When
Sep 30, 2026 - Oct 1, 2026
Where
,Premier Sponsors
As AI transforms computing requirements, demanding high-density and mission-critical structures, traditional building and construction delivery models are being pushed to evolve at a dramatic rate. Attendees will walk away with actionable intelligence and real-world case studies across the full project lifecycle—from pragmatic AI for preconstruction takeoffs and power-first site selection to modular prefabrication, liquid-to-chip cooling, pre-installation testing to mitigate startup risk, and automated progress tracking. Join industry pioneers and leaders from across the ecosystem to benchmark strategies, de-risk execution, compress schedules, and build the physical backbone of artificial intelligence.
TOPICS OF INTEREST
- Power & Energy Innovation: On-site generation, microgrids, BYOP, grid constraints, and high-voltage supply chains.
- Speed to Market & Delivery: Prefabrication, modular construction, progressive design-build, and risk allocation models.
- Site Feasibility & Community: Power-first site selection, navigating zoning, environmental impact, and local engagement.
- AI, MEP & Digital Construction: Liquid-to-chip cooling, digital twins, 360° progress tracking, and AI takeoff integration.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
BuiltWorlds invites C-Suite Executives, SVPs, VPs, Directors, and Leaders from Owners, Operators, Developers, Contractors, MEP/Specialty Trades, Designers, Investors, Technology and Power / Energy Providers that oversee and have responsibilities for:
- Innovation / Strategy / Design / Development
- Venture Capital / Corporate Venture Capital & Investment
- Hyperscale / Mission Critical / Advanced Manufacturing / Hitech
- Power / Energy / Utilities / Cooling / Siting / Engineering
- Prefabrication / Modularization / Offsite / Industrialized Construction
THE BUILTWORLDS MEMBERS BUILDING DATA CENTERS
2026 Speakers Include:
Marty Doscher
Architecture, Engineering & Construction Industry Business Consultant Senior Director, Dassault Systèmes
2026 Agenda
Day 1 Schedule
Research Track Working Group Meetings | Closed to BuiltWorlds Research Track Member Organizations Only
Exclusive to BuiltWorlds' Research Tracks members, our Working Group Sessions offer a closed-door setting where members can speak candidly about the challenges and opportunities shaping their work. In keeping with the theme of the 2026 Buildings Conference, this year's sessions in Nashville will feature insights from subject matter experts, with a dedicated focus on data centers and AI infrastructure.
Research Track Check-in & Private Lunch
BuiltWorlds’ Research Track Members attending the AI, Offsite, or Building Tech + Infrastructure Working Group Sessions are invited to arrive early for an exclusive, members-only lunch with peers ahead of the afternoon’s working group sessions.
AI Research Track Working Group Meeting
AI Governance and Risk: What?, Why?, How?
This working group discussion examines what AI governance means and why it's necessary as AI tools become embedded in project management workflows. It also explores how effective governance frameworks are established, including the key issues they must address, how they're put into practice, and the risks and challenges teams are likely to encounter along the way.
Session facilitator: John Colley, Director, BRG
Offsite Construction Working Group Meeting
AI Infrastructure is Forcing a Shift from Projects to Products
The unprecedented demand for AI infrastructure is exposing the limits of traditional project-based delivery. This working group session will feature a candid discussion around how owners, builders, and manufacturers are rethinking what should be standardized, productized, and built offsite to achieve the speed, scale, and certainty AI deployment requires. Attendees will share lessons learned and explore where product-based delivery creates the greatest value, where customization still matters, and how the industry's delivery models may need to evolve over the next decade.
Session facilitator: Nate Haack, VP & General Manager, BLUvera, Mortenson
Building Tech & Infrastructure Working Group Meeting
Building Precision at Scale: Design Development, Review, and QA/QC for Mission-Critical Facilities
As data center and mission-critical construction accelerates, the margin for error in design development and quality control keeps shrinking. This working group brings together leaders from BuiltWorlds' Building Tech and Infrastructure tracks to discuss how VDC and digital review processes are reshaping design development, QA/QC, and handover on high-stakes builds — and what it takes, in both technology and people, to keep pace without sacrificing precision.
Session facilitator: Kritika Agrawal, Senior VDC Manager, Clayco
General Session Registration - OPEN to all ticketed attendees
BuiltWorlds Startup Demo Day Competition
The signature Demo Day Pitch Competition by BuiltWorlds will showcase a select group of startups impacting the mission critical space to be rated and evaluated by a group of VC and CVC Judges within the Built Environment.
Presenting Companies:
Cascade.ai, Podium.io, DeepMechanix, Anyset AI, Breadcrumb, ThoughtPivot
Judging Companies:
Zacua Ventures, Kajima USA, VINCI, Gray Capital
Reception
Day 2 Schedule
Registration & Breakfast
Welcoming Address
The Cloud Has a Zip Code: Designing Responsible Infrastructure Behind the Intelligence Age
Keynote Address
The cloud is not in the sky. It has a zip code. It connects to a grid, consumes resources, occupies land, affects communities, and carries a carbon footprint. As AI and advanced computing reshape our economy, data centers are becoming one of the defining infrastructure systems of our time. The question is less about if we can build enough capacity and now more about how we can design it responsibly and in a way that earns the social license to operate. This presentation will touch on integrating energy, resilience, sustainability, technology, and community into the physical backbone of the intelligence age.
Speaker:
Mike Sewell, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Gresham Smith
Navigating Power Scarcity: Strategies for 2026
Panel Discussion
Power is no longer a commodity; it is the ultimate constraint. This panel brings together developers, GCs, and other key stakeholders to discuss the reality of "power-first" site selection. The group will dive into creative utility negotiations, the rise of energy storage systems (BESS) to manage peak loads, and how builders are adapting to 48-month lead times for primary substations.
Panelists:
Peter Hirschboeck, Managing Director, impactECI (Moderator)
Frank Krupp, Project Director, Graycor
Rishikesh Belekar, Senior Engineering Team Lead, Rosendin Electric
Akshay Thakur, CEO & Co-Founder, BlackCurrant
Jake Sessions, Business Development - Industrial and Municipal Pumps | Data Centers, Xylem
Networking Break
Supply Chain Resilience: From Lead Times to Prefabrication
Panel Discussion
In an era of "just-in-case" rather than "just-in-time" procurement, how are builders staying on schedule? This session highlights the shift toward industrialized construction, where speakers will share insights on vertical integration, the use of off-site prefabricated/modular units to bypass local labor shortages, and how to manage the risk of Tier 2 and Tier 3 supplier failures.
Speakers:
Robert Frost, Program Manager, Systems and Strategy, NexGen Contracting LLC / Gray Construction (Moderator)
Jon Benson, Director of Modular Innovation, TAS Energy
Brian Gallagher, VP, Corporate Strategy and Development, PPC Partners
Zak Kostura, Chief Growth Officer, Flexnode
What AI Can (and Can't) Do for Preconstruction
Breakout Session
AI has arrived in preconstruction with promises: documents that read themselves, decisions that arrive pre-made, and risk spotted before it costs anything . Some of that is real. While much of it is real, a lot isn't, and not without a human who knows what to expect. This session separates the two scenarios. Drawing on case studies from Crusoe's experience building at data center speed and scale across multiple project lifecycle phases, this session discusses where AI genuinely earns its keep and where it quietly breaks down. Attendees leave with a working mental model for potentially deciding what to pilot, what to buy, vs what is worth waiting for.
Speaker:
Duhita Kothe, Project Manager, Crusoe
Lunch
Systems Thinking for Rapid Acceleration of AI Factory Delivery
Case Study Presentation
How productization of the built environment is leading to better integration between Owner, Designer, and Builder. Designers model and simulate requirements and behavior to generate optimized designs, while Builders model and simulate production systems to provide vital constructability feedback to designers, and optimize production and the supply chain to deliver AI Factories months sooner.
Speakers:
Neil Meredith, Solutions Architect - Prefab, DPR Construction
Marty Doscher, Architecture, Engineering & Construction Industry Business Consultant Senior Director, Dassault Systèmes
Catch Slowdowns Before They Become Delays: Automated Progress Tracking on Hyperscale Data Centers
Case Study
What is reality on your jobsite? Your P6 says one thing; your trades say another. In this session, a DPR superintendent and Doxel product leader share real field stories of catching trade delays months early, spotting off-design installations, and proving progress to skeptical clients. Learn how computer vision converts weekly 360° site walks into objective, component-level data that settles disputes with evidence, keeps schedules on track, and builds data centers faster.
Speakers:
Reid Senescu, SVP of Product and Market Development, Doxel AI
Mike Miller, Project Executive, DPR Construction
Simulating How to Free Your Data Center's Hidden Capacity (BRING YOUR LAPTOP / DEVICE)
Breakout Session
In this hands-on, interactive discussion, attendees will use live credentials to run a power envelope simulation on an existing or planned data center, revealing how advanced thermal storage converts unoptimized cooling into additional IT capacity. Bring and input four facility parameters (location, electrical connection size, cooling tech, and water supply temperature) to model your power distribution and review live results together. Attendees will leave with a custom engineering report detailing the upgrade potential for both air-cooled and liquid-cooled facilities.
Speaker:
Yaron Bennun, Founder & CTO, Nostromo
Networking Break
Building Tech: Research Presentation
This presentation offers an inside look at BuiltWorlds' benchmarking research, drawing on key findings from our Annual Building Tech Report. We'll examine how AI is reshaping both design processes and building operations, from early-stage decision-making to day-to-day performance management. We'll also highlight how emerging technologies are being deployed in high-stakes, fast-moving projects, such as data centers, where tight timelines and mission-critical demands leave little room for error.
Speaker:
Carolyn Carbaugh, Research Analyst, BuiltWorlds
Where Are All the Data Centers Going to Go?
Panel Discussion
As Tier 1 markets reach saturation and grid availability tightens, the "Great Migration" to secondary and tertiary markets is no longer optional; it’s a necessity. This session addresses the rising complexities of land use, from tightening water consumption policies to the legislative pushback seen in emerging regions. Panelists will discuss how developers and GCs are navigating local moratoriums, implementing waterless cooling to satisfy environmental mandates, and mastering the art of community engagement to secure a "social license" in skeptical jurisdictions.
Panelists:
Bret Kadison, SVP of Innovation & Chief Growth Officer - Energy & Infrastructure, Teneo (moderator)
Terence Deneny, Senior Vice President | Mission Critical, STO Building Group
Sarah Martin, Director of Economic Research, Dodge Construction Network
Bruce Wilcox, President / CEO, Greater Paducah Economic Development
Ed Socia, Regional Director - North America, datacenterHawk
Minimizing Data Center Schedule and Startup Risk Through Pre-Installation Testing
Breakout Session
As data center timelines compress and power demands skyrocket, relying on post-installation troubleshooting introduces severe risks to both project schedules and initial startup success. This session explores how implementing rigorous, comprehensive equipment testing before field installation safeguards the critical path and eliminates costly deployment bottlenecks. Attendees will walk away with actionable strategies to align vendors, validate power systems early, and ensure a flawless transition from delivery to live operations.
Speaker:
William Grover, VP, Project Integration & Compliance, Advanced Data Center Solutions
Closing Remarks & Reception
Member Registration
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Fireside Chat and Closing Comments
Speakers:
Luke Prescott, Vice President, Product Management, Bluebeam
Rosemarie Lipman, CEO, BuiltWorlds