The Western Council of Construction Consumers presented Berg & Associates with two Project Excellence awards at the annual Awards Gala on October 24, 2013 at the Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa.  

Construction Manager Cass Hamvas and supporting staff Melanie Nelson were on hand to accept the award for the Union Station Platform 7 Metrolink project, which was an all-around success despite the original contractor defaulting midway through construction.  Platform 7 was pro-actively bolstered by BergCM against legal vulnerabilities by exceptionally detailed documentation of all work completed by the default contractor including comprehensive future agreements and meticulous recording of project meetings and correspondence.  This keen awareness of the big picture with insightful forecasting and avoidance of potential legal pitfalls by Construction Manager Cass Hamvas put this project on the fast track to completion with only minimal budget repercussions, within 2% of the original contingency.  

Construction Manager Melanie Nelson received the award for the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area La Cienega Bridge Improvements along with Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative staff Anna Apostolos and Rebecca Draper, and architect Jeff Hutchins.  The La Cienega Bridge project was recognized due to its unique community engagement process to select the artist for the bridge artwork, and the forming of a technical advisory committee comprising of local agency personnel such as Culver City, County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Department of Public Works, L.A. County Recreation and Parks and L.A. County Roads Division.  All technical advisory committee members voluntarily contributed their time to expedite the design and permitting approvals for this one of a kind art structure.  Melanie tighly managed the budget throughout construction which resulted in $40,000 in remaining contingency, and with help from the project team, swiftly implemented the contingency change order work for additional landscape and irrigation without need for a time extension.