South Central Construction’s Best of 2007

Two awards programs recognize the best projects in five states

South Central Construction’s “Best of 2007” project awards program voting was held on Sept. 6 in Baton Rouge and Sept. 13 in Memphis. Judges in Baton Rouge selected 29 projects as Louisiana’s Best of 2007, and Memphis judges selected 39 as the best in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

This year’s winners were chosen from 103 nominated projects in 16 construction categories and four design categories. Nominations were accepted from the construction and design industries, at large.

Official recognition of the winners will be made during a Nov. 29 awards luncheon at The Holiday Inn Select Downtown in Memphis and Dec. 6 luncheon at Boudreaux’s in Baton Rouge.

Sponsoring the Baton Rouge event is Doggett Machinery Services. The Memphis event is sponsored by Hertz Equipment Rental.

Baton Rouge awards voting was held at Embassy Suites in Baton Rouge by the following construction and design judges: Barry Lacy and Henry Lacinak, both with the Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development, Baton Rouge; Ann Ellis, Milton Womack Inc., Baton Rouge; C. Scott Kinnard, Arkel Constructors Inc., Baton Rouge; Charles Currier, BASF, Geismar; Tom Sofranko, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Robert McKinney and Michael Mcclure, both with the University of Louisiana – Lafayette.

Memphis voting was held at Coletta’s Italian Restaurant in Memphis by the following judges: Larry Cockerham, representative of the American Society of Professional Estimators, Ripley, Miss.; Roger Sigler, Inman Construction Corp., Memphis; Ben Shelton, Standard Construction Co. Inc., Memphis, Tenn.; Michael Hagge and Jim Lutz, both with the Department of Art, University of Memphis.

The judges based their decisions on the following criteria:

• Solutions to challenges

• Project management

• Construction innovation

• Client service

• Safety

Winning projects were determined as follows:

• Best of 2007 Judges’ Award in Construction or Design - One project determined by the judges, following a discussion, to be the best of all entries

• Best project in a category: The project with the highest score in categories with three or more nominations

• Award of Excellence - All projects averaging 4.0 and above (out of 5)

• Award of Merit - All projects averaging 3.5 to 4.0 (out of 5)