Speed Through Predictability: Applying Proven Practices to Data Center Capital Projects
On July 23, 2026, the Construction Industry Institute (CII) convened 95 professionals from approximately 50 organizations across the data center project delivery ecosystem in Denver, Colorado, to examine how research-based practices can improve the safety, reliability, and predictability of data center delivery amid compressed schedules and resource constraints. Drawing on a pre-forum survey of 49 participants, forum discussions, and CII’s body of knowledge, this paper highlights an industry with mixed levels of delivery-process maturity, a rapidly growing workforce often new to the data center sector, and evolving standards for hyperscale and AI infrastructure projects. Because the forum operated under the Chatham House Rule, findings are presented as anonymized survey results, recurring themes, and illustrative case examples rather than attributed comments.
