S+A Green Lab’s LCA and EPD Services, at a Glance
If you need an LCA or an EPD and prefer a traditional consultancy path, S+A Green Lab offers a familiar route. Below is a quick, impartial snapshot so product teams can judge fit, effort, and likely speed before committing.
Who they are
S+A Green Lab is the sustainability arm linked to Saraiva+Associados, a Lisbon‑based architecture group focused on building projects across Portugal and beyond. Their materials practice supports manufacturers that want third‑party verified LCAs and Environmental Product Declarations without changing how they already work.
What they offer manufacturers
Their materials service explicitly lists full LCA studies, EPD development to ISO 14025 and EN 15804, carbon and water footprints, and circular design support. See their service pages for details: Environmental engineering and sustainability on the S+A site and their Greenlab materials page that calls out EPD and LCA delivery (S+A Services, Greenlab Materials). They also advertise experience with Declare labels.
Portfolio focus and scale
Public records point to a modest, product‑manufacturing portfolio rather than a high‑volume EPD factory. Recent work concentrates on four categories, led by aggregates, then resilient flooring and steep slope roofing, plus a single blanket insulation product. Volume appears small, roughly ten declarations to date with several added in the past year. That profile suits niche lines or teams testing EPDs on a subset of SKUs before scaling.
Program operators you will encounter
Manufacturers working with S+A Green Lab commonly publish in Portuguese and European programs. DAP Habitat is Portugal’s national Type III EPD program for construction products and participates in ECO Platform, which supports EU‑wide recognition (DAPHabitat, 2025). EPDs are normally valid for five years under operator rules, with mid‑cycle updates required if results worsen beyond defined thresholds (EPD International FAQ, 2025). Program operator guidance also set the sunset for the older construction‑products PCR 2019:14 version 1.3.4 on 20 June 2025, pushing new work to version 2.0 under GPI 5 series (EPD International, 2025).
How they typically work
Expect the classic consultancy cadence. Teams are usually asked to complete data questionaires, share utility bills and bills of materials, and attend verification calls. This can be effective if you already have tidy plant data and spare analyst time. If your internal data is scattered across ERPs, historians, and supplier emails, plan for shepherding and back‑and‑forth. Timelines tend to hinge on client responsiveness more than toolchain shortcuts.
Where they seem strongest
They bring an architect’s proximity to Portuguese and Iberian supply chains. That context helps when picking PCRs aligned with regional peers and when steering toward local operators that specifiers recognize. Their published case snippets highlight aggregates and cork‑based flooring, which map cleanly to common European PCRs and operator templates.
Watch‑outs buyers flag in traditional models
If you need EPDs quickly for a live bid or a catalog‑wide refresh, the conventional workflow can feel slower because internal data wrangling sits on your team. Many consultants keep the process reliable yet manual, which means more meetings, spreadsheets, and format conversions before a verifier even sees the model. For lean product teams, the lift can be non‑trivial and sometimes not straighforward.
Competitors you will likely see in Iberia
Similar‑sized Iberian players that manufacturers compare include Tecnalia’s EPD service in Spain, CARTIF’s LCA practice, and ecómetro’s EPD offer. Each sits close to local operators and can be viable for region‑specific portfolios. The right fit pivots on who minimizes your data‑collection burden and who keeps verification clean on the first pass.
When S+A Green Lab is a fit
They make sense if your products overlap their sweet spots, you want a locally grounded partner, and your team can feed structured data on schedule. For organizations that prize low‑friction data collection and aggressive timelines across many SKUs, weigh whether a more automated path reduces hidden internal effort and opportunity cost.
Quick links
- Services overview on Saraiva+Associados: https://www.saraivaeassociados.com/services/
- EPD and LCA service details on Greenlab: https://www.greenlab.com.pt/sustainability-in-materials/
Bottom line for manufacturers
Use S+A Green Lab when local familiarity and a steady, traditional path matter more than speed at scale. Validate operator choice, confirm five‑year validity and PCR versioning up front, and insist on a data plan that keeps plant teams focused on production rather than paperwork churn (EPD International FAQ, 2025, DAPHabitat, 2025, EPD International, 2025).
Frequently Asked Questions
Do EPDs produced with S+A Green Lab need to be renewed every year?
No. EPDs are typically valid for five years, with annual internal follow‑up and updates only if results change materially. Program operators define the specifics. See EPD International’s guidance for the five‑year norm and annual follow‑up requirements (EPD International FAQ, 2025, EPD International, 2025).
Which program operators are most relevant if we work with them from Portugal?
DAP Habitat is Portugal’s national EPD program for construction products and participates in ECO Platform, which supports cross‑recognition in Europe (DAPHabitat, 2025). Many Iberian manufacturers also use the International EPD System and AENOR’s GlobalEPD depending on market focus (DAPHabitat, 2025).
What internal effort should we budget for in a traditional consultancy workflow?
Plan time for plant data extraction, BOM vetting, utility and waste data gathering, and verification Q&A. Lead times often depend more on client responsiveness than on modeling itself, which is why proactive data prep shortens the calendar.
About the Author
With a passion for sustainability and a love for complex data, Toby helps manufacturers efficiently collect data from across their organization and get their EPDs done right. He’s especially interested in how AI can support human expertise, helping R&D and factory teams work faster, smarter, and with less friction.
