Three Balfour Beatty Construction projects earned top honours at the Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) 23rd Annual Excellence in Construction Awards, which were presented on 20 February at Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The winning buildings are high-profile, new construction projects in the higher education and commercial markets in South Florida and Washington, D.C.
Over 600 were in attendance to witness Balfour Beatty Construction’s Florida Atlantic University Football Stadium, Florida Atlantic University HBOI Research Laboratory Building II, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Campus East projects win Eagle Awards, which is the highest honour bestowed upon one winner in each category of the National Excellence in Construction Awards program.
Here is more information about the project awards:
Florida Atlantic University Football Stadium – Recognised in the Institutional$25 to $100 million category: The long awaited, on-campus football stadium has been a vision for Florida Atlantic University and the Palm Beach community for many years. The new, 160,000-square-foot football stadium brings 30,000 seats and 26 lodge suites with the potential capacity of 60,000 seats to Florida Atlantic University football fans.
Tom Donaudy, University architect and vice president of facilities said, “[Balfour Beatty Construction] captured all of the critical elements that were important to us through partnering with the university and design professionals. This was a signature project for the University, and the performance of your team was outstanding.”
Florida Atlantic University HBOI Research Laboratory Building II –Recognised in the Institutional $10 to $25 million category: The new, 43,710-square-foot, state-of-the-art research laboratory is the latest addition to the Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) branch of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI), an organisation dedicated to research and education in marine sciences. The LEED Gold certified building is equipped with BSL3 labs, fume hoods, wet lab infrastructure including lab gases and clean rooms, as well as lab support and office space.
“Throughout the entire project, we were impressed with your team’s level of proactive involvement. An example includes the early identification and relocation of existing utilities, sewers and fibre optics. Without this early intervention, the project could have encountered schedule delays,” said J. Scott Baruch, associate director, facilities planning for Florida Atlantic University.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) Campus East –Recognised in the Mega Projects over $100 million category: The primary objective of the new NGA Campus East Headquarters was to consolidate 8,500 workers from six sites around the metro-Washington, D.C. area into a single, secure, technologically-advanced headquarters campus. The secondary objective was to complete the project by the Congressionally-mandated 15 September 2011 deadline. As part of a joint venture team with Clark Construction Group, LLC, Balfour Beatty Construction delivered the 2.4 million-square-foot, five-building headquarters via a fast-track schedule. This required extensive overlapping of normally sequential activities, with construction starting 18 months before design completion and NGA end users deploying into the main office building three months before substantial construction completion. By closely working with all stakeholders through a “One Team” partnering approach, Balfour Beatty Construction completed construction six months ahead of schedule and on-budget.
Mike Rogers, NGA Campus East program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said, “A large part of the success of the project is attributable to a shared vision by all of the stakeholders regarding what constituted success and the incredible flexibility demonstrated by every member of the team to ensure we reached that goal together.”
ABC is the nation’s leading commercial and industrial construction trade association. ABC’s rigorous National Excellence in Construction competition recognises the most innovative and highest quality construction projects across the country in 30 categories ranging in size and facility type.
Media enquiries:
Beth Hernandez
Balfour Beatty Construction
Tel. +1 (704) 319 4122
bhernandez@balfourbeattyus.com
Notes to editors:
1. An industry leader for more than 80 years, Balfour Beatty Construction provides general contracting, at-risk construction management, and design-build services for a wide variety of markets, serving clients in both the public and private sector. With more than 2,400 employees across the U.S., the company has been cited as a Top 10 Green Builder by Engineering News-Record, and as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For® by FORTUNE magazine, four years in a row. The company is part of London-based Balfour Beatty plc, a global infrastructure services business operating in more than 80 countries, with a worldwide commitment to providing assets that help societies function, develop, and thrive. To learn more about the company, visit www.balfourbeattyus.comor look for BalfourBeattyUS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
2. Balfour Beatty ( www.balfourbeatty.com) is a world-class infrastructure group with capabilities in professional services, construction services, support services and infrastructure investments.
We work in partnership with our customers principally in the UK, continental Europe, the US, South-East Asia, Australia and the Middle East, who value the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise.
Key infrastructure markets include transportation (roads, rail and airports); social infrastructure (education, specialist healthcare, and various types of accommodation); utilities (water, gas and power transmission and generation) and commercial (offices, leisure and retail).
The Group delivers services essential to the development, creation and care of these infrastructure assets including project design, financing and management, engineering and construction, and facilities management services.
Balfour Beatty employs 50,000 people around the world.
