The Construction Management Association of America’s Annual Construction Management Project Achievement Awards program recognizes outstanding achievement in the practice of construction management. Our Award winners serve as examples for CMAA to promote professionalism and excellence in the management of the construction process.

The competition is open to all CMAA corporate member firms. Nominated projects must have been completed during the past year. The criteria for evaluating nominees focuses on the elements of cost, schedule, quality, and overall project management which exemplify CMAA’s standards of practice.

CMAA Project Achievement Awards 
are classified in the following categories:

Public Project with less than $20 million of Constructed Value
                              
Private Project with less than $20 million of Constructed Value

Public Project with less than $100 million of Constructed Value

Private Project with less than $100 million of Constructed Value
                                
Public Project with more than $100 million of Constructed Value

Private Project with more than $100 million of Constructed Value

International Project of the Year
                               

PUBLIC PROJECT UNDER 20 MILLION DOLLARS

Project - Restoration of the New Jersey Statehouse Dome in Trenton, New Jersey
Owner - The State of New Jersey, Department of the Treasury
Project CM - Gilbane Building Company

The 110-year-old dome, covered in 23 karat gold leaf, sits atop the second oldest functioning statehouse in the country.  Its restoration involved structural repair and replacement, cast iron repair and restoration, copper roofing, exterior gilding, interior restoration, and conservation of plaster and decorative painting.

Gilbane was also called on to build one of the most technically complex scaffolding and hoisting systems ever created in the United States, providing a safe job site 145 feet above the ground.

Moreover, the project had to be completed with minimal disruption to the business of government, which went on throughout the construction period.

Gilbane managed the transport of hundreds of the Dome's disassembled pieces to off-site locations and provided for their safe return and reassembly.

They also constructed access tunnels and corridors to connect the two wings of the State House during work on the Dome and Rotunda.

Gilbane's approach was to manage each component as a job within a job assigning a priority to each and working methodically to complete each step.

As a result, the project was delivered on time, with an excellent safety record, and savings of more than $2.7 million compared to the original budget.

PRIVATE PROJECT UNDER 20 MILLION DOLLARS

Project - Continental Express Training Center At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston Texas
Owner - Continental Airlines
Project CM - Hanscomb, Inc.

Houston is home to Continental and one of its major hubs.  The Airline is in the midst of a very substantial expansion of its facilities at George Bush Airport, of which this newly completed training facility for Continental is a key part.

Continental has ordered 215 new regional jet aircraft, and is challenged to provide training for cockpit and flight crews.  To meet this need, it planned a new 32,000 square foot facility housing a full-motion simulator, various other training devices, 11 training rooms and other facilities.

Since Continental anticipates hiring 400 new pilots and 240 new flight attendants by year's end, the new facility was an urgent need.  Hanscomb was challenged, in the project, by an extremely tight seven-month building schedule for a building that incorporated some very sophisticated systems.

Hanscomb was able to trim six weeks from the schedule by staging a full-team single day structural steel design review.  The CM was involved in all phases of the project - from design onward.

A special early occupancy program had to be worked out with the City of Houston to allow simulator training to begin prior to the final certification of occupancy.

The training facility met its ambitious schedule and came in under budget, with no serious injuries and no claims.

PUBLIC PROJECT UNDER 100 MILLION DOLLARS

Project - Sod Run Wastewater Treatment Plan in Harford County, Maryland
Owner - Harford County
Project CM - Construction Dynamics Group, Inc.

Harford County faced a need to upgrade an existing wastewater treatment facility from 10 million gallons per day capacity to 20 million, incorporating an advanced biological nutrient removal facility to meet the mandates of the Chesapeake Bay Intiative.

An initial planning study had pegged the cost of the project at $84 million.  Involvement of Construction Dynamics as CM from the earliest stages of the project, however, resulted in an immediate savings when the firm was able to identify design improvements and a new construction strategy that reduced the cost by $19 million.

The project extended over a six-year period governed by the county's needs, the regulatory requirements and the need to keep the existing plant operating while the new one was built over and around. it.

Operations input into the design helped bring control and improvements, and constructibility reviews helped keep change orders to less than two percent in phase one and three percent in phase two.

The entire project came in under budget.  A systematic partnering strategy, coupled with comprehensive management of every stage of this complex project, helped prevent claims and keep change orders low.

PRIVATE PROJECT UNDER $100 MILLION 

Project - The Lehigh Valley Hospital, Fred J. Jaindl Family Pavilion
Project CM - Alvin H. Butz, Inc.

This project added 260,000 square feet to an existing complex of five facilities, and provided new space for diagnostic services, intensive care, labor and deliver, storage and expanded physical plant.

The CM approach began immediately to contribute to enhancing this project.  Alvin H. Butz's input into the layout and the construction of mechanical spaces resulted in a smaller basement, and therefore lower excavation and rock removal costs.

Similar major savings were realized in mechanical equipment, electrical installation, and other areas.

In addition to money, The Butz company contributed to significant time savings as well, by adopting a fast track approach that recognized the Hospital's occupancy requirements and other needs.

This fast-track approach required very careful coordination among the various parties to the project. Total change orders were only about one-tenth of one percent of the project cost despite the fact that the floor plan layout, use and occupancy schedules were in constant flux throughout the project's life.

In the process, the company responded to numerous owner-generated changes.  For example, they met a request to deliver the first floor out of sequence, five months prior to the completion of the building.

And throughout the construction, Lehigh Valley Hospital's medical staff, patients and visitors suffered minimal inconvenience.

PUBLIC PROJECT MORE THAN $100 MILLION

Project - Trax Light Rail Project in Salt Lake City, Utah
Owner - Utah Transit Authority
Project CM - Carter & Burgess, Inc.

This project was completed 13 months ahead of schedule and $20 million under budget, major accomplishments for such an extensive and complex project.

The 15-mile rail system traverses 12.5 miles of existing railway corridor, plus 2.5 miles of city streets, and includes 16 stations, 11 with Park-and-Ride facilities, plus a vehicle maintenance and storage facility and 15 power substations.  It takes 38 minutes to ride from one end of the system to the other.

At the very beginning of the project, Carter & Burgess assumed a role, mobilizing a multi-discipline, multi-company team.  The CM organization was identified in the contracts as the single point of contact for administration of the work.

With so many third parties who could influence the progress of the work, C&B's coordination was especially vital among other things, C&B sought to empower the lowest possible organization levels with the authority to make professional decisions, providing quick review by superiors.

Among the major achievements of CM on the project was a cost reduction of more than $20 million, which enables the owner to embark immediately on an expansion of the light rail vehicle fleet, in response to the enthusiastic public embrace of the new system.  Moreover, when the general accounting office recently completed a report on the 14 light rail projects underway in the United States, it concluded this was the only one finished ahead of schedule and under budget.

PRIVATE PROJECT MORE THAN $100 MILLION

Project - SAP America's Corporate Headquarter in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
Owner - SAP
Project CM - Gilbane Building Company

SAP has not previously owned its facilities, so embarking on this major construction project was a new and quite daunting experience for the company.

The software giant wanted to consolidate its operations into a single building that would be a symbol of the company, a powerful recruiting tool, and in every way a signature presence.

They also wanted to complete the 400,000 square foot facility in 18 months, with only one month from site selection to construction start.

All of the key milestones were met, compressing a typical two-year process into 18 months.  Gilbane achieved this speed by pursuing concurrently several processes that normally happen in sequence. . . for example, by developing shop drawings and design simultaneously, and by using renderings and architectural narratives as the basis for contractor qualification and preparation of bid packages.

Gilbane in fact began purchasing activity with no more than schematic documents in hand.  Site clearing began within hours of closing on the property.

The facility was built with post-tensioned concrete in place of steel, and Gilbane led a process to allow curtain wall to be manufactured off-site while the structure was being built.

These are just two of the innovations Gilbane helped create to meet SAP's inflexible occupancy date.

The CM also coordinated SAP's direct contractors activities to bring such services as telecom and data wiring, computer installations, and furniture on-line in time for occupancy.

More than one million man-hours went into this building, and the finished product wows employees and visitors alike.

OUTSTANDING PROJECT OF 2000 IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA.

Project - Dirol Plant KV23, Veliky Novgorod, Russia
Owner - Z-A-O Dirol Company
Project CM - Hanscomb, Inc.

This large facility consists of a process building filling more than 12 thousand square meters, a 2,000 square meter energy center, an administration building, two independent main power supplies, a main water supply, with reserves, and a separate gas supply.

The Process Building houses the production facility for Carbamide Chicklet Chewing Gum, as well as receiving, warehousing, quality control and laboratory space, offices and training rooms.

An impressive range of supporting services and facilities make this plan almost completely self-contained special HVAC, for instance, maintains the careful temperature and humidity control required by the manufacturing process.

Support buildings on the site provide fire suppression, electricity generation and distribution, dust extraction, cafeteria and other facilities for the staff, conference rooms, presentation areas. . .even a doctor's surgical suite and executive sauna!

The project was executed on a very fast track that included four months of planning, seven months of design, and 18 months for complete construction including all fixtures and equipment.

Hanscomb as CM had complete control over the contractor's subcontractors, and was involved in the project from its early planning stages.  All cost and schedule issues were addressed very early.

And because there has never been a chewing gum factory like this built in Russia, everything was being done for the first time.  Interfacing with Russian authorities, and overcoming the language and cultural barriers involved, were additional challenges.

The factory was completed on time despite numerous owner changes, and came in within budget, at a quality level unsurpassed by other factories in Russia

It's such an impressive facility, in fact, that the Russian Government has already entertained visits by Ambassadors form three other nations, seeking to entice other owners to invest in the region.