ST. LOUIS – The Lambert-St. Louis International Airport “Airport Experience” Renovation Program has won the “ENR Midwest Best Project of the Year Award: Airports/Transit.”Joshua Randall, president of St. Louis-based project management firm Kwame Building Group, Inc., and Jerry Beckmann, Airport Deputy Director, Planning & Development of Lambert Airport, accepted the award at a ceremony in Chicago in November.

Kwame Building Group provided program management for the $62 million multi-phased Airport Experience Program, the largest renovation in Lambert’s history. Kwame oversaw and coordinated five intricate and overlapping design packages and 10 construction packages to upgrade the airport’s main terminal, concourses and baggage-claim areas.

In 2011, during the most intensive phase of the renovation, an F4 tornado hit Lambert Airport, destroying its historic arched windows, ripping open a concourse roof, and dismantling previously completed work. Despite the complications of the ensuing $30 million tornado recovery program – which KWAME also managed – and a new $30 million TSA baggage system, the Airport Experience Program was completed months early and within budget while achieving Lambert’s aggressive goals to maximize diversity and opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses.

Prime architects/engineers on the Airport Experience Program included Exp. US Services, Burns & McDonnel, Ross & Baruzzini, Kiku Obata, and Apple Design. Prime contractors included C. Rallo Contracting, Collins and Hermann, Kozeny Wagner, Geograph Industries, K&S Associates, Sign Productions, and Engraphix.

The ENR Best Projects Awards celebrate and honor the building teams that created the best construction projects of 2015 nationwide. Winners were selected by juries of prominent regional industry professionals who evaluate projects based on challenges and teamwork, safety, innovation, contribution to the industry and community, construction quality and craftsmanship; and design functionality and aesthetics.

All winning projects will compete against winners from other U.S. regions in ENR’s National Best of the Best Projects 2016 Competition.

Illinois Business Journal © January 2016

Source: Kwame Building Group – Articles