SCA honors Branson Airport, Environmental Works projects

Salute to Construction festivities - a 25-year tradition - culminated Thursday night with a banquet recognizing several construction and design firms. Award winners came from all over the Ozarks.

• Developer of the Year honors, presented by Springfield Contractors Association, went to Steve Peet of Branson Airport.

The $155 million airport, touted as the first privately financed and privately owned commercial airport in the country, was developed on more than 900 acres that had no water, sewer or power service and no major road access.

The project in the Branson Creek community in Taney County included installing primary transmission lines, water and waste-water systems, and three miles of new roads and bridges, and the developers moved 12 million cubic yards of dirt - all in 22 months, SCA officials said.

"We had to build a terminal, taxiway, runway and control tower, and we had to certify to (Federal Aviation Administration) safety standards and (Transportation Safety Administration) security standards ... and we still opened on time," said Branson Airport Director Jeff Bourk.

• SCA's Project of the Year Award - recognizing the project with the best cooperation between the owner, designer and contractors - went to Environmental Works Inc.'s headquarters.

The design-build project, employed only local workers and renovated a vacant building, saving time, money and materials, according to SCA officials.

"We used a local builder and all local subcontractors," said Environmental Works Owner Robin Melton. "It was a real investment in the community and ... gave a nice face lift to a (center city) building."

The project, 1455 E. Chestnut Expressway, also was chosen for its environmentally sustainable features, not the least of which was reuse of the building on one of the city's busiest corridors, said Chris Ball of project designer Jack Ball & Associates Architects PC.

"The most sustainable thing you can do is take an older, vacant, somewhat blighted facility like that and turn it into something new and impressive," Ball said. "Derelict buildings are very contagious. It's very dangerous. What we hope is that it's also contagious in the other direction, and that will be a motivator for continued development on corridors like that."

• The American Institute of Architects' Springfield Chapter Superintendent of the Year Award went to Harold Painter of Branco Enterprises for work on Republic High School, while AIA Craftsman of the Year honors went to Chad Baker of Garage Graphics and Visuals, for his work on the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks' Springfield headquarters.

The Salute to Construction program has grown significantly since it started in 1985 under the direction of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Springfield Contractors Association, Consulting Engineers of Springfield and the Springfield Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The program is now a weeklong event, including networking opportunities and scholarships for area students entering the construction fields, capped off by the annual banquet.

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