Student Memorial Center Receives Construction Management Award

Millersville University’s Student Memorial Center (SMC) has been selected to receive the 2012 Construction Management Project Achievement Award by the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) for Higher Education Projects over $20 million.

Millersville University's soon-to-be award-winnning Student Memorial Center.

This award will be presented to Millersville and Gilbane Building Company for their collaborative construction management of the SMC on June 19 at the CMAA 2012 Awards Banquet in Philadelphia. This annual awards program is designed to recognize outstanding achievement and promote excellence in the practice of construction management.

“There is no simple project, but the SMC was extraordinarily complex and the hardest project I have ever managed,” said Steven Strock, SMC project manager. From conception to completion, the project exceeded five years in the making. Strock was primarily challenged by the phasing process, which involved keeping sections of the building open for use throughout construction.

In judging the entries, the Project Achievement Awards Committee considers outcomes, overall management, safety, quality management, cost management, schedule management, complexity, innovation and creativity, sustainability, and customer satisfaction as a basis for the award.

Strock noted that “safety, constant communication and satisfying student needs” were factors underpinning the overall success of the project. The construction design also incorporated sustainable components along with energy saving equipment as part of the University’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.