Challenges Impacting Infrastructure Replacement

With more than three decades of experience in the construction business, Steve Hancock brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his role. Hancock currently serves as the president of Henderson Building Solutions, a construction management, engineering, and commissioning firm based in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa, Kan. One of the company’s key specialties is handling the replacement and maintenance of existing mechanical and electrical infrastructure for various project types nationwide including data centers, educational institutions, and health care facilities. Hancock is responsible for leading the company and overseeing its strategic planning and operations, ensuring the delivery of high-quality services to clients.

What are the main challenges impacting infrastructure replacement today?

One of the primary challenges we face is minimizing disruptions to existing operations, especially for clients with round-the-clock businesses that heavily rely on their physical infrastructure for financial returns. To reduce interruptions, we plan, plan, and plan again – often involving novel methods such as installing temporary systems and sequential scheduling when executing equipment replacement or upgrades.

Identifying equipment at its end-of-life phase is another challenge. It’s why we have veteran commissioning agents on our staff to evaluate electrical, mechanical, and other building systems to determine the right timing for replacement. Their expertise is essential when providing practical guidance to building owners and creating a comprehensive replacement plan.

Financial implications can also be substantial obstacles. Infrastructure upgrades demand significant financial commitments, so we must balance up-front expenses versus the long-term operational cost reductions that would result from a project. Staying up to date on rapidly advancing technologies and industry requirements helps ensure that newly replaced or upgraded equipment has the staying power to justify the initial investment.

What factors does your organization consider when determining the need for infrastructure replacement?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach as it depends on various factors, including the nature of the client and their customers. While they all rely heavily on physical infrastructure for efficient operations, industries such as hospitals, data centers, educational institutions, and internet service providers have vastly different needs. Any infrastructure replacement project should therefore be tailored to their specific goals for it to be successful.

A factor that remains consistent no matter the project is our commitment to providing exceptional client experience. We like to be the “easy button” for our partners. Not only are we a one-stop shop for construction management, commissioning, engineering, and design-build services, but we also have a culture that is enjoyable to work with and a team that strives to find ways to help projects run smoothly. That’s a result of hiring the right people, placing them in the right positions, and providing them with the right tools to succeed.

What are some of your recent project initiatives?

It’s been an amazing year for our mission critical team, which works on data center projects for nationally and internationally known companies. We were awarded a multi-year $30 million dollar data center infrastructure upgrade project in Cheyenne, Wyoming, earlier this year and it happens to be the largest project in our company’s history. Our experts are also working on another major data center project in northern Virginia that’s valued at $10 million. In fact, we’re projecting $53 million in revenue from mission critical projects alone for 2023. This success has translated to the growth of our mission critical group, which had one employee a year ago and is now a team of 12 and growing fast.

There are a few factors working in our favor. Many older generation data centers must replace or upgrade their infrastructure to support the growth of AI, 5G, and other complex emerging technologies. However, infrastructure replacement is a niche that most construction firms in the mission critical industry don’t specialize in, so they turn to a trusted partner like us to fill that gap. We’ve positioned ourselves with the right culture and right people and that is being recognized with more opportunities, so we anticipate our growth trajectory to remain strong well into the future.

How do you envision the future of the space?

There’s room for advancement to accommodate the continuous maintenance and upgrades needed to support critical facilities like data centers and hospitals. Temporary systems, installation techniques, and project management strategies are ripe for disruption as we seek more efficient ways to deliver dependable solutions and resolve complex issues.

What would be your piece of advice for budding professionals in the field?

Continuous learning and relationship building are crucial if you want to thrive not just in the construction industry, but in any sector. Staying up to date on innovative technologies and strategies will give you a leg up when it comes to meeting the needs of your clients. However, that knowledge in isolation is inadequate. It takes a whole team of experts, including engineers, construction managers, commissioning agents, and the client, to deliver successful projects. Consistent communication and cultivating strong, genuine relationships go a long way in helping you understand the goals of any initiative and how you can best help meet those objectives.