Weitz Named an ENR Midwest Region Best Project Winner for Construction of Hilton Des Moines Downtown

DES MOINES, Iowa – Engineering News-Record awarded The Weitz Company with a best project award in its Midwest region for the construction of the Hilton Des Moines Downtown in Iowa’s capital city.

The honor was announced on Wednesday when ENR, one of the construction industry’s top publications, released the firms selected by an industry panel of judges in each of its 19 award categories. The 330-room Hilton Des Moines Downtown won in the residential/hospitality category.

“The hotel was a highly collaborative project. I am extremely proud of our internal team at Weitz, as well as the design team, various consultants, trade partners and Hilton for their work with us to construct this award-winning building. This is a tremendous asset for Des Moines and one we will cherish for decades to come,” said Mike Tousley, executive vice president and general manager of The Weitz Company.

Built under a public-private partnership with Polk County and the City of Des Moines, the Hilton Des Moines Downtown is a statement of modern construction innovation and efficiency. The design-build team utilized a central, cloud-based model to streamline the construction process. The 3D model was key to enabling the successful planning and execution of 12 modular build components that all revolved around prefabricating 300 of the 330 hotel bathrooms off-site in a controlled environment. With 84 percent of the work performed on the bathroom PODs occurring prior to delivery and installation (including all mechanical, electrical and plumbing connections), Weitz reduced labor hours per prefabricated bathroom by 11 percent, eliminated 17 weeks of construction waste from the project schedule and delivered the hotel 10 days ahead of schedule so it could open early.

Completed this past March, the Hilton Des Moines Downtown effectively addressed the key criteria in ENR’s regional best project awards competition – overcoming challenges, utilizing innovative construction techniques and finishing the job safely. The Weitz Company will be recognized with its fellow award winners from the 11-state Midwest region at an awards breakfast on November 28 in Chicago.

Weitz served the role of developer and design-builder for the project. DLR Group was the design architect and RDG Planning & Design was the architect of record.