For Immediate Release

November 10, 2022 (Arlington, VA) - The Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA) names Griffco Design/Build, Inc. and Coldbox as the recipients of the 2022 CEBA Built by the Best Award. The announcement was made in front of a record 400 attendees during the closing General Session of the CEBA Annual Conference and Expo held this week in Florida. CEBA members are true experts in building the cold chain and to recognize their tremendous expertise, the CEBA Built by the Best Award was launched in 2016. The award acknowledges project teams moving the industry forward in the design and construction of controlled environment facilities.

Griffco Design/Build, Inc. received the CEBA Built By the Best Award – Project Over $35 million for their work on Phase I of Americold’s Gateway facility (Atlanta, GA), which is a 200,000 SF Brownfield automated building including a 150-foot tall, -10-degree ASRS, -10 degree low-bay freezer, 35-degree truck and rail dock, and a 2-story office building. The ASRS includes 41,000 pallet positions and the low-bay freezer includes 6,000, totaling 47,000 pallet positions. The Griffco team demolished 440,000 SF of the 600,000 SF of existing refrigerated buildings originally built in the 1970s to clear the site for Phase I.

“Griffco is honored to receive the 2022 CEBA Built by the Best Award for our project with Americold,” said Scott Griffin, Chief Executive Officer, Griffco Design/Build, Inc. “We are immensely proud of the work we did, the partnership with Americold, and the relationships with all the CEBA suppliers who worked in partnership to construct this innovative facility.”

Coldbox received the CEBA Built By the Best Award – Project Under $35 million for a facility built for Confederation Freezers in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Confederation Freezers saw demand for its business increase substantially. As a result, it needed additional space within its existing site to accommodate growing customer needs. The company hired Coldbox to expand and alter the facility by 109,000-square feet to make it more practical. One challenge was Confederation Freezers needed to maintain full operation and service during construction. As a solution, Coldbox took a progressive design-build approach to ensure that construction could happen while Confederation Freezers’ workers were not interrupted. With the finished facility, Coldbox was able to increase Confederation Freezers’ storage capacity by 50%, which helped the company meet demand.

“Coldbox, Confederation Freezers, and all of the CEBA members [who] worked on the project, created a warehouse we can all be proud of,” said Paul D’Agostino, Chief Operations Officer, Coldbox. “We look forward to continuing to grow and nurture our relationships with new and existing partners in the cold storage industry.”

This year there were seven submissions for the award.

Three honorable mention submissions: ESI Group USA for the Ben E. Keith Foods food distribution facility – New Brockton, AL, United States, Primus Builders for the Cold Summit Development cold storage facility – Dallas, TX, United Stages, Ryan Companies for the Kroger Co./Ocado automated grocery fulfillment center – Forest Park, GA, United States

Four finalists: AM King for Mission Produce, Inc. food distribution facility - Laredo, TX, United States, Coldbox for the Confederation Freezers expansion project - Brantford, ON, Canada, Fisher Construction Group for the Arctic Cold cold storage facility – Oxnard, CA, United States, Griffco Design/Build, Inc. for the Americold Gateway automated freezer facility project - Atlanta, GA, United Sates

All submissions were vetted by a panel of judges including: Zach Norris, Vice President, Evans General Contracting, Rob Adams, Executive Vice President, Ti Cold, Burnie Taylor, Chief Development & Solutions Officer, Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics, Mike Lynch, Vice President of Engineering, US Cold Storage, Charles Woolley, Manager, Controlled Environment Systems and Rob Brodsky, Senior Vice President, Stellar.

The finalist companies presented their projects to attendees from the General Session stage during the CEBA Conference and Expo held this week. More information on each finalist can also be found here.

CEBA will open up nominations for the 2023 CEBA Built By the Best Award in May of 2023.

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Photos - Griffico Design/Build, Inc. project for Americold and ColdBox for Project with Confederation Freezers

Contact: Megan Costello, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff, Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) mcostello@gcca.org, +1 703-627-1091.

About the Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA): Founded in 1978, the Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA) represents the expert builders who specialize in the design and construction of controlled environment buildings, including cold storage warehouses, food processing facilities, clean rooms, pharmaceutical facilities, and foodservice and retail distribution centers. CEBA is where anyone looking to build, renovate, or modernize a first-rate, innovative facility comes to find the most experienced designers, contractors, and manufacturers and suppliers. CEBA is a partner of the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA).