Southwest Construction Views

The Beam on Farmer, MSG Collar at Venetian and Operation Allies Welcome were selected as finalists for ENR Southwest's Project of the Year honor. The winner will be announced at an awards banquet Oct. 31 in Phoenix.

Photos (L to R) courtesy Mortenson, KHS&S and Fluor

Earlier this month, ENR Southwest announced the category winners for its Best Projects competition, honoring the best in design and construction in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. In addition to those awards, we are now announcing the winners of two special awards, plus the three projects that judges selected as the finalists for this year's Project of the Year.

The Excellence in Safety award highlights projects that not only have an exemplary safety record, but also examines the team's safety program and lessons learned that others in the industry can benefit from. Entries for the award were judged by Timothy Bates, director of safety and health, Hensel Phelps; and Matt Gilliland, director of risk management and occupational health, Willmeng.

The winner of the Excellence in Safety award is the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project San Juan Lateral Block 4C-8, located in Gallup, N.M. The entry was submitted by Southland Holdings, and also won an award of merit in the Water/Environment category.

The judges also selected an award of merit for safety, the Mayo Clinic East Expansion, located in Phoenix. That project was submitted by McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., and was also the Best Project in the Health Care category.

The Excellence in Sustainability award evaluates how well the project team executed its overall sustainability strategy, including implementing its choice of materials, lowering energy and water usage and reducing embodied carbon. Chris Kelly, design director at Architekton, reviewed this year's entries.

The winner of the Excellence in Sustainability award is The Beam on Farmer, located in Tempe, Ariz. Mortenson submitted the project, which also won a Best Project in the Office/Retail/Mixed-Use category.

From the previously announced main category winners, judges spotlighted here also selected their top picks for consideration for Project of the Year. You can learn more about these three projects, and all the winners, in the next edition of ENR Southwest. The Project of the Year winner will be revealed at a luncheon on Oct. 31 at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel, plus all winners will be recognized and celebrated. Click here for more info about the event and to register

Project of the Year Finalists

Blair leads day-to-day operations of the ENR editorial team to ensure brand quality and further best practices. He spearheads ENR's various competitions, including Best Projects and the Award of Excellence, and organizes editorial content at events including the Top Young Professionals conference. A Jesse H. Neal, Construction Media Alliance and AZBEES-award-winning writer and videographer, Blair frequently contributes to ENR’s burgeoning video channel with project tour videos and interviews with industry leaders. He is also a frequent speaker and moderator on topics such as diversity and inclusion, design and jobsite technology, construction means and methods and marketing.