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Coalition for Smart Construction

Advancing research, talent, and innovation toward a better built environment

The Coalition for Smart Construction is a collaborative platform designed to move the industry forward faster – boosting performance, putting new technologies to work, developing talent, and scaling what works. Together, we’re closing the decades-long productivity gap and reshaping the future of the built environment.

The blueprint this industry
has been waiting for

Uniting every force to modernize construction

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The Coalition for Smart Construction brings together a full constellation of what the industry needs: research, talent, capital, testbeds, and real-world projects under a coordinated banner.

Anchored by a 40,000-square-foot smart construction lab inside HITT Contracting’s new headquarters, a state-of-the-art academic hub in Falls Church, and the power of Virginia Tech’s breadth across Northern Virginia and Blacksburg, the coalition is a full-spectrum platform for innovation.

Our Research Themes

Responding to industry’s needs

The Coalition’s Goals

  • Create a proving ground where smart construction is tested, demonstrated, and deployed
  • Enable collaboration that fuels competitive advantage
  • Foster applied research that moves from lab to jobsite
  • Empower tech-driven talent so they’re ready to contribute from day one
  • Become a global destination for smart construction innovation

Who We Serve

  • Commercial
  • Data and the digital economy
  • Residential
  • Industrial
  • Defense

We believe that Virginia Tech will push the boundaries of construction by bringing its brilliant students to a space where they can work alongside our industry’s greatest minds.” — Brett Hitt,
Co-Chairman,
HITT Contracting, INC.

In the first Smart Construction Roundtables, leaders from industry, government, and academia validated themes while surfacing new insights that will shape the coalition’s agenda.

Built with partners, for partners

Working together to transform the industry

Many of the industry’s toughest problems are systemic and cannot be solved by individual firms or one-off projects. By connecting voices from across the entire sector, the coalition unlocks shared insight and collective energy to accelerate meaningful change. Even complex challenges not yet fully defined can be turned into opportunities for progress when we align research and ROI. Tiered membership and pooled governance ensure that industry drives the coalition’s agenda.

The CSC Member-Based Model

  • Foundational Members
  • Steering Members
  • Subscription Members
  • Affiliate Members
Join the next
roundtable

Leadership with Industry Insight

Managing director Andrew McCoy champions partnership-driven research

With over 30 years in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, Andrew McCoy focuses on helping innovative construction ideas move from concept to practice. He has led millions of dollars in funded projects across areas including additive construction, innovative and emerging technologies, technoeconomic analysis, housing and safety for the construction industry.

Meet Andrew

Where Solutions Scale and Talent Builds

Real-world pilots pave the way for broad deployment

Momentum is growing. The coalition’s first seed portfolio includes 3D-printed concrete with AI tracking, automated modular sub-assemblies, a mass-timber prototyping hub, cradle-to-cradle precast systems, and computational design for housing. These projects demonstrate the coalition’s ethos: applied innovation, multidisciplinary collaboration, and a clear path from lab to job site.

Companies become the classroom

Aligning student experiences with workforce needs

The coalition’s proving ground develops technology and talent in tandem. Through applied research, internships, pilots, and project-based work, students gain practical experience with the emerging technologies that we’re accelerating into widespread use. Students graduate fluent in digital, design, and systems thinking, ready to immediately contribute solutions on the job.

By reimagining construction as a high-tech, high-impact field, the coalition ensures that talent is not only prepared but inspired to transform the built environment.

John Ralston

Associate Director of Business Development, Virginia Tech
jfr3f@vt.edu

Andrew McCoy

Managing Director, Coalition for Smart Construction
apmccoy@vt.edu

You’re changing the
world. So are we.
Let’s do it together.

The Coalition for Smart Construction is a global destination where industry, academia, and government showcase what’s possible when we work together. For companies, it’s a platform to scale innovation and reduce risk. For faculty, a framework for interdisciplinary impact. For students, a launchpad into high-value careers.

And for the construction industry, this is a path forward.