Meaghan Hooper-Berdik, Senior Vice President New England, Turner Construction
In an interview with Invest:, Meaghan Hooper-Berdik, senior vice president at Turner Construction, highlighted the company’s recent milestones in Greater Boston, including strategic partnerships with leading institutions, innovative responses to industry challenges, and a strong focus on sustainability and technology.
What have been the most significant milestones and achievements for Turner Construction in the Greater Boston region over the last 12 to 18 months?
We’re excited to be partnering with a variety of premier institutions on ongoing projects across different market segments. In healthcare, we’re working with Mass General Brigham, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital in Needham, and Beth Israel-Leahy Health. These are some of the leading healthcare institutions in the area.
We’re also involved with major universities like Harvard, MIT, and Wellesley College, among others. K-12 work remains active in the area. In the commercial market, we’re working with clients such as BXP, WS Development, Breakthrough, and Tishman Speyer, as well as the Fallon Company. Additionally, we’re doing pharmaceutical work for companies like Moderna and Novo Nordisk.
The construction industry is facing increasing pressure to deliver projects faster and more efficiently. How is Turner responding to these demands while maintaining high standards of quality and safety?
We’re addressing these demands in a couple of ways. For example, for supply chain challenges, we have a unique solution through our supply chain company, SourceBlue. This allows us to go directly to manufacturers to purchase major mechanical and electrical equipment. We’re the number one private buyer of this equipment in the United States, second only to the federal government.
This leverage gives us strong predictability, preferred pricing, and most importantly, the ability to cut through the confusion and mismanagement that have plagued the supply chain in recent years. This ensures we can reliably provide the necessary equipment for our clients.
Another approach is partnering as early as possible in the design process with our design partners and clients. By providing real-time feedback on constructability, material availability, and pricing, we help prevent situations where a designer reaches the end of their design only to discover that a particular material is unavailable, or the cost doesn’t align with the owner’s budget. Engaging early with a proactive pre-construction team and providing live information has been incredibly beneficial.
How is Turner integrating environmentally sustainable solutions into its projects?
We have a strong ESG strategy. Locally, we have in-house expertise in sustainability—both in design products and on the construction side. We’re focused on reducing our own footprint during construction, whether through temporary power, lighting, or equipment on our sites. We’re piloting solutions that we believe will scale in the next few years to significantly reduce our impact.
We’re also partnering with design teams to suggest permanent building solutions that reduce energy use in the long term. This involves mechanical and electrical systems, building envelopes, and product selection. We have a team of in-house experts who bring these skills directly to our projects.
Another critical area is resilience against sea level rise, a particularly relevant issue in Boston. We’re working on projects along the waterfront that require preparation for significant sea level rise. For example, we’re currently involved in a project for Pembroke Real Estate at the Commonwealth Pier, which is being designed to withstand a 2070 hundred-year storm level. This involves substantial planning to protect both buildings and infrastructure, and will eventually entail modifying streetscapes or the harborwalk to accommodate these protections.
How are you leveraging innovative construction technologies?
At Turner, we’re really focused on how we’re using technology on our sites. I’ve already mentioned some of the sustainability-related technologies we’re implementing, but another key area is how we use our data. As the largest builder in the country, we have massive amounts of data. The challenge is how to organize and aggregate that data to bring real value back to our clients.
A great example is in healthcare construction. We’re the number one healthcare builder in the U.S., constructing dozens of hospitals each year, including leading cancer hospitals. We’re now using data to transfer best practices from one project to another. For instance, how can Mass General Brigham benefit from what we’re doing at the Cleveland Clinic? By leveraging this data, we can provide better cost and design value to our clients early in the process, helping them solve programmatic challenges before significant design costs are incurred. In healthcare design, this use of big data is truly transformative and will continue to shape our industry moving forward.
What are your strategic priorities for Turner Construction in the Greater Boston region over the next two to three years?
We are a people-focused business—our success is directly tied to the quality of our team. One of our top priorities is attracting and retaining the best talent while developing a more diverse pipeline into our industry. We’re committed to building a workforce that truly reflects the communities we serve, at every level of our organization. This is something we focus on every day.
Another priority is being strategic in our project selection, especially in today’s slower, flat, or even declining market. We want to maintain the diversification that keeps us involved in healthcare, higher education, commercial, residential, pharmaceutical, and educational sectors. Boston’s diverse market is one of its strengths, and we want to ensure our people remain engaged and excited by the variety of projects we undertake.
We’re also looking to expand beyond Greater Boston and Cambridge into the broader New England area. Many of our employees live in southern Maine and southern New Hampshire, and they’re eager to work in places like Portland and Lebanon, NH where we are actively engaged in multiple significant projects. Geographic diversity, along with market segment diversity, is crucial for us.
Lastly, I want to emphasize the importance of safety in our industry. We’ve shifted from merely playing defense—protecting workers on our sites—to focusing on overall worker wellness, both mental and physical. Our goal is for people to leave our sites healthier than when they arrived. This shift has made the construction industry more appealing and has a positive impact on the people and families connected to our work.
