2026 Innovation Summit: Preconstruction Reimagined: Turning Digital Coordination into Project Certainty

Explore how innovative preconstruction strategies are transforming the way projects are planned, coordinated, and delivered. Drawing on real-world applications of virtual design and construction (VDC), 3D modeling, prefabrication, and early trade collaboration, this session examines how project teams can identify potential conflicts, improve constructability, align stakeholders, and reduce risk before work begins in the field. Discover how investing in smarter decisions during preconstruction can lead to greater schedule certainty, cost control, and overall project success.

Moderated by Dan Drohan, Account Executive - Autodesk

Dan brings more than 10 years of experience helping architecture, engineering, and construction professionals implement Autodesk software solutions, including AutoCAD, Revit, and Civil 3D. His expertise spans design technology, software consulting, training, and implementation, helping firms improve efficiency, streamline workflows, and maximize their technology investments.

Panelists:

Benjamin Peek, VDC Director, Gilbane

Benjamin Peek is Gilbane’s VDC Director in the New England region as a people leader driving innovation in construction through the collaborative strength of high performing individuals, diversity of thoughts, and inclusive practices.  He leads a department of 12 individuals across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, & Connecticut serving all projects needing Virtual Design & Construction services in pre-construction thru construction.  For 15 years, he has professionally embedded himself at the intersection of design and construction in search of new innovative technologies and processes. His applied design research has laid the groundwork for much of his success in system-based processes, model-based workflows, and ultimately finding new ways of constructing buildings. Benjamin holds a Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Kansas and researched mass timber construction at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. His academic pedagogy is grounded on built manifestation as media, where iterative design methods integrate forestry, construction, and heat transfer feedbacks into mass timber buildings; part design build experimentation, part thermodynamic inquiry. He has also been an adjunct professor at Northeastern’s School of Architecture for the past 10 years.