Houston’s next wave of economic growth will depend on more than increasing demand for artificial intelligence and digital services. It will require the power, infrastructure, skilled workforce, and construction readiness needed to turn ambitious plans into operating facilities.
Bartlett Cocke General Contractors Director of Operations Omar Land recently represented our team as a speaker at the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region’s Powering the Future: Data Centers, Energy & Economic Growth event. Held July 15 at San Jacinto College’s LyondellBasell Center for Petrochemical, Energy & Technology in Pasadena, the program brought together more than 260 leaders from the business, technology, construction, energy, and workforce-development communities.
Omar served as a panelist for Energy Investments for Data Center Growth, joining professionals from Calpine, Energy Edge Consulting, Prismecs, and Wood. The conversation explored energy-supply solutions, project development, construction readiness, investment opportunities, and the outlook for AI infrastructure throughout the Houston region.
For builders, the growth of data centers is about much more than adding square footage. Power availability, utility coordination, site readiness, long-lead equipment, procurement, scheduling, and workforce capacity must all be addressed early. Bringing construction professionals into these conversations helps owners, developers, and communities better understand what it takes to move a project from an idea to a reliable, high-performing facility.
We are proud to have Omar contribute Bartlett Cocke’s operations and construction perspective to a conversation that will help shape Houston’s next economic chapter. Collaboration among the energy, technology, construction, education, and economic-development sectors will be essential to transforming opportunity into projects that create lasting regional value.
Read the full Houston Style Magazine article about Powering the Future 2026.
