Atlanta-area facility to train infrastructure workers as data centers expand
Utility infrastructure and data center warehouses are popping up across Georgia, but are there enough workers trained to support all that rapid growth?
A sprawling campus planned an hour east of Atlanta will soon aim to fill that gap.
Dycom Industries announced Thursday it will build a workforce training center on a 49-acre site in Walton County to train 40 workers at a time on electrical systems, fiber deployment, utility work and maintenance. It will act as a central training hub for Dycom, a Florida-based specialty contractor with more than 20,000 workers across the country.
“The complexity of today’s digital infrastructure favors a scaled, high-quality workforce,” Dan Peyovich, president and CEO of Dycom, said in a news release. “This flagship center is a major step in staying ahead of that demand.”
The training center is designed like a camping retreat.
Located off Highway 78 just northeast of Monroe, the campus will feature classrooms, a yard filled with utility poles, a mock residential neighborhood, an underground utility field and on-site lodging for trainees. Its focus is “real-world scenario practice,” according to files submitted to Walton County.
The Walton County Board of Commissioners voted to rezone the site and approve the project in November.
The company has a “larger concentration of employees in the Southeast,” which was a factor in selecting Walton County, a Dycom spokesperson said. Dycom also cited the proximity to the Atlanta airport and the county’s suburban-rural mixed setting as factors.
Dycom declined to disclose the amount of money it plans to invest in the training center, but the spokesperson said it did not receive any discretionary incentives or property tax breaks.
“We are excited that this center will train employees from within Georgia as well as across Dycom’s national network of companies,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Electricity and fiber infrastructure is a large part of why Georgia has become a national leader for new data center construction, leading the U.S. last year. Data centers, which are large warehouses that store computer servers, need constant electricity to stay online alongside fiber to connect to the internet and users.
Dycom’s contractors and partner companies also work on various other utilities, such as telecommunications systems and natural gas infrastructure.
Dycom plans to break ground in April and open in mid-2027.
About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
