Despite the lack of headlines, opportunities abound for those not involved with data centers or megaprojects.
Outside of this ecosystem, the fastest growing subcategory year-to-date has been Military spending, which is higher by 62% compared to the same period a year ago. Hospitals and Clinics rose 31%, while Shopping increased 16%, giving those three categories more than $28 billion in starts.
Slower-growing categories still represented major volume, with Government Offices, Bridges, Hotels/Motels, schools, Warehouses, and Roads totaling $119 billion.
At this year’s American Institute of Architects (AIA) Conference on Architecture & Design, I had the privilege to present on the latest trends in nonresidential construction, specifically megaprojects —projects over $1 billion in total value — and data centers.
The excitement generated by these powerful trends has been extensively covered by the industry and news outlets more generally. However, for the architectural community, data centers and large civil or manufacturing plants generally fall outside the bread-and-butter work for most architectural firms.
Despite the lack of headlines, opportunities abound for those not involved with data centers or megaprojects. Based on Nonresidential starts spending through May of 2026, there are several market subcategories that have experienced explosive growth thus far in the year that are outside of the data center “eco system” of work — which, in addition to the data centers themselves, includes construction related to power generation, power infrastructure, and water, sewage and treatment.
The fastest growing subcategory, outside of the data center ecosystem, year-to-date through May 2026, has been Military spending, which is higher by 62% compared to the same period a year ago. Image: ConstructConnect Construction Economy Snapshot
Outside of this ecosystem, the fastest growing subcategory year-to-date has been Military spending, which is higher by 62% compared to the same period a year ago. Following by some distance are Hospitals and Clinics at 31%, and Shopping at 16%, to round out the top three. Collectively, these categories have reported starts in excess of $28 billion in the first five months of 2026.
Slower-growing subcategories over the same period include Government Offices, Bridges, Hotels/Motels, Jr. and Sr. High Schools, Elementary and Pre-schools, Warehouses, and Roads.
Although these subcategories are all presently reporting slower rates of growth, the collective value of their starts thus far in 2026 has amounted to a sizeable portion of the total Nonresidential market at $119 billion, or approximately one-third of the year-to-date value of total Nonresidential starts spending.
The collective value of all growing subcategories over the last five months amounts to $300 billion, representing over 83% of all Nonresidential starts dollars.
The remaining $68 billion belongs to a relatively small collection of seven subcategories which have reported contracting starts spending through the first five months of 2026, as compared to the same period a year ago.
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