Health and regenerative ratings are won or lost on evidence: daylight that reaches the desk, air that stays fresh, comfort that holds through a heatwave, and water and materials data that add up. We model and document that evidence for your certification lead, from concept design onwards.
Request a Fee Proposal →Tell us the scheme, your target and your design stage. We'll tell you where we can help.
Makao gives technical input to your project's WELL, Fitwel or Living Building Challenge team. We model and document the building-performance evidence many features, strategies and imperatives rely on: energy, daylight, thermal comfort, ventilation, water and materials. We don't certify projects. Certification decisions sit with each scheme's owner and its reviewers.
WELL, Fitwel and the Living Building Challenge ask different questions, but many of the answers come from the same building physics. How much daylight reaches the floor? Will the space overheat? Is there enough outdoor air? How much energy and water will the building use, and what are its materials made of? Those answers need modelling and documentation, and they need it while the design can still change.
A daylight, comfort or energy model built once can support more than one submission, as long as each is documented to that scheme's own rules. We set models up so the same work can serve your Green Star, WELL, Fitwel or LBC evidence where the requirements allow it.
A glazing ratio, a shading depth or a ventilation strategy is cheap to change at concept stage and expensive after documentation. Early modelling tells your certification lead which targets are realistic before they are written into the brief.
Each scheme has its own documentation and review process. We write our reports so your certification lead can drop them into the submission and the reviewer can trace each result back to its inputs.
WELL (IWBI). The WELL Building Standard is run by the International WELL Building Institute. WELL v2 is organised into ten concepts: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community. Projects must meet every precondition and earn points through optional "optimisation" features, for Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum certification. Documentation and on-site performance test results are reviewed by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the third-party certification body for WELL.
Fitwel (Center for Active Design). Fitwel is a healthy building certification with scorecards for different building and site types, from commercial interiors to multifamily residential. Its strategies are grouped into seven Health Impact Categories. The Center for Active Design reviews projects and awards a one, two or three star rating. The current standard is Fitwel v3.
Living Building Challenge (Living Future). The Living Building Challenge is run by the International Living Future Institute, now known as Living Future. LBC 4.1 is the current version. It has seven Petals (Place, Water, Energy, Health + Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty) made up of twenty Imperatives. Projects can pursue Core, Petal or Living Certification. Compliance is based on actual performance over at least 12 consecutive months of operation.
Where Makao fits: We give technical input to your project's WELL, Fitwel or LBC team. We don't certify, we don't act as the project's accredited professional for these schemes, and we don't carry out WELL performance testing. We provide the modelling and documentation that the relevant features, strategies and Imperatives draw on.
Owner: International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). Focus: health and wellbeing of building users. Structure: ten concepts; preconditions plus optimisations. Outcome: Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Basis: GBCI review of documentation and on-site performance test results. Makao's role: technical input on air, light, thermal comfort and water-related evidence.
Owner: Center for Active Design (CfAD). Focus: health-promoting design and operations. Structure: scorecards by building or site type; seven Health Impact Categories. Outcome: one to three stars. Basis: scorecard review by CfAD. Makao's role: technical input where strategies need building-performance evidence.
Owner: International Living Future Institute (Living Future). Focus: regenerative performance across seven Petals. Structure: seven Petals, twenty Imperatives. Outcome: Core, Petal or Living Certification. Basis: actual performance over at least 12 months of operation. Makao's role: advisory on the Energy, Water and Materials Petals only.
Melbourne-based, working Australia-wide.
At concept stage we review the certification target with your lead, flag which performance-based items need modelling, and say which are realistic for the design.
We run the agreed modelling and write a report for each item, in a form your certification lead can submit.
We advise on strategy and evidence for the three Petals that sit inside our skill set. Other Petals need other specialists.
No report claims a certification outcome. Each scheme owner makes that decision.
You send the scheme, target, drawings and stage. We confirm scope and give you a quote.
We review the target with your certification lead and agree which items we will model and document.
We run the modelling, test design options and send recommendations while the design can still change.
We issue reports for each item and update them if the design changes within the quoted scope.
Turnaround: Timeframes confirmed at quote; fast-track available for urgent projects.
WELL is a building standard focused on the health and wellbeing of the people who use a building. It is run by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). WELL v2 has ten concepts: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community. Projects must meet every precondition and earn points from optional features, and can achieve Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum certification. Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) reviews the documentation and on-site performance test results and issues certification.
Fitwel is a healthy building certification system. The Center for Active Design (CfAD) provides its research base and certifies projects. Fitwel scorecards are tailored to building and site types, and their strategies are grouped into seven Health Impact Categories, such as increasing physical activity and promoting occupant safety. Projects that reach the required score receive a one, two or three star rating.
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is a performance-based certification run by the International Living Future Institute (Living Future). LBC 4.1 is the current version. It has seven Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health + Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Certification is based on actual performance over at least 12 consecutive months of operation, not on modelled performance alone.
We advise on the Energy, Water and Materials Petals only. That covers energy modelling and on-site renewable planning input, water balance and water strategy input, and embodied carbon and material information. Under LBC 4.1, Petal Certification needs the ten Core Imperatives plus all Imperatives in at least one of the Water, Energy or Materials Petals, so the other Core Imperatives still need other specialists on your team.
Makao has experience on WELL, Fitwel and Living Building Challenge projects, and we have accredited team members. Makao's founder, Kelvin Mureithi, is a Green Star Accredited Professional, an ISAP and an Engineers Australia member. We work as technical input to the WELL, Fitwel or Living Building Challenge lead on your project and provide the modelling and documentation their submissions draw on.
In some cases, yes. The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and IWBI publish a crosswalk that shows where certified WELL features can be used as evidence for Green Star credits, and where Green Star credits can support WELL. It covers Green Star – Design & As Built, Interiors and Performance, and a project must be registered for WELL certification to use it. The two systems still have different requirements and reviews, so one rating does not give you the other.
No. IWBI runs WELL, and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) reviews and certifies WELL projects. The Center for Active Design certifies Fitwel projects, and Living Future certifies Living Building Challenge projects. We prepare technical evidence for your project team. We can't promise a certification level, a score or a Petal outcome, because each scheme owner makes that decision.
At concept or early design, when your team sets the certification target. Daylight, comfort, ventilation and energy targets are easiest to meet while form, glazing and services can still change. We can also help later in design, but there are fewer options by then.
Timeframes confirmed at quote; fast-track available for urgent projects. Fees depend on the scheme, the features or imperatives in scope and the stage of design. Send us the project brief and certification target and we'll give you a quote.
Energy, daylight, comfort, ventilation, water and materials sit under one roof, so one set of models can feed several submissions.
We have experience on WELL, Fitwel and Living Building Challenge projects, and accredited team members.
We know how Green Star evidence is built, which helps when your project is also targeting WELL. The GBCA–IWBI crosswalk covers Green Star – Design & As Built, Interiors and Performance.
We give technical input. Your certification lead runs the submission, and each scheme owner makes the certification decision.
Our founder, Kelvin Mureithi: Green Star Accredited Professional, ISAP, Engineers Australia member.
Reviewed by Kelvin Mureithi, Founder, Makao · Green Star Accredited Professional, ISAP, Engineers Australia member.
