Where are the cool building projects?

Shoring up Kailua Road, repaving a Hickam runway, and renovating a pilot’s layover pad won awards Wednesday night at a banquet for builders, architects and developers at the Royal Hawaiian.

BIA Hawaii — it stands for Building Industry Association — is the trade group for these people, and honored its own with its annual Renaissance Awards. I was privileged to emcee the festivities.

These are some of the projects that won awards:

Kailua Road Rockfall & Landslide Mitigation — Earth Tech Inc. came up with eight different ways to shore up the hillside (the state chose a combination of two) solving the tricky problem of how to do the job without endangering workers or passing cars.
Hickam Taxiway Resurfacing and Hot Cargo Pads — Watts Constructors — Denny Watts’ outfit won two awards for these two projects, which involved using old concrete to make new aggregate, saving 500 truck visits, and building huge, heavy pavement pads in an area where the water table is only a few feet down.
Latitudes by Gentry, Ewa — Gentry Homes was one of several parties honored for greening up their projects — in this case, with a 120-gallon solar water heater with automatic timer, recessed fluorescents, low flow commodes, and other features to make homes that are 30% beyond local code requirements.

This barely touches the surface of the awards but the rest of them are outlined in the free May issue of Hawaii Home & Remodeling.