Skip to content

Merced 2020 Project Wins Gold for Social Infrastructure

By James Leonard, University Communications
September 28, 2017
Rendering of the Merced 2020 Project
The project's latest award highlights the social benefits it will bring to the community and region.

The Merced 2020 Project earned two more awards this week, claiming the top prize for Best Social Infrastructure Project at the P3 Awards in Washington, D.C.

UC Merced earned the Gold Award for social infrastructure, a subset of infrastructure that includes construction projects that benefit the standard of living, quality of life and social fabric of a community. The university has been recognized in recent rankings for the success it’s had in helping first-generation and underserved students succeed beyond expectations.

The university also claimed a Silver Award for Government Agency of the Year, on behalf of the University of California Board of Regents. The P3 Awards, an international competition organized by P3 Bulletin magazine, recognize the year’s best public-private partnership projects.

View a live webcam of Merced 2020 Project construction

The Merced 2020 Project, currently underway, is a $1.3 billion expansion plan that will nearly double the available space on campus within a three-year period, while providing enrollment capacity for 10,000 students.

“Merced 2020 is an unprecedented project in higher education, and UC Merced and the UC Board of Regents deserve the recognition they’ve received for taking this chance and building the future in the heart of California,” Chancellor Dorothy Leland said. “Once complete, this project will allow us to serve more of our state’s best and brightest students, hire more of the best faculty and staff, and expand our positive impact on Merced and the San Joaquin Valley.”

Earlier this year, the project was named the “Americas P3 Deal of the Year” in Thomson Reuters’ Project Finance International (PFI) Awards.

At last year’s P3 Awards, then-Vice Chancellor for Planning and Budget Daniel Feitelberg received the Best Individual Contribution Award, given to a person who most successfully progressed P3 infrastructure and innovation. Feitelberg also received the Public Sector Champion Award from Performance Based Building Coalition and InfraAmericas.

“The ongoing recognition for the Merced 2020 Project is a testament to the great work being done by the university in partnership with the Plenary Group, Webcor Construction and Johnson Controls Inc.,” said Interim Vice Chancellor Veronica Mendez. “We look forward to the opening of our first buildings next year and the completion of this project by Fall 2020.”