On January 21, the Greater N.Y. International Facility Management Association (IFMA/GNY) announced the winners of their annual Award of Excellence. As the premier association for the advancement of all workplace professionals in the Greater New York area, IFMA/GNY gives awards in eight categories to corporations, project teams and individuals who have achieved excellence in these respective areas. The award categories include "Rookie of the Year," "Design & Construction of a New Facility," "Facility Management Achievement," "Distinguished Professional Member," "Distinguished Associate Corporation," "Distinguished Associate Member," "Distinguished Educator," and "Environmental Awareness." VVA Project Managers & Consultants, a long time member of IFMA's GNY chapter, was a member of the project team for two of the "Design & Construction of a New Facility" awards, including the Kaplan Educational Testing and Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto facilities. The award for "Design & Construction of a New Facility" is given to an IFMA/GNY member that has demonstrated innovation, creativity and excellence in the design of a new raw space. The Kaplan project included a 20,000 s/f build-out consisting of an auditorium and conference/training center which is easily transformed from individual conference rooms into one large event space, complete with total integrated audio visual systems and lighting control. Irwin Schneider, managing director of VVA and partner in charge of the Kaplan project said, "This project was unique and fittingly presented some unusual design challenges, including incorporating Kaplan's new branding identity into the new state-of-the-art Auditorium and Conference/Training Center. Another challenge was building this Center in an existing high-rise building that was not designed to accommodate such a facility. We believe that Jeff Elie and his Kaplan Team were pleased with the success of the project, and having represented Kaplan for over 10 years on complex interior construction projects in the NY Tri-State area, we are excited to see one win such an esteemed award." The Fitzpatrick project included a 130,000 s/f headquarters relocation for this prestigious New York City-based law firm. The 5 new floors feature a sleek law firm design with a staircase interconnecting two floors, a half floor conference center, café, reception, records room, library and moot court room. Lorenzo Vascotto, managing director of VVA and partner in charge of the Fitzpatrick project said, "We are proud to see the project achieve an Award of Excellence from IFMA. It's a great honor for the entire project team."