AUGUSTA – The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Maine has recognized exemplary construction companies and their employees with the 2024 Build Maine Awards for 4 major projects. The awards ceremony was held April 10th in Freeport, where over 170 contractors gathered to celebrate the best projects of the year.
Annual award winners are selected through a competitive, confidential process by representatives of design, engineering, construction, and owner perspectives. Judgement criteria includes 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.
“It is a highlight of the year to celebrate the work of our Members. Each day our contractors truly are building Maine one project at a time, and it is an honor to present them with these awards,” said Kelly Flagg, Executive Director of AGC Maine.
Highway/Bridge Division
One of the largest single highway/bridge projects on the Maine Turnpike, CPM Constructors won the 2024 Highway/Bridge Division Award for their Exit 45 Interchange Project. Spanning over 36 acres, in both South Portland and Scarborough, CPM Constructors and their partners utilized creative scheduling and labor allocation techniques to allow minimal disruption to traffic at the epicenter of the busiest shopping area in southern Maine.
Municipal/Utility Division
Innovation was the key to Sargent Corporation’s Back Cove West Storage Conduit Project, a 2.25 million gallon storage conduit under Baxter Boulevard that won them the Municipal/Utility Award. From the outset, Sargent’s team knew innovative construction methods were essential for the project. Including procuring and customizing a Mi-Jack 750 gantry crane and commissioning a customizedCAT 336 excavator garnered widespread attention and facilitated project success.
Building Division
With the addition of the first-ever residence hall and a state-of-the-art student center, the USM Portland Commons Residence Hall & McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Services Project transformed USM from a “commuter school” into a bustling university and earned PC Construction the Building Division Award. Recognizing USM’s commitment to creating buildings with the smallest environmental footprint possible, PC Construction embraced renewable low-carbon building technologies, waste diversion, and strategies to maintain healthy living and working spaces.
Specialty/Subcontractor Division
The Penobscot River was once a bustling waterway, bringing millions of migratory fish from the Gulf of Maine to distant spawning grounds nestled in the lakes and streams of the Appalachian Mountains. N.S Giles’ Danforth Fishway project is one effort to help restore the Penobscot River to its former glory by enabling fish to regain their migration path and earned Specialty/Subcontractor award. Utilizing a special drill rig and working with ten partner organizations, N.S. Giles, a self-performing concrete construction company, completed the over $1 million project in four months, as part of a collaborative 30-year endeavor involving federal, state, tribal, and non-governmental organizations to revitalize the Penobscot watershed.
The 2024 awards, for 2023 projects, were: (each have been linked to their project narratives)
Project, Portland;
Specialty/Subcontractor Division: N.S. Giles, for Danforth Fishway Project, South Danforth.
The 2023-2024 Build Maine Awards sponsors and supporters were Sargent Corporation, Cross Insurance/Cross Surety, Skillings-Shaw & Associates, United Insurance, Shaw Brothers Construction, EJ Prescott, CPM Constructors, Penobscot General Contractors, N.S. Giles, Hews Company, R.J. Grondin & Sons, Knowles Industrial Services, Norway Savings Bank, PC Construction, and Ed Pelletier & Sons.
About AGC Maine
Chartered in 1951, AGC Maine is headquartered in Augusta and has members statewide that include contractors, service providers, suppliers, and developers.