WELL Building Standard

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WELL Building Standard (WELL) is a global performance-based building certification program. It entails rating systems developed by Delos Living LLC, administered by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and, certified through a third-party non-profit Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) for the design and construction of green buildings with the intent of measuring and improving the wellbeing of its occupants.

History

Launched in October 2014, WELL v1 pioneered from the collaboration of Delos real estate agents, scientists, and medical experts all gathered in a room. WELL is based on medical research measuring the fitness, sleep, and mood of occupants who spend the vast majority of their time in a building. After years of research, WELL was created to set up thresholds that buildings must meet to cover the many needs of building occupants regarding their wellbeing.

Rating systems

WELL contains eight rating systems (3 existing and 5 pilots) for the design and construction of buildings.

Existing Project Types

• WELL for New & Existing Buildings
• WELL for New & Existing Interiors
• WELL for Core & Shell

Pilot Programs

• WELL for Multifamily Residential
• WELL for Educational Facilities
• WELL for Retail
• WELL for Restaurants
• WELL for Commercial Kitchens

Future Programs

• WELL for Communities (Multiple Buildings)
• WELL for Exercise Facilities (Gyms)
• WELL for Public Assembly (Airports, Stadiums)
• WELL for Healthcare (Hospitals)

Certification level

Buildings can be certified under the following levels:

• Silver: 50-59 points (Score of 5-6)
• Gold: 60-79 points (Score of 7-8)
• Platinum: 80 points and above (Score of 9-10)

Goal of the credit system

As a performance-based certification, WELL takes into account how the building affects human health. Its intent is centered around building structures that have low adverse effects on its occupants. Buildings are made for their occupants. Owners and their architects pursuing WELL need to take occupant health into consideration when designing the project by utilizing this standard.

WELL v1

Under WELL v1, there are 100 possible points called “features” distributed across seven concept categories: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Comfort, and Mind. Each feature attempts to improve occupant’s health, comfort, and knowledge by educating them on better decisions. The features are also connected to some aspect of the human body (i.e. the respiratory system etc.).

WELL v2

WELL v2 was piloted in 2018 and officially released in June 2020 for projects to use. Registered projects under v1 can upgrade to v2 at no charge.

Under WELL v2, there are 100 possible “features” distributed across ten concept categories: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Community, and Mind. A minimum of 2 features must be achieved per concept and a maximum of 12 features can be achieved per concept. The thermal comfort is a new concept taken from the previous Comfort concept in WELL v1 of features regarding humidity and temperature. Another new concept stemming from the comfort in v1 is sound. Sound involves features like noise barriers and privacy. This is done by implementing soundproofing walls and doors to provide occupants the comfort of sound privacy. Materials, Community, and Innovations are three additional concepts. The materials concept affects features such as VOCs, lead, and asbestos while the community concept surveys to socialize and engage with the community. The innovations section acts as a miscellaneous section for all the remaining features that can be achieved.

Process

WELL Building Standard certification is awarded by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) following the verification of the project's compliance with the WELL Standards.

Certification lasts only three years. After that time, projects must get recertified to ensure that the building still meets the standards. Projects are first registered online with a well-defined boundary. Once registered, verification involves sending documents as proof of standard compliance as well as passing the performance inspection done by a WELL assessor. If approved, meaning that any and all of the documented features have met the standard, the project will be certified under the many levels.

WELL Performance Concepts

Each concept separates the features into preconditions and optimizations. Preconditions are mandatory to receive certification. All of them must be met. Many of the features are optimizations for project owners to choose from. Having a WELL Accredited Profession (WELL AP) on the project team can achieve one of the ten points available under the innovation category.

Air

This concept measures air quality and allows for features such as operable windows as well as smoking bans. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are $100 billion costs that can be avoided attributed to deaths, loss of productivity, and respiratory diseases. Testing to ensure air quality standards are met is a major part of this concept.

Water

Access to clean water and the consumption of water is essential to humans maintaining the right internal body temperature. This concept requires annual monitoring of water quality per EPA guidelines. The intent is to provide accessible drinking water and allow for water filtration.

Nourishment

This concept hopes to combat high blood pressure and diabetes with features that involve placing vending machines other food services and also safe places for food preparations in kitchens.

Light

The amount of light humans are exposed to can affect their natural sleep cycle and lead to adverse health effects like breast cancer, depression, and sleep disorders. Using measures such as daylighting, lighting color choices, and operable windows to allow user control, this concept intends to compact the negative effect of light on human health.

Fitness

This concept looks to promote physical activities for building occupants. Being physically inactive can lead to diabetes, stroke, and other diseases as well as cost billions of dollars in our healthcare systems. A project can implement features from the concept such as standing desks, stairs, onsite gyms, and active promotion of transits like walking and biking.

Comfort

Occupant comfort leads to occupant satisfaction. Many workers are not satisfied with the thermal environment at their offices for being too hot or too cold. This results in poor working conditions and a loss of productivity. This concept monitors the humidity and room temperature of projects to ensure that optimal thermal comfort is met for occupants.

Mind

This concept deals with mental health to avoid the negative impacts of this health concern. About 14 percent of death globally are related to mental health. To help prevent this issue, a project can take measures such as providing access to nature and creating relaxation zones for both reflection and rest.

Professional accreditation

The WELL Accredited Professional (WELL AP) assesses people’s knowledge of health and wellness in relation to the built environment through a 100-question closed book exam. The exam is given by GBCI. After passing, the candidate becomes a WELL AP ready to provide their expert knowledge on a project seeking the standard.

Benefits

The WELL Building Standard works well with many other green building certifications such as LEED and the Living Building Challenge (LBC). Out of the 100 possible features, 10 can be earned from a certified Living Building. That number is greater when it comes to LEED. 18 WELL features can be fully achieved and 6 partially achieved as a result of credits from a certified LEED building. The Dodge Data & Analytics World Green Building Trends 2018 surveyed thousands of professional around the world and found that occupant health and wellbeing along with lower operating costs as a result of pursuing a rating system. According to Ramanujan, the president of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), people want to “live and work in healthier places” shaping green building into the “trillion-dollar industry” it is today.

Criticism

Cost is a major concern for people seeking to achieve the WELL standard. The combined cost for the registration and certification process varies from $4500 to $60000 depending on the project. There is also a cost for implementing features and the performance assessment conducted by IWBI. This concern allows for the standard to cater mostly to project owners who have the funds to meet the requirements. Some of the requirements are not feasible for all project owners. For instance, schools and libraries may not have the means available funds to achieve features like onsite water treatment and wearable sleep monitors for all.

See also

• BREEAM
• Green Globes
• Living Building Challenge
• Passive house
• LEED

References

This article "WELL Building Standard" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:WELL Building Standard. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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