Six IBEW Local 1/NECA Electrical Connection contractors recognized for superior work on Gateway Arch National Park and Museum

By SHERI GASSAWAY
Correspondent

In the year since its debut, the newly renovated Gateway Arch National Park and Museum in St. Louis has earned numerous national and global accolades.

The latest is an ElectricTV video saluting the work of six local National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) contractors and their IBEW Local 1 workforces. ElectricTV is a project of Powering America, a team of national IBEW members and their signatory contractors. The video can be found at youtube.com/channel/UCBogoQPQkNCewQzVXX1iI-A.

The electrical contractors that worked on the project include: Guarantee Electric Co. (GECO), which served as the primary electrical contractor for the team lead by general contractors McCarthy and Kozeny Wagner; Aschinger Electric, Kaemmerlen Electric; Briner Electric, which has since been acquired by Aschinger; X-Cell Electric; and Liberty Electric.

The five-year, $380 million rejuvenation of the Park refreshed the landscape to make the grounds more accessible to downtown St. Louis. It also expanded and created a new interactive museum at the Gateway Arch. The 47,000 square-foot addition to the museum has a new entrance, which is connected to the city of St. Louis over Interstate 44 via a 274-foot wide land bridge.

NUMEROUS HONORS
According to the Gateway Arch Park Foundation, additional awards for excellence given to the Arch grounds project over the past year include:

• United States Green Building Council, LEED Gold: Museum at the Gateway Arch.
• American Council of Engineering Companies of Metropolitan Washington, 2019 Engineering Excellence Non-Design Grand Award: Alpha Corporation for the Gateway Arch National Park.
• American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri Engineering Excellence Grand Award: IMEG Corp. for the Gateway Arch. IMEG Corp. is also the recipient of the ENR award.
• St. Louis Business Journal, Building St. Louis Project of the Year;
• American Council of Engineering Companies, National Recognition Award, 2019 Engineering Excellence Awards: The Museum at the Gateway Arch
• Docomomo US, Civic Design Award of Excellence, 2019 Modernism in America Awards: Gateway Arch National Park.
• The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, American Architecture Awards 2019: Museum at the Gateway Arch.

The project was also scheduled to be honored Oct. 2 with Engineering News-Record’s (ENR) Global Best Practices Award in the cultural category at its awards gala at the Edison Ballroom in New York City.

ABOUT THE ELECTRICAL CONNECTION
The Electrical Connection is a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 and the St. Louis Chapter, National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). Electrical Connection members provide safe and reliable electrical construction, maintenance, repair and replacement services across Missouri, the nation and the world. For more information visit electricalconnection.org.