The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Maine recently handed out the Annual Build Maine Awards to six Maine Contractors. Matt Marks, Chief Executive Officer of AGC Maine, said the awards “showcase the achievements of Maine contractors in completing large and complicated projects that meet the needs of clients and the local community while respecting the environment.”
Reed & Reed of Woolwich led this year’s contestants with two winning projects. The first was for a wind power project in Oakfield, and the second was for the new Richmond-Dresden Bridge over the Kennebec. Both of these were large, complex projects that overcame significant construction challenges.Begun in late 2013 and completed in 2015, the Oakfield Wind Project is the single largest wind project constructed in Maine, and in all of New England.
The project consists of 48 Vestas wind turbines, with an 84-meter hub height and 112-meter rotor diameter. Each turbine has a generating capacity of 3.075MW. The resulting total generating capacity of 148MW is equivalent to the energy to power about 50,000 homes. The project extends over 430 acres, including 22 miles of roads, the 48 turbine sites, 4-circuit overhead collector, and a substation with a synchronous condenser. Over 200 workers were on site daily during the peak of construction, many from the local area.
The second winning Reed & Reed project was the new Richmond-Dresden Bridge located on State Route 197 at the crossing of the Kennebec River. The bridge carries a daily average of 3,200 vehicles between Richmond and Dresden. The new bridge is a beautiful 1,500 ft. long, seven span steel girder and concrete structure towering over the river, measuring 90 feet above the water at its highest point. It has with two eleven ft. wide travel lanes plus five ft. wide shoulders. It is designed to safely carry motorists, bikers, and pedestrians over the river, while creating safe passage for marine traffic up and down the river for the next one hundred years. On the Richmond side of the bridge, a park was built to commemorate the history of the area.
For the third year in a row Sargent Corporation of Stillwater won a Build Maine Award. This year’s Award was in the Specialty Environmental Category for removal of the Veazie Dam that will allow for easier fish passage. The project consisted of a number of different elements including removal of the concrete forebay walls and buttress style dam; removal of upstream legacy dam structures dating back to the late 1800s; removal of a powerhouse; remediation of the site and installation of landscape plantings. The final step was the creation of a park with walking paths, informational kiosks, benches, decorative boulders, some salvaged pieces from the powerhouse and an area for launching hand boats and canoes.
Landry / French of Scarborough won the top award in the Building Category for the complete restoration and renovation of the 110-year old Charles E. Moody School at the Good Will Home Historic District in Hinkley. This is the second year in a row that Landry / French has won first place in the Build Maine Awards competition. The Landry/ French project took this year’s award for the significant contributions it has had on the community, the challenges overcome during construction, the innovation used in achieving a net-positive energy facility, and the environmental value of reusing the existing building. The newly restored and expanded building is the first net-positive energy academic building in the State of Maine. The building produces more energy than it uses, and the excess energy is used for other buildings on campus.
PC Construction of South Burlington, VT. took first place in the Industrial Category for a major facilities upgrade of three buildings at Bath Iron Works. PC served as Construction Manager on the project. By any measure this was a massive undertaking because of the scale of the buildings, the manpower needed, the cost and budget, the number of subcontractors on the job and an aggressive 16-month schedule. Due to PC’s coordinated value engineering efforts with BIW and the design team, the project successfully addressed strict budget controls. Each of the three buildings posed its own unique challenges being surrounded by BIW shipbuilding activity. PC successfully provided ongoing solutions throughout the project in areas such as logistics, material deliveries, efficient resource planning, work sequencing and execution of concurrent three-building construction that mitigated any disruption to BIW’s shipbuilding operations.
The top award in the Multimodal Division went to Shaw Brothers Construction of Gorham for major improvements at the Portland International Marine Terminal in the heart of Portland’s busy waterfront on West Commercial Street. The project improvements were designed to bring the rail system in line with the ever-growing oceanic cargo shipments from around the world arriving in Portland Harbor. This project was uniquely designed to bridge the gap between the Portland waterfront and the existing rail system creating a state of the art Intermodal cargo facility. The major components to the project were improvements to the vessel berthing areas, construction of a large loading slab for transfer of ship containers to and from rail cars, a chassis storage facility and reconstruction of West Commercial Street.
AGC Maine conducts the Build Maine Awards competition each year at this time. Entries are judged on contribution to the community; innovation in construction techniques or materials; meeting the challenge of a difficult job; environmental sensitivity; responsiveness to client needs and customer satisfaction; and safety.
In addition to celebrating the best projects of the year, AGC Maine also recognized graduates of the Construction Leadership Institute. The program introduces current and future construction leaders to regulatory, legislative and business challenges in the construction industry. This year nine students completed the course; Clay Maker and Ryan Nadeau of Cianbro, Clint Bane of Langford and Low, Josh Marceau and James Murphy of Reed & Reed, James Martin of Ray Labbe and Sons, Adam Kapaldo and Jeff Costello of Sargent Corporation, and Adam St. Michel of Shaw Brothers Construction.
The awards show was sponsored by: Reed & Reed, Maine Drilling & Blasting, ETTI, Sargent Corporation, PC Construction, Cianbro, Cross Insurance, Landy/French Construction, Bancroft Contracting, Great Falls Construction, CPM Constructors, Nortrax, Pike Industries, Rowley Agency, Lane Construction, Skillings-Shaw, E.J. Prescott, Verrill Dana, CCB Inc, SW Cole, The Penobscot Company, EDP Renewables, Bernstein Shur, Maine Renewables Energy Association.
For Project & Event Photos Visit: www.agcmaine.org/buildmaineawards
Chartered in 1951, the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Maine is the state’s largest construction industry trade association. The Association maintains an office in Augusta and has 180 members statewide. Member companies include general contractors, sub-contractors, and service and supply providers. For more information visit www.agcmaine.org