Carolinas Construction Leaders Receive Top Honors

Carolinas AGC Announces 2010 Pinnacle Award Winners

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolinas Associated General Contractors (CAGC) announces the winners of the 2010 Carolinas AGC Pinnacle Awards — the most prestigious recognition in the Carolinas construction industry. Awards are presented for the year’s outstanding performance by a company and for outstanding construction projects. The annual CAGC Pinnacle Awards competition is judged by a panel of 10 member contractors.

BEST GENERAL CONTRACTOR AWARD:

New Atlantic Contracting, Inc., Winston-Salem, NC

New Atlantic Contracting specializes in complex building construction and renovations, focusing on education, medical and other institutional work. An employee-owned firm founded in 2002, its 50 employees work on 16 to 20 construction projects each year. New Atlantic has had zero lost-time incidents in the history of the firm.

BEST SPECIALTY CONTRACTOR AWARD:

W.B. Moore Company, Charlotte, NC

Established in 1989, W.B. Moore Company is a commercial electrical contractor and full-service design engineering firm. Its corporate headquarters earned the North Carolina’s first LEED Platinum Designation Award for new building construction.

BEST BUILDING PROJECT AWARD:

St. John the Baptist Cathedral Restoration, Charleston, SC

Contractor: Hightower Construction Co., Inc., Charleston, SC

This 100-year-old “mother church” of the Catholic diocese of South Carolina involved not only extensive exterior brownstone replacement but also fabricating and erecting an 85-foot steeple. The steeple and bell tower were built in 30 separate pieces off-site using an innovative process borrowed from Hightower’s yacht-building expertise, then transported through Charleston’s narrow historic streets.

BEST HIGHWAY/TRANSPORTATION PROJECT AWARD:

US 17 Bypass at Washington, NC

Contractor: The Joint Venture of Flatiron-United

A design-build project, this 6.8-mile bypass on North Carolina’s coastal plain stretches over miles of environmentally sensitive wetlands, and features a 2.8-mile structure over the Tar River. The Flatiron/United team developed an innovative “top-down” approach — a unique overhead gantry system which resulted in both minimal impact to the wetlands and an accelerated construction schedule. The process, which resulted in a safer way to build a bridge, has since been patented.

BEST UTILITY PROJECT AWARD:

Dempsey E. Benton Water Treatment Plant, Garner, NC

Contractor: Archer Western Contractors, Ltd., Morrisville, NC

This project involved construction of a new 20 million-gallons-per-day water treatment plant, a 5 million-gallons-per-day water storage reservoir and water pumping station, a backwash storage tank, and standby generator facilities. The project required the complete renovation of an existing raw water pump station built in the 1950s, and modifications to an existing gate control structure. Archer Western performed 524,000 man-hours on this project without a single lost time incident, and brought the project in $7,000,000 under budget and on schedule.

“BUILD WITH THE BEST” AWARD

Honoring an individual outside the construction industry whose efforts have contributed to the betterment of the industry and the overall economic welfare of the Carolinas.

Danny Shealy, SCDOT Director of Construction — retired 2010

Danny Shealy retired from SCDOT in August 2010 after 35 years of service to the state; in his last thirteen years he served as Director of Construction. Danny’s reputation for fairness and open communications between contractors and the state was legendary, and he was a thoughtful steward of SCDOT and the state’s money.

The Carolinas AGC Pinnacle Awards competition is co-sponsored by the CPA firm Greer & Walker and the law firm of Johnston, Allison & Hord. See full web site coverage at www.cagc.org.

Carolinas AGC builds its 2,200 members’ businesses through workforce development, business development, profit management, and workers’ compensation insurance. More than 75% of commercial and industrial construction (buildings, highways/bridges, utility facilities) in both North and South Carolina is performed or supported by CAGC members. Visit CAGC at www.cagc.org.