News Releases

One of Miron Construction Co., Inc.’s projects, Lake Mills Elementary School, was recently selected by judges of ENR’s (Engineering News Record) Best of the Best Projects awards program to be honored at its Award of Excellence dinner in April in New York City. The competition spotlights the pinnacle of project achievement across the United States. Winning projects will also be featured in the March 14 issue of ENR.

ENR’s Best of the Best Projects winners for 2015 are a culmination of a 10-month effort put forth by dozens of industry judges and the ENR editorial team to identify award-worthy design and construction achievement in the nation. Competition began with a call for entries to the construction industry, resulting in nearly 750 project teams submitting their best work to the regional Best Projects competitions. In each of the 10 regions, editors assembled panels of judges to select regional winners in 20 categories. Once chosen, the top winners in each category from each region moved on to the national competition. A new set of judges from across the country and all facets of the industry examined projects in an effort to distinguish the best from the best in terms of teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation, and quality.

Miron’s project, Lake Mills Elementary School, is being recognized as the 2015 Best of the Best K-12 Education Project. “The entire team at Miron Construction is incredibly honored to receive this award,” said David G. Voss, Jr., president & CEO of Miron. “To be nationally recognized for our work is truly humbling, but also validates the amazing work our project teams are doing each and every day on school projects across the nation. Thank you to ENR for recognizing Miron Construction and the Lake Mills Elementary School project, and thank you to our project team for your commitment and passion in bringing our clients’ dreams to life.”

Lake Mills Elementary School Project Description

Lake Mills Elementary School (LMES), located in Lake Mills, Wis., won in the K-12 Education Project category. The project, completed in the fall of 2014, was built on the existing site located in the heart of a residential neighborhood in the rural community of Lake Mills. K-4 students and the community are already benefitting from the new, energy-efficient, highly sustainable, 21^st century learning environment designed to serve approximately 650 students and 75 staff members.

The naturally day-lit school includes five learning neighborhoods, one for each grade level. Each neighborhood includes five learning studios, three small group learning spaces, a collaboration/resource area, cubbies, a teacher resource area, restrooms, and storage; all in addition to the vibrant and inspiring art, music, and library spaces. The new facility also provides a shared community area, two-station gym with 600 bleacher seats, a cafeteria with serving kitchen, and a secured main entrance, as well as 119,430 square feet of outdoor activity, athletic, and playground space.

Even more impressive than the actual facility is the collaborative and holistic approach that engaged all stakeholders to plan, design and construct the interactive, dynamic, flexible, sustainable learning environment in an integrated way. By having a clear understanding of the project drivers, the team was able to collaboratively create a high-performance space that will lead to better engagement, communication, increased student performance and attendance, enhanced health and well-being, and increased teacher retention.

LMES was one of 120 projects (the only K-12 school in the nation) across the globe taking part in the LEED v4 Beta Program, the next version of the LEED green building rating system that significantly raises the sustainability bar regarding the design, construction, and operation of buildings. Beta project teams assist the USGBC in validating and improving upon requirements, implementation process, and testing support resources, including the online documentation platform. LMES, modeled to maximize energy efficiency and minimize waste, was among the first of the beta projects to submit documentation and is the only project in the program that attempted every single credit to ensure a project could realistically achieve them. The school is expected to be 50% more efficient than a code-compliant school, saving the district an estimated $131,000 a year in energy costs.

Miron’s work on Lake Mills Elementary was featured in an article written by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, linked here.