Victor Ashe, the mayor of Knoxville, recently recognized The Clark Construction Group Inc. of Tampa, FL, and Denark Construction Company of Knoxville, TN, for working one million manhours on the Knoxville Convention Center without a lost-time accident. The city of Knoxville stands to save $800,000 in insurance savings.

Peak employment at the job was 585. Now 350 workers are employed at the convention center each day.

“For a person to work a million hours at 40 hours a week with two weeks’ vacation, they would have to work for 500 years,” said Mike Cohen, spokesman for the Public Building Authority for the County of Knox and the city of Knoxville. “To achieve that without losing a day of work is really impressive.”

Designed by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback-McCarty, Holsaple, McCarty — A Joint Venture, the 500,545-sq.-ft. (46,502 sq m) Knoxville Convention Center mirrors the rolling terrain of the city. The scale of the structure is minimized to blend with smaller buildings nearby. Materials reflect Knoxville’s architectural tradition, relying on a richness of natural texture and color. The site is on the west edge of the city urban core and adjacent to the site of the World’s Fair held in 1982.

The facility consists of a 121,000-sq.-ft. (11,241 sq m) exhibit hall, 30,000-sq.-ft. (2,787 sq m) ballroom, 26,000 sq. ft. (2,415 sq m) of meeting space in 19 rooms, 400-seat lecture hall and full banquet kitchen and back-of-house service. Functions are arranged on three levels with the exhibit hall and truck service at the lowest and underground level.

Clark/Denark A Joint Venture is serving as construction manager at risk on the job. The Clark Construction Group Inc. is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

For more information, call 301/272-8439 or visit www.clarkconstruction.com.