Beers Skanska’s U.S. Federal Courthouse in Jacksonville Takes the Top Prize in
This Year’s Program

By Scott Judy

Southeast Construction-Florida Edition is pleased to present its 2002 Best of Florida Awards program. As the title indicates, this program is the magazine’s effort to provide a look at the “best” projects completed during 2002.

This is the second time for this annual event. As we did for our inaugural effort in 2001, Southeast Construction-Florida Edition first solicited entries from contractors and other firms for the Florida projects they thought merited consideration for a “Best Of” award.

This year, 22 construction entities submitted a total of 41 project entries, spanning 10 separate categories.

After the entry deadline, an independent group of judges was selected. The selection of judges took place at this time to ensure that no judges had entries for the competition, and could therefore provide an unbiased opinion of the submissions. Representing various segments of Florida’s construction industry, the group gathered on Sept. 24 at Southeast Construction’s offices to review the submissions. The group of judges included the following members:

• Alan Ashlock, president of Crane Rental of Orlando, Orlando;
  
• Jim Barrett, project manager with the Orange County Convention Center Phase V Expansion project in Orlando.
  
• Dana Emberton, senior vice president of Suitt Construction Co., Maitland;
  
• Richard Girdley, vice president and project manager with Hill/MK, a joint venture managing projects for Tampa Bay Water in Tampa;
  
• Bruce Kershner, executive director of the Underground Utility Contractors of Florida; the Florida Directional Drilling Association; and the Mid Florida Utilities & Transportation Contractors, all based in Longwood; and,
  
• John Page, business development manager for Perini Building Co., Celebration.
  

• Quality of construction or design;
  
• Innovation;
  
• Contribution to the industry;
  
• Ability to overcome unique construction or design challenges; and,
  
• Overall excellence.

As long as there was a minimum of three entries in a category, the highest scoring entry in a category would win the “Best Of” award for that group. Based on that criteria, nine projects qualified for these major awards.

Failing to be the top-rated entry for a category would not necessarily prevent a project from winning an award. If it gained a high enough score, it could win either an “Award of Excellence,” or, below that, an “Award of Merit.” This year, there was one “Award of Excellence” winner, and six projects that were recognized with an “Award of Merit.”

This year, top category awards were given for the following: Private Buildings; Public Buildings; Hospitality/Commercial; Residential; Educational; Renovation/Restoration; Infrastructure; Concrete; and Mechanical/Electrical. In addition, an Award of Excellence was presented for the Hospitality/Commercial category, and Awards of Merit were presented for: Residential; Renovation/Restoration; Architectural Design and Infrastructure.

In addition to rating each project, the group of judges also selected the “Judges’ Award” for best overall project. The judges selected Beers Skanska’s entry for its U.S. Courthouse project in Jacksonville as the best overall.