PCL taps company vet to head burgeoning data center market

Dive Brief:

• Amid a boom in data center construction driven by the advent of artificial intelligence, PCL Construction has tapped Tyler Kautz as vice president, data centers, according to a July 7 news release.
• Kautz, formerly vice president and district manager in PCL’s Seattle location, played a pivotal role in expanding the company’s presence across the Northwest.
• Kautz will also lead the company’s Mission Critical Center of Excellence, which has delivered over 120 data center and mission critical projects that include complex, large-scale retrofits, new builds such as Tier IV fault-tolerant projects and critical environment upgrades.

Dive Insight:

The news comes as contractors remain bullish on data center construction overall. Although fears of a bubble persist, driven by tech giants pulling back on certain projects and data center vacancy rates hit a record low in the first three months of the year, demand for the structures remains high.

Mission Critical projects are facilities that must operate at all times without failure, which includes data centers and military facilities.

This isn’t the first time that the company has shored up a segment based on solid growth trends. In January, PCL launched its Manufacturing Center of Excellence, which the company said would greatly streamline new plant facility planning, engineering, construction and production start-up, while gathering its manufacturing experts into one team.

While in Seattle, Kautz was instrumental in building relationships with major technology clients, and led the original business case study that inspired the launch of PCL’s dedicated data center division, according to the release. 

“Tyler represents the future of PCL – he brings deep expertise, strong client relationships, and a collaborative leadership style that reflects our values,” said Cathy Orquiola, president of western U.S. for PCL, in the release. “As we expand our mission critical and data center operations, I’m confident his leadership will continue to position PCL as the builder of choice in high-tech, fast-growing markets.”

The Edmonton, Alberta, firm, with its U.S. headquarters in Denver, also continues to have high hopes for the sector — it cited statistics in the release that project the data center construction market to grow from $287 billion in 2025 to $1.3 trillion by 2035.