Beyond EPiC

For decades, the AEC industry – responsible for an estimated 21 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – has lacked the robust, consistent data needed to make reliable decisions relating to the sustainability of the built environment. What materials deliver the best performance? How do buildings compare on embodied carbon, energy and water usage? This gap in knowledge has long been a barrier to meaningful reduction in environmental impacts.

Drawing on the Environmental Performance in Construction (EPiC) research initiative at the University of Melbourne’s School of Design, Beyond EPiC is a startup developing an ecosystem of data, tools and insights that empowers designers, engineers, planners, and policymakers to embed environmental intelligence at every stage of the construction project life cycle.

At its core lies the EPiC Database, one of the world's most comprehensive inventories of environmental flow coefficients for construction materials. Built on decades of peer-reviewed research, this scientifically validated dataset contains thousands of embodied carbon, energy and water values that can be integrated into life cycle assessment (LCA) workflows, enabling environmental impacts to be quantified early, consistently and transparently.

With Beyond EPiC, we want to empower all actors of the built environment to make the right decisions for the planet, using an integrated, consistent and transparent ecosystem of comprehensive data, robust tools, and actionable insights.

University of Melbourne Proof-of-Concept funding and Venture Studio support helped translate this research into practical industry value, leading to the launch of EPiC Explorer, a digital platform that provides real-time access to trusted environmental performance data, helping AEC project teams assess embodied impacts, optimise material choices and align decisions with climate goals and regulatory standards.

Already used across 170+ countries and integrated into residential building sustainability regulations in Australia, the Beyond EPiC ecosystem continues to grow. Upcoming tools launching in 2026 will extend environmental intelligence from building systems to entire cities, empowering practitioners worldwide to maintain, renovate, and build within planetary boundaries.