AUGUSTA – The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Maine has recognized exemplary, construction companies and their employees with the 2020 and 2021 Build Maine Awards for 11 major projects. The awards ceremony was held May 12, after the 2020 in-person event had been canceled due to the pandemic.
Annual award winners are selected through a competitive, confidential process by representatives of design, engineering, construction, and owner perspectives. Criteria are safety, innovation and construction techniques/materials, contribution to the community, meeting the challenge of a difficult job, environmental sensitivity, and responsiveness to client needs and customer satisfaction.
“Maine is fortunate to have so many high-caliber construction firms and skilled workers who know the importance of safety, quality, speed, coordination, and attentiveness to the customer, community, and environment,” said AGC Maine Executive Director Matt Marks.
Rural Highway Division
Rehabilitating 10 miles of Route 1, from Presque Isle to Caribou, for MDOT won Northeast Paving the 2021 Rural Highway Division Award. The locally-based crew used an innovative excavation-widening technique to keep both directions open for most of two construction seasons on one of the most heavily traveled roads in northern Maine.
Building Renovation Division
PC Construction won the 2021 Building Renovation Division Award for Southern Maine Health Care Behavioral Renovation. A health care facility always necessitates detailed, precise work. This job also required keeping the structure open to patients and extra infection-control procedures due to the pandemic. Extensive planning ensured emergency and campus-wide communication, work area accessibility, and safety, using Lean tools, quality-control mock-ups, and off-hour scheduling. The renovated Emergency Department and Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit opened to patients in October 2020.
Municipal Division
Teamwork was the key to Crooker Construction’s new three-story, 186,000-sq.ft. Morse High School and Bath Regional Career and Technical Center in RSU 1, Bath, which included an artificial turf athletic field, 285-car parking, pedestrian and bicycle paths, and a span bridge. From design to engineering to quarrying to construction, Crooker’s team of professionals coordinated with each other and the community, earning praise from RSU 1, the architects and other stakeholders and winning the 2021 Municipal Division Award.
Urban Highway Division
Sargent Corporation’s Exit 45 Preload Phase 1 Project for Maine Turnpike Authority won the 2021 Urban Highway Division Award. Located at the Maine Mall, Exit 45 is an important corridor to Casco Bay, Peak’s Island, Great Diamond, and Long Island, and is scheduled for a reconfiguration and upgrade to add capacity and prepare for a potential Gorham by-pass. Sargent excavated, installed 27,000 wick drains, and hauled fill during a Maine winter with only one-weekend highway closure.
Overall Project of the Year
The 2021 Project of the Year was Landry/French Construction’s lightning-fast conversion of a Westbrook distribution warehouse into a COVID-19 test kit manufacturing facility for Abbott Laboratories. By “building the plane as we were flying it,” Landry/French transformed the 145,000-sq. ft. building with impressive speed and unprecedented benefit for Maine and the entire country. The project’s urgency necessitated precise coordination, swift and educated decision making, multiple team members on-site together, and cooperation at all levels, from individuals to state government.
The 2020 awards, for 2019 projects, were:
Building Division: Cianbro for Bangor Savings Bank Headquarters, Bangor, and Ouellet Construction for All Saints Community Center, Brunswick;
Building Renovation Division: Knowles Industrial Services Inc. for Thompson Block, Portland;
Highway Division: Reed and Reed Construction for Maine Turnpike Authority Exit 44 Open Road Tolling Plaza;
Coastal Highway Division: Sargent Corporation for Route 3 Road Reconstruction, Bar Harbor;
Utility Division: Gorham Sand and Gravel for Pleasantdale Combined Storm Overflow Replacement Project, South Portland.
The 2020-2021 Build Maine Awards sponsors and supporters were Landry/French Construction, Cross Insurance, Acadia Benefits, Albin, Randall & Bennett, CCB Inc., Shaw Brothers Construction, Wyman and Simpson Inc., Everett J. Prescott Inc., Frankenmuth Surety, Hammond Lumber Co., Hews Company, Machias Savings Bank, Milton CAT, Northeast Paving, Ouellet Construction, Reed & Reed, Inc., Sargent Corporation, Sargent Electric Company, Skillings, Shaw and Associates, University of Maine, Orono, and Verrill Law.
About AGC Maine
Chartered in 1951, AGC Maine is headquartered in Augusta and has members statewide that include contractors, service providers, suppliers, and developers.