2023 ENR Best Project Winners
McCarthy projects across the country were honored with ENR Regional Best Project awards.
Each year, Engineering News-Record (ENR) honors the best construction projects from each of ENR’s 10 regional editions, judged using a variety of criteria including safety, innovation, quality and teamwork across 18 specialized categories. Regional winners then go on to be considered for the national Best of the Best Projects. McCarthy is honored to share that once again many of our projects were selected as 2023 Regional Best Project honorees. Congratulations to the teams who helped make these projects successful.
ENR California
Contractor of the Year
In addition to having two projects on ENR California's Best Regional Projects list, McCarthy was named Contractor of the Year. ENR highlighted McCarthy's unwavering dedication to strengthening California communities and delivering an exceptional experience for clients and industry partners. With six offices across the Golden State, McCarthy’s approach is closely integrated with each client and their business, providing value-driven solutions through all phases of the project life cycle.
UC Davis Health Rehabilitation Hospital
Award of Merit, Health Care
This new, 58,000-square-foot, 52-bed facility more than doubles the inpatient rehabilitation capacity formerly available at UC Davis Medical Center and marks the first freestanding rehabilitation hospital in Sacramento County. McCarthy utilized prefabrication as much as possible, including ductwork and most of the mechanical and plumbing systems. Two reusable water holding tanks are used for domestic water and sewage usage and retainment, which allows the hospital to function independently for up to 72 hours.
Rabbitbrush Solar
Best Project, Energy/Industrial
This 100MW project, which completed in November of 2022, covers more than 600-acres and includes a 20MW/50MWh battery energy storage system component. Energy generated by the project and its more than 415,000 photovoltaic modules will be provided to not-for-profit, community-owned electricity providers Central Coast Community Energy and Silicon Valley Clean Energy.
ENR Midwest
National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF)
Best Project, Government/Public Building
ENR Midwest Project of the Year
The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas is the nation’s leading animal disease research facility. NBAF has laboratories functioning at multiple biosafety levels, including being the first facility in the United States with biosafety level 4 containment capable of housing large livestock. Developed to ensure public health and the safety and security of the nation’s food supply, the 707,000- gross-square-foot facility is located on a 48-acre site.
Johnson County Tomahawk Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility Expansion
Best Project, Water/Environment
The new $270 million expansion of the Tomahawk Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility will allow the facility to treat wet and dry weather flows from 19 million gallons per day (MGD) to 172 MGD. This project will improve water quality while providing cost-effective long-term treatment solutions for Johnson County customers. The new footprint of the facility is approximately 30 percent greater than the footprint of the existing facility with more than 30 new structures.
ENR Mountain States
Lightsource bp Sun Mountain Solar
Best Project, Energy/Industrial
The Sun Mountain project is the most recent utility-scale solar project McCarthy has built for Lightsource bp. Delivering nearly 300 megawatts of capacity, Sun Mountain provides enough clean, affordable energy to power more than 53,000 homes and abate over 400,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Situated on more than 1,700 acres of land, Sun Mountain is among the largest solar projects to be completed to date in Colorado.
ENR Southwest
City of Phoenix 23rd Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant Grit Basin Replacement
Best Project, Water/Environment
The City of Phoenix’s 23rd Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant is a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant with nitrogen removal, permitted for 63 million gallons a day (MGD). Typical daily plant flows range from 28-42 MGD. The facility receives wastewater from 500,000 residents, treats it to Class A+ reclaimed water quality standards, and then discharges it to the Roosevelt Irrigation District (RID).
EDF Renewables Arrow Canyon Solar project
Best Project, Energy/Industrial
Located 20 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the Arrow Canyon Solar and BESS project boasts a robust capacity of 275 megawatts DC (MW) in solar power and a 75 MW, 375 MWh DC-coupled BESS. Spanning an impressive 1,387 acres, the project was meticulously designed to minimize its impact on the environment, both during construction and throughout its operational phase.
University of Arizona Applied Research Building
Best Project, Higher Education/Research
The University of Arizona's four-story Applied Research Building (ARB) was completed under a progressive design-build delivery method between SmithGroup and McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. The ARB will enable cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary collaboration in a range of areas including space exploration, advanced manufacturing, and imaging technology. The 89,000-square-foot facility will be the future home for research furthering applied physical sciences and engineering, connecting faculty across four colleges and eight departments.
Mayo Clinic East Expansion
Best Project, Health Care
Award of Merit, Excellence in Safety
The Mayo Clinic East Expansion project features a 330,000-square-foot expansion of three major areas of the North Phoenix campus including a vertical expansion of the clinic and horizontal expansions of the hospital and east cafeteria buildings as part of the hospital’s larger goal to increase patient capacity.
