HARAHAN, LA Durr Heavy Construction announces that its work on the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office Parking Lot in New Orleans, Louisiana, has earned the company a national Excellence in Construction® Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) in the Specialty Contractor, Sitework/Landscape/Hardscape category. Durr's COO Robert "Robbie" Wooderson and Project Manager Jerry Conrad received the award.

"Associated Builders and Contractors is proud to honor Durr with a best-in-class Excellence in Construction Eagle Award for their tremendous work in completing the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office Parking Lot safely, on time and budget," said 2017 ABC National Chair Chuck Goodrich, President of Gaylor Electric Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana. "The dedication to innovation, productivity and world-class craftsmanship demonstrated by Durr and its employees produced truly impressive results that any project owner would be proud of."

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office Parking Lot was the final construction piece to a brand new 450,000-square-foot jail facility located in the Mid-City area of New Orleans. The land was used after Hurricane Katrina as a trailer complex for the jail and its staff. It also housed about 1,000 inmates in 8 large tents as the former jail was completely destroyed by the flood waters. After construction on the new jail was mostly completed, Durr won a public bid to construct a parking lot that would service the main jail facility and administrative offices.  Durr's work included demolition, underground utilities, earthwork, asphalt paving, fencing and signs. The project demanded creative workflow design due to its accelerated schedule, high-security standards, site access limitations, and multiple organization coordination. 

The Excellence in Construction awards program is the industry's leading competition, developed to honor innovative and high-quality merit shop construction projects, with an Eagle Award presented to the top project in each category. The award honors all construction team members, including the contractor, owner, architect and engineer. The winning projects, selected from entries submitted from across the nation, were judged on complexity, attractiveness, unique challenges overcome, completion time, workmanship, innovation, safety and cost.

A panel of industry experts served as the competition's judges. This year's panel included representatives from the Design-Build Institute of America, Engineering News-Record, the Construction Users Roundtable, and the National Association of Women in Construction, and representatives from higher education, among others.