Building From the Ground Up
Bethesda, MD — Mt. Carmel Stabilization Regional General Managers Marty Leedy and Ryan Kaman attended the National DICE Construction, Design & Development Conference on February 18, 2026. The title of this event was “From Site Assessment to Operational Excellence: Guiding the Full Lifecycle of Data Center Development”.
These conferences allow the attendees to hear from industry professionals regarding issues that impact the data center’s placement, funding, design, construction, energizing and operating efforts across the country.
Data Centers are currently the biggest demand for resources across the construction industry and have become simply, as Neil Ryan calls them, “A Race for Resources”. Speed is everything when discussing Data Centers.
Marty moderated a panel titled “Speed to Market: Fast-Tracking Construction, Development, and Design” alongside panelists from Oracle, Microsoft, Keller, Syska Hennessy Group and material providers, Metromont and JW McDougall.
This was the first time that this particular topic had been discussed at a DICE conference, and attendees heard the panelists’ perspectives of the risks and rewards involved with working closely with your site contractors and sub-contractors during early site development. The panelists from Oracle and Microsoft stated that geotechnical issues are the first risk hurdle that they identify in their site construction project plans, behind the installation of the pad and walls, components, etc. These industry leaders stated that you can’t build anything, if the soils and the ground beneath you aren’t prepared properly.
This seems to be a logical deduction, but all too often, developers, designers, engineers, GCs and even site contractors overlook or dismiss the negative schedule and budget impacts that weak or wet soils can bring a project.
The panel discussed the importance of geotechnical data and how the ability of the contractor to respond quickly to unwanted or deteriorating field conditions eliminates risk and compresses schedule. This was well received by the attendees, and a couple of the follow-up Q&As referenced this matter.
Marty’s panel participation, although just a start, was a great success as it explained Mt. Carmel Stabilization Group’s potential impact on these data center projects, specifically regarding schedule adherence and compression.
Mt. Carmel’s focus on attending such conferences is expressing the importance of providing geotechnical input as early as possible to owners, designers and developers of Data Center projects. Data Centers are now and will remain a significant focus of construction resources and as such, these are projects that Mt. Carmel Stabilization Group will continue to support.
If you are planning, designing, or funding a data center project, the most critical decisions may be happening below grade. Engaging a soil stabilization partner early can eliminate uncertainty, protect your schedule, and unlock faster vertical progress. Contact Mt. Carmel Stabilization Group to discuss how proactive geotechnical strategy and field-proven stabilization solutions can help move your project from site assessment to operational readiness—without losing ground.