Andy Tolbert
Senior Vice President, Design & Engineering Echelon Data Centres
Seminars
Tuesday 1st December 2026
Workshop F: Managing Design Evolution Proactively to Maintain Delivery Momentum Without Disruption
1:00 pm
Design changes are inevitable in complex data center builds, but without clear coordination they quickly lead to misalignment, scope creep, and delays. This session will expose where those breakdowns happen and help you establish the governance, coordination, and decision-making needed to manage change proactively without disrupting delivery.
- Aligning contractors, designers, and owners from schematic design to navigate dense urban constraints, legacy infrastructure, and multi-agency permitting environments to minimize scope creep and coordination breakdowns
- Building internal frameworks and processes to treat change as a controlled process rather than a disruption, minimizing rework and delivery risk
- Pressure-testing design change scenarios in Eastern States conditions (e.g. constrained sites, phased retrofits, union labor impacts, and conflicting stakeholder requirements)
Wednesday 2nd December 2026
Fireside Chat: Building Before Design is Ready: Aligning Design Maturity with Construction Schedules to Reduce Rework
10:50 am
- Exploring delegated design and sequential workflow issues to prevent delays in execution
- Integrating design, virtual coordination, and construction into one executable schedule to avoid siloed timelines
- Leveraging trade partner input earlier to eliminate overdesign and reduce waste
- Creating shared accountability across project partners to align design readiness with fast-tracked construction in high-pressure Eastern markets
