Data Center Insights: Christopher Gorthy, DPR Construction
The Data Center Frontier Executive Roundtable features insights from industry executives with lengthy experience in the data center industry.
Here’s a look at the Q1 2026 insights from Christopher Gorthy, Advanced Technology Core Market Co-Leader - Mission Critical, with DPR Construction.
Christopher Gorthy serves as the Advanced Technology Core Market Co-Leader at DPR Construction, where he leads strategic growth and delivery efforts for mission critical projects including hyperscale, AI, and colocation data centers. With 26 years of industry experience, Chris has spent more than two decades at DPR, helping shape the company’s approach to technically complex, high-performance buildings. Chris brings a well-rounded background in project management, business development, and preconstruction, most recently serving as a Preconstruction Lead for one of DPR’s key hyperscale data center clients. He has led GMP development, buyout strategy, and customer alignment for major national data center programs, while also supporting initiatives around sustainability, life cycle cost analysis, and LEED/Net Zero delivery. Throughout his tenure, Chris has played an active role in DPR’s regional and national leadership groups, mentoring future leaders and fostering strong relationships with customers, designers, consultants, and trade partners across the country. Chris holds a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Architecture from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is a LEED Accredited Professional (BD+C) through the U.S. Green Building Council.
Data Center Frontier: The industry has entered what many describe as the execution phase of the AI infrastructure cycle. What capabilities — organizational, technical, or operational — will most clearly separate the projects that deliver on time from those that struggle over the next 24 months?
Christopher Gorthy, DPR Construction: From what we’re seeing across the industry, the ability to attract and retain skilled talent is becoming a differentiator in this execution phase. As organizations rethink how they build and sustain project teams, our self-perform workforce and in house prefabrication capabilities position us and our customers to deliver at the pace projects demand. We’re fortunate to have over 5,000 skilled craft employees across the company who bring hands‑on expertise to our projects.
But we also have to retain them. We’re focused on creating a great environment for them to work and grow. For example, in 2023, we introduced a new suite of benefits for our craft employees that offer additional benefits in our union markets and deliver a comprehensive package in non‑union areas that we believe sets a new standard in the industry. Programs like our foreman develop program also increase career opportunities for people in the skilled trades.
When it comes to recruiting, we are also supplementing the strong union-run apprenticeship programs with our own in select markets, particularly in the Southeast and parts of Texas. We believe people need as many entry points to the trades, as possible.
Data Center Frontier: As AI campuses scale into multi-hundred-megawatt and gigawatt territory, successful delivery increasingly depends on tight coordination across utilities, suppliers, builders, and operators. Where is the industry still too fragmented, and what models of collaboration are proving most effective?
Christopher Gorthy, DPR Construction: Early collaboration of key stakeholders has become the baseline to deliver these complex projects. The teams that are successful in these environments are the ones who combine effective meeting structures with enough in‑person interaction to build real trust. Pairing those relationships with the right tools can help track key decision making, document reasoning, and keep everyone aligned on "The Why," creating more predictable outcomes.
Where the industry continues to feel fragmented is around liability, risk, and comfort with sharing design and model data. Achieving the speed these projects demand requires the entire team to understand each partner’s constraints and then working together to solve problems, communicating clearly and documenting decisions as they go.
All of our partnerships are solving equations with multiple variables. Our teams must provide early feedback and solutions when faced with impacts or delays outside our control, and even earlier communications of impacts that cannot be mitigated. Open communication channels, whether through shared digital platforms or recurring working sessions, are critical to staying ahead of risk.
As projects get bigger, alignment with financial institutions, insurance entities and private equity partners also have become essential.
The number of trade partners capable of taking on contracts of this size is limited, so making sure we are setting up our partners for success while also working to expand the network of qualified trade partners is a key strategy.
From a tactical standpoint, the most effective projects operate from a single integrated schedule that ties together the owner, vendors, general contractor, trades, commissioning teams, and all other stakeholders.
Reinforcing this with consistent two‑ to three‑week look‑ahead reviews and onsite schedule coordination meetings regardless of contractual structure significantly increases alignment and efficiency at the project level.
Data Center Frontier: With AI demand evolving rapidly, many operators are trying to balance speed to market with long-term flexibility. How should developers and suppliers think about future-proofing infrastructure – particularly power and electrical capacity - without overbuilding or locking into the wrong assumptions?
Christopher Gorthy, DPR Construction: Flexibility, cost, schedule, reliability are all key elements to support a customer's needs and long-term strategy. We have to understand the priorities of each project and each customer we work with and balance the approach for that effort. Flexibility often comes with added upfront cost, but when it’s applied thoughtfully, teams can try to find ways to offset costs in the short term while also providing meaningful long‑term savings and solutions.
Engaging with technical experts early on can help customers make decisions or perform studies to balance the right priorities. For example: reducing water usage may increase electrical demand; designing a larger building shell may carry initial cost but accelerate future deployments; adding space in medium‑ or low‑voltage pathways today may enable higher densities tomorrow.
All of these questions have trade-offs, which is why we encourage our customers to not get stuck in ridged decision structures, as regions and geographies should influence key design decisions. A baseline standard is useful, but it must have enough flexibility for the team to execute the mission. The “fastest path” isn’t determined by cost per MW or total duration alone, it’s the sum of hundreds of design, engineering, procurement and deployment decisions that must be evaluated together.
As an industry we must be clearer about the actual impacts and steps many of these projects are taking to reduce energy costs and actually strengthen the power grid, invest in the communities for decades to come, improve other infrastructure that supports the local economy that goes beyond just the building. When we improve transparency around the data and the outcomes, we can counter misconceptions and create a more collaborative public process.
Data Center Frontier: Public scrutiny of large-scale data center development continues to rise, particularly around power use, land, and community impact. Looking ahead, what will define whether the industry optimally maintains its social license to operate as AI infrastructure expands?
Christopher Gorthy, DPR Construction: The concerns about use of these resources are real and, at least from our conversations, owners share those concerns from both the operational and environmental standpoints.
While the scale is substantial, we are seeing incredible efficiencies of energy, water and reductions in material usage.
On the construction side, we are working hard to lower emissions and water use through measures like recycled‑water wheel‑wash systems and sourcing materials with reduced embodied carbon, making construction activity less carbon‑ and water‑intensive than ever.
The industry is evolving quickly, and we expect things will look very different in the future.
About the Author
Matt Vincent
Matt Vincent is Editor in Chief of Data Center Frontier, where he leads editorial strategy and coverage focused on the infrastructure powering cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the digital economy. A veteran B2B technology journalist with more than two decades of experience, Vincent specializes in the intersection of data centers, power, cooling, and emerging AI-era infrastructure. Since assuming the EIC role in 2023, he has helped guide Data Center Frontier’s coverage of the industry’s transition into the gigawatt-scale AI era, with a focus on hyperscale development, behind-the-meter power strategies, liquid cooling architectures, and the evolving energy demands of high-density compute, while working closely with the Digital Infrastructure Group at Endeavor Business Media to expand the brand’s analytical and multimedia footprint. Vincent also hosts The Data Center Frontier Show podcast, where he interviews industry leaders across hyperscale, colocation, utilities, and the data center supply chain to examine the technologies and business models reshaping digital infrastructure. Since its inception he serves as Head of Content for the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit. Before becoming Editor in Chief, he served in multiple senior editorial roles across Endeavor Business Media’s digital infrastructure portfolio, with coverage spanning data centers and hyperscale infrastructure, structured cabling and networking, telecom and datacom, IP physical security, and wireless and Pro AV markets. He began his career in 2005 within PennWell’s Advanced Technology Division and later held senior editorial positions supporting brands such as Cabling Installation & Maintenance, Lightwave Online, Broadband Technology Report, and Smart Buildings Technology. Vincent is a frequent moderator, interviewer, and keynote speaker at industry events including the HPC Forum, where he delivers forward-looking analysis on how AI and high-performance computing are reshaping digital infrastructure. He graduated with honors from Indiana University Bloomington with a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing and lives in southern New Hampshire with his family, remaining an active musician in his spare time.
Voices of the Industry
