Construction company Walbridge has added data center services to its roster of offerings, and a former data center leader for JLL will be at the helm.

Matt Landek was named president and CEO at L5 Mission Critical, launched Sept. 16 under the Walbridge umbrella. Landek previously led thousands of employees across 340 data centers while serving as global president of data centers and critical environments at JLL Work Dynamics from 2024 to August of this year. 

Landek helped grow the brokerage's foray into data centers and had a hand in operations, internal programming and acquisitions. 

At L5, Landek will build a framework that serves clients from facility delivery to operation, with hyperscalers in mind.

L5 offers retrofits, project management and steady-state critical operations to third-party data center companies. It aims to fill a gap between building a data center and daily operation. Landek, speaking to Facilities Dive, identified this handoff as a common struggle with new data centers in their first year of operation. Walbridge is bringing experience running big and complex facilities.

The new company also plans to address a growing problem in the data center industry: the lack of employees who know how to run them. 

More than 50% of operators are running into problems finding qualified candidates to fill vacant roles, a survey of more than 800 owners and operators found. 

L5 plans to make a workforce training program for tradespeople. 

Prior to becoming a data center lead in 2021, Landek was an account executive at JLL beginning in 2012, managing contracted services for facilities management, project management and several other categories, including sourcing and procurement, engineering, and employee experience. 

Landek also served as business manager, facilities management for Cook County government, which covers the broader Chicago area.