Colorado’s landscape industry association, Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC), announced the recipients of its 2022 ELITE Awards. The ELITE Awards is the only program of its kind in Colorado and recognizes landscape companies and professionals who demonstrate unparalleled professionalism, excellence, management practices, sustainability, and innovation.
“This has been another incredibly busy and challenging year for those who work in the landscape industry,” said ALCC Chief Executive Officer John McMahon at the November ceremony. “This year’s award winners exhibited impressive commitment to key values including environmental stewardship as well as sound business practices and community service.”
ELITE Award categories also mirror the services and amenities ALCC member companies provide their clients. Awards include: Community Stewardship; Design/Build; Irrigation Management; Landscape Construction; Landscape Maintenance; Plant Design; and Sustainability. In addition, the Most Valued Player (MVP) category recognized five landscape professionals for their outstanding service and dedication to the industry.
The 2022 recipients, finalists, and a brief description of their project submissions are as follows:
Community Stewardship
Gold Award: Environmental Designs – for installing a Holocaust Memorial Garden at a local synagogue as part of the Daffodil Project, an initiative to build living memorials to commemorate lives of children lost in the Holocaust. (See below.)
Commercial Design/Build
Gold Award: Designscapes Colorado – for innovative landscaping at a Park Meadows-area business to provide a more visually appealing landscape while reducing winter maintenance. (See below.)
Residential Design/Build
Gold Award: Lifescape Colorado – for upgrading an iconic Denver residence with luxury, eco-friendly amenities while blending natural and sophisticated styles. (See below.) For another Lifescape Colorado project, see “The Highs & Lows of Rooftop Landscaping Projects.”
Silver Award: Environmental Designs – for creative construction of an expansive, all-season indoor/outdoor entertaining space with unique, child-friendly outdoor learning spaces.
Bronze Award: Phase One Landscapes – updating and bringing cohesion to a large Greenwood Village backyard with cozy and entertaining spaces for the owners and their children. (For another Phase One Landscapes project, see “Embracing The Summer Slide.”)
Irrigation Management
Gold Award: Designscapes Colorado – for renovation and replacement of the irrigation system for a Denver golf course. (See below.)
Landscape Construction
Gold Award: Environmental Designs – for using retaining walls and raised planting beds to create separate levels for lounging and gathering at a Westminster home. (See below.)
Silver Award: Singing Hills Landscape – for renovation of a landscape to maintain the historic look and feel of the owner’s Denver house.
Bronze Award: LID Landscapes – for landscaping to correct drainage issues, increase the number of entertaining spaces, and preserve/enhance views at a Boulder residence.
Commercial Landscape Maintenance
Gold Award: Environmental Designs – for use of innovative and sustainable best practices to care for the 27-acre Greeley property over the last five years. (See right.)
Silver Award: BrightView Landscape Services, Inc. – for tending over 700,000 square feet of turf, more than 400,000 square feet of beds, and over 200,000 square feet of native plants at Inspiration Metropolitan District. (For a recent article about BrightView’s eco-friendly vehicles, click here.)
Bronze Award: Arrowhead Landscape Services – for maintaining over 200 acres at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery while working around memorial items and services.
Residential Landscape Maintenance
Gold Award: Lifescape Colorado – for caring for a 34,000-square-foot Boulder property, keeping its landscape formal, while balancing site constraints and strict ‘green’ city ordinances. (See below.)Plant Design
Gold Award: Lifescape Colorado – for creation of dual luxury rooftop patios for Denver penthouse units with hardy container plants to provide much-needed color. (See below.)
Silver Award: Environmental Designs – for renovation that reduced maintenance and watering and incorporated deer-resistant plants at a Boulder residence.
Bronze Award: Tree of Life Landscapes – for crafting a landscape based on nature’s design, incorporating the client in selecting the plant palette with an eye to how plants will look in every season.
Sustainability
Gold Award: Changing Landscapes Inc. – for applying dry-land, native, and xeric landscaping that also incorporated pollinator-friendly shrubs and addressed high water table challenges. (See below.)
Silver Award: Environmental Designs – for auditing and adjusting irrigation in a residential area in Centerra to address water waste, resulting in water savings, elimination of water waste, and overall better turf conditions.
Bronze Award: LandCare Management – for creating a pollinator sanctuary including 28 large annual/perennial floral beds, nine giant concrete flowerpots, and 16 large shrub beds filled with native shrubs and tall ornamental grasses.
MVP Award Recipients:
Char Chacon, Designscapes Colorado, Centennial, CO
Tom Handy, NationScapes, Lakewood, CO
Colby Woodvine, Phase One Landscapes, Denver, CO
Tom Delaney, Rocky Mountain Trees and Landscaping, Crested Butte, CO
Dustin Dayton, Zak George Landscaping, Fort Collins, CO
More information on all the ELITE Winners and their projects can be found at http://www.alcc.com/elite-2022.
Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC) is the premier professional organization for Colorado’s landscape companies. For more than 55 years, ALCC has guided landscape professionals to address Colorado’s unique climate and to promote sustainable landscapes. ALCC promotes the responsible use of water and other natural resources and provides educational and industry certification opportunities to Colorado’s landscape professionals.
Read the full article “These Colorado Firms Are 2022 ELITE Award Winners” on Turf Magazine.