by McCarthy Mortenson Joint Venture to ENR Midwest

Health Care

Mayo Clinic East Expansion, located in Phoenix. Originally submitted by McCarthy Building Cos. to ENR Southwest

Higher Education/Research

Bowdoin College, the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies and Barry Mills Hall, located in Brunswick, Maine. Originally submitted by Consigli Construction Co. to ENR New England

Highway/Bridge

Sixth Street Viaduct, located in Los Angeles. Originally submitted by HNTB Corp. to ENR California

Interior/Tenant Improvement

Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center Electrophysiology Lab and Surgical Services Expansion, located in Houston. Originally submitted by Kitchell to ENR Texas & Louisiana 

K-12 Education

Against the Current Career Academy, located in Macy, Neb. Originally submitted by Boyd Jones to ENR Midwest

Landscape/Urban Development

Memorial Park Central Connector, located in Houston. Originally submitted by Ardurra Group, Inc. to ENR Texas & Louisiana

Manufacturing

Riverbend Meats Processing Plant, located in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Originally submitted by Big-D Construction to ENR Mountain States

Office/Retail/Mixed-Use

The Spiral, located in New York City. Originally submitted by WSP USA to ENR New York

Renovation/Restoration

Kings Bay Dry Dock Recapitalization, located in St. Marys, Ga. Originally submitted by Alberici-Mortenson, A Joint Venture to ENR Southeast

Residential/Hospitality

Aston Martin Residences, located in Miami. Originally submitted by DeSimone Consulting Engineering to ENR Southeast

Small Project

Primary Children's Hospital Hybrid Operating Room, located in Salt Lake City. Originally submitted by Jacobsen Construction Co. to ENR Mountain States

Specialty Construction

Martin Marietta Texas Quarry Highwall Stabilization, located in Baltimore. Originally submitted by GeoStabilization International to ENR MidAtlantic

Sports/Entertainment

Gainbridge Fieldhouse of the Future Modernization, located in Indianapolis. Originally submitted by Shiel Sexton Co. to ENR Midwest

Water/Environment

Johnson County Tomahawk Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility Improvements, located in Leawood, Kan. Originally submitted by McCarthy Building Cos.to ENR Midwest