The Controlled Environment Building Association is announcing Fisher Construction Group for their NewCold Project in Lebanon, Ind., and Ti Cold for their Core X Complete Project in Sturbridge, Mass., as the recipients of the 2023 CEBA Built By The Best Award. The announcement took place during the closing General Session of the 43rd CEBA Annual Conference and Expo held in Palm Springs, Calif. CEBA saw a record 430+ controlled-environment building professionals registered for the conference.

"Congratulations to Fisher Construction Group & NewCold along with Ti Cold & CORE X COMPLETE for achieving CEBA’s 2023 Built By The Best Awards ... Both represent the CEBA standard of excellence in controlled environment building and design. These first-rate facilities will enable your customers to deliver on the promise they make to their customers[,]" said Brian Lynch, CEBA executive director.

Fisher Construction Group received the CEBA Built By The Best Award in the Over $35MM Category. The award-winning project with NewCold is an advanced, large-scale automated cold-store facility, which is the biggest in Indiana and one of the largest in the United States. At 141 feet high (43 meters), the facility spans 464,000 square feet and holds over 100,000 pallet positions. The cold-storage facility uses state-of-the-art technology including automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) to automatically move and store products in the "dark" high-bay warehouse.

"We are thrilled and honored to receive the CEBA Built By The Best Award for our work on NewCold’s Indianapolis facility. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and expertise of our teams, Fisher and NewCold, who worked tirelessly to deliver a facility that surpasses industry standards. This award represents the continued ability to work as a team, to move forward as one, and to pursue excellence together[,]" said Chris Wright, project manager at Fisher Construction Group.

Ti Cold, who was a finalist in both categories this year, received the CEBA Built By The Best Award in the Under $35 MM Category. The award-winning project was built for Core X Complete in Sturbridge, Mass. This high-density facility features 83,000 square feet that houses 18,000 pallet positions. In addition, they have successfully adopted mobile racking technology, utilized a transcritical CO2 refrigeration system and other energy-efficient and sustainable technologies, such as powerful heat reclaim, optimized overhead lighting, energy-conserving LOE, office window tint and more.

"We are deeply honored to be the recipient of the CEBA Built By The Best Award. We extend our appreciation to CEBA for recognizing our efforts and to the entire team at Ti Cold for their dedication to excellence. This award motivates us to continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible in cold storage," said Sam Tippmann, founder and CEO of Ti Cold.

This year there were nine submissions for the award.

Award finalists

Over $35MM Category:

• Fisher Construction Group | NewCold, Lebanon, Ind.
• Ti Cold | Sierra Supply Chain Services, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Under $35MM Category :

• Ti Cold | Core X Complete, Sturbridge, Mass.
• WDS Construction | Vortex Cold Storage, Albert Lea, Minn.

Featured honorable mention projects

• AMC Engineers | Pick n’ Pay, Eastport, Gauteng, South Africa
• Big D Construction | Riverbend Meats, Idaho Falls, Idaho
• Eng2K | NewCold, Piacenza, Italy
• FCL Builders | Cold Summit Development, Bedford Park, Ill.
• Primus Builders | RL Cold, Baytown, Texas

All submissions were vetted by a panel of judges including:

• Bobby DeGregorio, VP business development – ESI Group USA.
• Burnie Taylor, chief development & solutions officer – Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics.
• Jim Romine, VP, engineering design & development – Lineage Logistics.
• Steve Hansen, president – Hansen Cold Storage Construction.
• Zach Norris, vice president of food & beverage  – Evans General Contracting.

More information on each finalist is available here.

Source: Controlled Environment Building Association