Data Centers and Adaptive Reuse Take Center Stage at Greenbuild
The 2026 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo hosted educational sessions and keynotes addressing key issues to the industry including data center construction and sustainability, adaptive reuse, resiliency, retrofitting and LEED version 5. This year’s event was held in New York City, Oct. 20-22. The expo show floor also welcomed attendees and exhibitors to connect over the latest innovations in the green building space.
Data center construction and sustainability
The keynote session on Oct. 22 featured a panel with people representing the construction industry and AI. They discussed the existing sustainability efforts around data center construction projects, what that industry can do to be more transparent about their environmental impact and how local communities and data center construction teams can work together to create a symbiotic relationship.
Noah Goldstein, sustainable construction lead, data centers, Google, and Katie Bachman, vice president of business operations for STACK Infrastructure, both said that nondisclosure agreements around data center construction are now a thing of the past. Companies constructing data centers are making greater efforts around transparency with the local community. Companies that are coming in to local communities with a proposal for a data center need to have incentives for the community; like reinvesting into K-12 education, supporting the local trades and unions, as well as small businesses and first responders.
When it comes to sustainability efforts and looping the community into that, Bachman says that LEED V5 can be used as a tool to measure performance for data centers. LEED V5 provides common language to invite communities into the conversation, where they don’t need to be technical experts to understand the benchmarks.
When it comes to data centers being LEED V5 certified, Bachman says that it’s not a perfect solution, but “if a building is certified, it must be better than one that is not. Meaningful transparency means early and ongoing communication.” Bachman says that data centers are intended to be long term community members.
When it comes to increasing transparency with the public, Bachman says that STACK recently held multiple community tours in New Mexico at one of its newly completed data centers and had its first media tour as well, with the senior leadership team on site for questions. Operational reporting for water usage and carbon impact also needs to be better in the industry. “We need to be held accountable to that and make it publicly available. If I say we use zero water, what’s going to make you believe me? Seeing the data,” says Bachman.
Goldstein says that rate of progress for data center construction is so rapid, that we don’t know what this landscape could look like even a few years from now. He says we need more concrete specification language around data center construction.
Another session of the day focused on data centers as part of the urban landscape. Gabe Andrews is a senior data center executive with Mousterian Corp. He claimed that there is no issue around data center construction that does not have a positive solution the developer can figure out. If a community is concerned about water usage, for example, a dry cooler can be used as an alternative refrigerant. He says that collaboration between the community and the developer is essential. Mousterian Corp. sends representatives to communities with an office rental so locals can come to office hours and ask questions.
“There is significant value to be added to your community,” says Andrews. “There is disruption. No good change comes with no disruption, but everyone in town could have fiber to the home, police could have new cameras, there are other investments in the community to be made.”
Joyce Deuley, strategic operations and development manager for Team b. Strategy says that both communities and data center developers need to avoid “being hasty” in decision making, because “this type of infrastructure, once done, is difficult to rework and undo.”
Urban Innovation, Resilience & AI Strategy Advisor with Phronimos Carlos Tomayo, says that there needs to be a streamlined process moving forward involving federal, state and local agencies to ensure clarity in permitting and code compliance. He adds there should also be clear staging in project planning, particularly for large-scale facilities exceeding 100 megawatts. Developers must communicate how they intend to increase capacity over five to ten years so local jurisdictions can plan grid updates accordingly.
Adaptive reuse and retrofit
An education session at Greenbuild titled "The Business of Adaptive Reuse" featured speakers from real estate, construction and environmental consultants. They gave attendees an inside look into the steps to success for adaptive reuse and presented a case study in New York City which included the ups and downs of the process. They say there are five steps to the process of an adaptive reuse project:
- Engage early with general contractor and sustainability consultant
- Perform salvage assessment and produce material inventory
- Assess feasibility of reuse for the identified material streams
- Pricing and logistics
- Ongoing coordination and problem solving
Critical factors for success when it comes to adaptive reuse include marketplace and policy support in the city or state you’re working in, contracts and implementation, regulatory zoning and incentives, project champions and marketplace tools and software. To fuel the reuse market, there are small steps companies can take to begin implementing it immediately, like procuring salvage materials, selecting manufacturers with take-back programs and designing with disassembly in mind.
On the expo floor, multiple companies said they have seen an increase in retrofit project opportunities. Solatube International Inc. says that a large portion of their institutional work now consists of retrofits as schools aim to increase daylight but keep materials costs low. Their product allows daylight to enter the building through the roof, rather than needing to cut out a new spot for a window.
“We’re seeing steady interest from architects in retrofit and renovation applications, mostly where owners want to refresh an existing building without a full teardown. Projects have included commercial office, hospitality, and multifamily and institutional interiors, and we’re also talking with architects about healthcare,” says Bendheim’s Director of Sales Peter Stattler.
The products most requested are Bendheim’s clip-based glass systems, which install quickly and with minimal disruption to occupants. Because the clips don’t require drilling or adhesives, panels can be adjusted in the field or replaced individually, which suits existing conditions.
“There’s also a sustainability angle. Updating an existing building’s look and performance rather than replacing it keeps embodied carbon down, and a glass rainscreen can be added over the existing structure,” adds Stattler.
INTUS adds that they have also seen an increase in retrofit project opportunities, specifically using their unitized curtainwall product iWALL. This product is factory-built, pre-glazed, and pre-sealed, making it simple for on-site installation.
