Just as Facility Managers are beginning to feel comfortable with certifications like LEED, a new standard is developing. The good news is that it’s not mutually exclusive; while LEED focuses on resource efficiency, the WELL Building Standard focuses on making workplaces healthier through modifications to the physical environment.
Why the New Standard Was Created
The WELL Building Standard is the first of its kind to focus exclusively on occupant health.
Poor air quality, food choices, and work stress all have implications on the health of building occupants. The WELL Building Standard is a performance-based system for gauging, certifying, and tracking the way buildings impact our health.
WELL is managed and directed by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), an organization created to facilitate the improvement of health and wellbeing of building occupants.
WELL is based on medical research that explores the link between buildings and the health of their occupants. WELL-Certified buildings and WELL-Compliant development projects aim to improve nutrition, sleep patterns and overall health outcomes of the people who live and work within their buildings.
The WELL Building Standard is certified by the Green Business Certification Incorporation, which also manages the LEED certification program.
How does WELL Work?
Three different types of certifications are available: New and Existing Buildings, New and Existing Interiors, and Core & Shell.
The New and Existing Interiors section of the certification is the most relevant to Facility Managers. 36 precondition requirements and 62 optimization criteria make up this section of the certification procedure. Preconditions are required for all Levels of WELL. Optimizations are only required for Gold and Platinum certification areas.
