Aug 25, 2026
Turner Construction is the largest general contractor
in North America, the number-one green builder 17 years running,
and carries a net zero Scope 1, 2, and 3 commitment for 2040. Imani
Hamilton is the person working the supply chain side of that
promise. In this episode we sit down with Turner's Sustainable
Supply Chain Manager for a conversation that runs from product
design to procurement power — because before this seat, Imani spent
a decade as a sustainable design consultant helping manufacturers
build low-carbon, low-toxin, low-waste products. She has been on
both sides of the table, and it shows.
We cover:
- How a GC that doesn't design products influences product design
anyway: the rural ready-mix supplier coached through its first EPD,
and the regional SCM supply chain built because one client
asked
- Turner's standing market signals — EPD requests on concrete,
steel, asphalt, glass, and wood on all projects since 2025, plus
the low-carbon bid form that asks every concrete bidder for a
lower-carbon alternate at cost parity
- Performance specs vs. closed specs, early engagement, and why
design-build keeps coming up as the delivery method that makes
decarbonization workable
- The bottleneck nobody talks about: the structural engineer's
signature — and how SE 2050, pilots, and mock-ups move the risk
conversation
- Imani's contrarian take on SBTi waterfall commitments, and why
EPD actuals beat spend-based estimates in an industry that never
builds the same thing twice
- The manufacturer's playbook: define "sustainable" specifically
(carbon? toxins? waste? water?), prioritize, then capture the value
— LCA to EPD, test results like GreenGuard, certifications like
Declare
- Where the investment money is: responsible investors, European
Article 8/9 funds, and the strategic acquirer already sitting in
your supply chain
- EACs (environmental attribute credits) — the book-and-claim
mechanism arriving from sustainable aviation fuel, and why it's a
bridge, not a supply chain
- Circularity on site: smaller dumpsters, source separation, and
drywall's three demand-side destinations
Her message to the big, established brands that have
relied on name and track record: table stakes are EPDs now. Where
product category rules don't exist yet (MEP is a massive data gap),
pre-competitive collective action — like NRMCA's industry EPD
calculator — is how categories catch up.
Whether you're on the manufacturer side trying to stay
on the bid list, the GC side building your carbon literacy, or the
capital side looking for supply chains worth funding — this is the
episode.
Episode Sponsor
Brought to you by Hanson Wade's Advancing Construction
event series and Project Fluent. Imani spoke on the Day 1 panel
"Bridging Owner Ambitions with Construction Reality" at Advancing
Construction Decarbonization in Denver.
Discount code: BUILDPERSPECTIVES10 for the
upcoming
Advancing Construction Quality event in Phoenix,
AZ
Register here.
Connect
- Imani Hamilton on LinkedIn.
- Carolina Baffigo on LinkedIn
- Tim Seims on LinkedIn