Halff’s Gibson Place Utility Company WWTP Receives DBIA Florida Region Merit Award

ORLANDO, Fla. — Halff’s partnership on the Gibson Place Utility Company Wastewater Treatment Plan (WWTP) was recently recognized with a Merit Award for Outstanding Water/Wastewater Project at the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) 2026 Florida Region Conference.

The Design-Build Project Awards Program honors the best of the best in design-build project delivery. The Merit Award for Outstanding Water/Wastewater Project honors a water/wastewater project that signifies excellent implementation of design-build techniques meeting or exceeding owner’s expectations.

Left to right: Jarred Held (Garney Construction), Mike Scullion (Halff), Brian Foulkes (Vikus Water), Rob Ern (Halff) and Tom Manning (Garney Construction).

The Gibson Place Utility Company WWTP was developed to support the continued expansion of The Villages, one of the nation’s fastest-growing master-planned communities and the world’s fastest-growing retirement community. With approximately 3,000 new homes constructed annually, utility infrastructure had to be delivered on an accelerated schedule to keep pace with growth while providing reliable wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse.  In order to reach this goal, the project was delivered via the progressive design-build project delivery method.

Through phased implementation, the project successfully expanded treatment capacity from 2.0 MGD to 4.0 MGD while establishing the wastewater and reclaimed water infrastructure necessary to support continued development within The Villages. The resulting facility provides operational flexibility, treatment performance and reuse capacity needed to support future growth while protecting water resources and meeting increasingly stringent regulatory requirements.

About the Firm

Halff is an award-winning, employee-owned full-service infrastructure consulting firm with more than 75 years of expertise. Established in 1950 by Dr. Albert H. Halff, the firm continues to advance his vision of creating resilient communities through thoughtful design and technical excellence.

Today, Halff operates from more than 30 offices across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Our firm works together to provide comprehensive services from our Mobility, Places and Communities, and Water and Environment solutions. Our more than 1,300 professionals remain committed to delivering smart solutions that improve lives and communities by turning ideas into reality.

Since 2021, the firm has earned more than 100 project awards and continues to rank as an Engineering News-Record Top 100 Design Firm and a USA Today National Top Workplace. Halff supports communities across its footprint through the Halff Community Initiative (HCI), having contributed more than $1 million to nonprofits and thousands of employee volunteer hours since its inception in 2017.