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Essential industry updates – and what they mean
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US Steel is investing $1.9bn in a direct reduced iron facility in Arkansas, linking iron ore processing and steel production within a single domestic supply chain. The project supports the company’s wider push to improve efficiency, reduce transport requirements and strengthen US-based manufacturing capacity.
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US Steel is investing $1.9bn in a direct reduced iron facility in Arkansas, linking iron ore processing and steel production within a single domestic supply chain. The project supports the company’s wider push to improve efficiency, reduce transport requirements and strengthen US-based manufacturing capacity.
Tilbury Douglas has deployed a humanoid robot on a live construction site to capture 360° imagery, document progress and support health and safety reporting. The company expects the trial to save time each month in admin-heavy data collection, signalling how automation is beginning to move into routine site operations.
Tilbury Douglas has deployed a humanoid robot on a live construction site to capture 360° imagery, document progress and support health and safety reporting. The company expects the trial to save time each month in admin-heavy data collection, signalling how automation is beginning to move into routine site operations.
AI demand reshapes infrastructure
The order marks Larsen & Toubro’s foray into the AI factory business. Credit: mrinalpal/Shutterstock.com
L&T’s Vyoma.AI is moving into AI-factory infrastructure with a Chennai facility built around 10,000 NVIDIA B300 GPUs for Together AI. The order takes the engineering group beyond conventional data centres into specialised compute infrastructure, where power availability, high-performance networking and scalability are central design constraints. The campus’s first phase is designed for 250MW, with 150MVA of power readiness.
Why it matters: AI investment is widening the data centre brief from buildings and servers to power-ready infrastructure engineered for dense compute at scale.
Key stat: 10,000 NVIDIA B300 GPUs in the planned cluster.
Watch: Whether L&T can turn Chennai into a repeatable model for AI-ready infrastructure across India.
LA tests progressive delivery
Plans call for 11 new stations with shade structures. Credit: Skanska
LA Metro has awarded a Skanska-Stacy Witbeck joint venture a $2.43bn contract for the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail project. The 10.8km, 11-station scheme is notable not only for its scale but also for its progressive design-build model, which brings designers, contractors and stakeholders together early to address utilities, construction methods, cost and schedule.
Why it matters: The contract puts collaborative risk management at the centre of delivery on a major US transit scheme.
Key stat: $2.43bn contract value.
Watch: Cost and schedule performance as delivery runs towards the planned December 2031 completion.
Brenner closes the gap
TBM Wilma reaches its final destination on 25 August 2026. Credit: Galleria di Base del Brennero – Brenner Basistunnel BBT SE
TBM Wilma’s breakthrough has connected previously excavated sections of the Brenner Base Tunnel, creating the first continuous 55km western main tunnel tube between Austria and Italy. Wilma itself advanced 7.5km over 706 days. The milestone puts the spotlight on logistics as much as excavation, with underground supply chains used to keep a complex Alpine programme moving.
Why it matters: On tunnelling megaprojects, logistics and sequencing can be as decisive as boring speed.
Key stat: Around 45,000 lorry journeys eliminated through the project’s logistics approach.
Watch: Progress on the remaining excavation and the eventual shift from civil works to rail fit-out.
Rogun scales up hydropower
The dam is being built on the Vakhsh River and is designed to reach a final height of 335m. Credit: Webuild
Webuild says the Rogun dam now stands 190m high as work advances on the $2.3bn Lot 2 package in Tajikistan. Designed to reach 335m, it would become the world’s tallest dam. The scheme is already generating power during construction, combining phased delivery with a planned 3.6GW build-out that could double national electricity generation capacity.
Why it matters: Rogun links megaproject delivery directly to national energy security, export potential and winter supply resilience.
Key stat: 49 million m³ of material placed so far, more than half the planned total.
Watch: Whether staged generation continues to increase smoothly as the reservoir rises and construction intensifies.
Essential industry updates – and what they mean
By the numbers
$6.97
tn
The combined net project value of GlobalData’s active commercial construction pipeline, spanning 21,628 projects worldwide.
Why it’s key: The figure shows the depth of the market despite commercial construction output being forecast to grow by just 0.5% in 2026.
37
%
The share of global commercial pipeline value still at the planning stage.
Why it’s key: More than a third of tracked value has yet to reach later development stages, leaving substantial potential workload but also exposure to financing, permitting and project attrition.
~2
x
The expected increase in global data centre capacity by 2030.
Why it’s key: AI and cloud demand are driving a major expansion in physical capacity, although power availability, permitting and equipment lead times could constrain delivery.
16.8
%
Forecast year-on-year growth in US data centre construction output in 2026.
Why it’s key: The US remains at the centre of the data centre build-out, with output forecast to reach $55.9bn this year despite mounting power and delivery constraints.
Source: GlobalData Construction Intelligence Centre
Revealing the scale and direction of global commercial construction demand
For the record...
Revealing the scale of global construction demand
“[Terafab will] be the largest and most valuable building on Earth by far.”
Elon Musk on Tesla and SpaceX’s planned 100-million-sq-ft semiconductor manufacturing complex in Texas.
“The Dedicated Freight Corridor is the lifeline of a rapidly developing India.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the completion of India’s 2,800km Dedicated Freight Corridor network.
“The best way to meet the challenge that has been created is to build more supply, and to build it faster.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on a C$2.7bn programme to unlock more than 5,600 new rental homes in Toronto.
“I love construction. I’m very good at flagpoles. One thing I know how to do is build.”
US President Donald Trump while showing reporters construction and renovation work at the White House.
Main video supplied by Muhammet Yildiz/Creatas Video via Getty Images
