EPEA and Madaster are joining forces to transform our built environment, facilitating the shift towards a more sustainable, take-make-reuse economy. As leading companies in data and consultancy services for circularity and environmental impact, innovation and collaboration with other industry leaders are in our DNA. This partnership has led to the integration of the reporting and material passport capabilities, providing consistent methods and datasets to evaluate circularity, environmental impact, reuse potential, and the residual value of materials.
“At Madaster, we value simplicity, which can only be achieved through deep knowledge and understanding. This is why our partnership with EPEA, the material experts, is so important to us. Together, with our combined technology and platform expertise, we empower our clients to build better buildings that are net zero and support reuse. This collaboration not only enhances their projects but also contributes significantly to a circular economy.” – Pablo van den Bosch, Board member, Madaster
Unlocking your advantages: The impact of the EPEA-Madaster partnership
Let’s focus on what this means for you. The collaboration between EPEA and Madaster significantly enhances the quality of services you receive. Originating in the Netherlands and Germany, our partnership now extends across various countries, including Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and the UK, bringing a wealth of benefits to your doorstep.
You gain access to enriched datasets and more accurate analytics, enabling sharper insights and decisions. Our unified reporting approach ensures compliance and ease of information exchange, setting a new standard for clarity and efficiency. The shared foundation of our EPEA-Madaster passports facilitates effortless comparison and interoperability, streamlining your operations.
But that’s not all – our combined efforts in urban mining tools revolutionise material availability assessments and carbon footprint calculations, offering invaluable resources for cities, real estate investors, and social housing entities. Join us in embracing this transformative approach, designed with your success in mind.
Two companies, one vision
EPEA, a consultancy specialising in materials, founded by Prof. Michael Braungart, assists its clients in obtaining Cradle-to-Cradle certifications and in the environmental optimisation of products, buildings, investment portfolios, and urban communities. Madaster operates a global data platform that records and stores information on materials and products used in buildings and infrastructure. Both organisations are driven to stimulate and facilitate a transition towards a circular economy, where materials and products can be used and reused, again and again.
“Together, we are driving the future of the construction industry by constantly expanding and improving our methodologies. Guided by digital product passports, we invite everyone to join us on this journey of innovation and sustainability.” – Pascal Keppler, Head of data services & LCA, EPEA
Data: the key to reuse
In a take-make-waste economy, the lack of information is not the issue. If an object is not needed anymore, we simply throw it away. In a reuse economy, information is key. And the more insight you have, the higher the reuse potential and benefits. This ranges from basic details like the manufacturer and product dimensions to specific information regarding toxicity, carbon impact, and disassembly guidelines. EPEA and Madaster manage this crucial data for the real estate sector, from individual projects to comprehensive asset portfolios, and even on a city or country level.
We closed the gap
As simple as it sounds, accurate data is a major challenge in reality. The level of information needed to facilitate reuse or to calculate the environmental impact of a building, let alone an entire district, is enormous. EPEA and Madaster assist their clients with this data challenge. They have bridged the gap with an extensive range of data on products, materials, specified per geography and where possible even per time frame (think about the embodied carbon in steel manufactured in the sixties versus recently fabricated steel). Besides data about products and materials, they have data models available that can estimate what material can be expected in what quantities. An ideal proposition to generate environmental insights for the existing building stock.
From design to redevelopment
A circular economy has no beginning or end. Does it start with the design of products, or is the redevelopment of a building instead of demolishing it the perfect beginning of circularity? The essence is to start applying principles that facilitate reuse as soon as possible. Think about registration and documentation, reduction of material consumption, the use of biobased or rapidly renewable materials, and the avoidance of toxic materials. For architects who design something new, for project managers who redevelop an urban district, for property managers who optimise maintenance cycles and manufacturers that rethink their supply chain.
Maximising the benefits from this new data solution
The availability of data and alignment of methodologies may appear simple and logical, however, this lack of data and wide variety of standards and methods is one of the big challenges to move to a circular economy. Working with EPEA consultancy services and the Madaster data platform ensures that your carbon reporting, material inventories, toxicity assessments, and digital passports on assets and portfolios are complete, transparent, auditable, and consistent. A must-have to become and stay compliant with environmental and reporting regulations like CSRD and EU Taxonomy.
A look into the future, what to expect
We continue to work on extending and enhancing our data sets and methodologies. There is a continuous need to modify datasets for geographic areas, for product segments and construction eras, as well as the implementation of new compliance standards
