WELL Building Standard & WELL Certification

The Healthy Building Standard, commonly known as the WELL Building Standard, is a globally recognized certification system dedicated to prioritizing human health and wellbeing in the design, operations, and utilization of buildings. This performance-based system measures, certifies, and monitors the features of a built environment that directly impact human health and wellbeing. These key categories include air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind.

This standard goes beyond basic health and safety requirements, encouraging the creation of spaces that actively promote health and wellbeing. The focus is not just on reducing harm but on enhancing the overall human experience within the built environment.

Administered by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), this standard is rooted in an evidence-based approach supported by the latest scientific research. The strategies adopted are designed to advance human health through thoughtful design interventions and other measures, ensuring spaces are conducive to the wellbeing of their occupants.

The WELL Building Standard represents a commitment to prioritizing human health and wellness in the built environments where we live, work, and learn. It stands for the belief that buildings should be designed and operated in ways that enhance the health and wellbeing of the occupants. This standard applies the latest scientific research to define a set of performance metrics and design strategies that can create healthier indoor environments.

The standard also stands for a rigorous process of measurement, certification, and monitoring. Buildings seeking WELL certification undergo extensive performance testing to verify that they meet all the required standards. This ensures that the wellness strategies implemented in the design and operation of the building are not just theoretical, but have a measurable impact on the health and wellbeing of the occupants. 

Ultimately, the WELL Building Standard stands for a holistic, people-centric approach to building design and operation. It is about creating spaces that actively support our health and wellbeing, and contribute to a better quality of life.

The WELL Building Standard uses a scoring system to evaluate and grade projects. Every aspect of the project is assessed independently on a numerical scale. This concept-by-concept analysis ensures all Preconditions for each concept are met. The final WELL Score, a number between 0 and 100, is calculated based on the total Preconditions and Optimizations achieved.

• Lower scores (0 – 4) represent the compulsory Precondition features. A score less than 5 means the project failed to meet the Preconditions, resulting in non-compliance or non-certification.
• Silver scores (5 – 6) indicate that all compulsory Precondition features for that concept have been met.
• Higher scores (60 for Gold, 80 for Platinum) signify that a property has achieved all the pre-required features and a number of optimization goals.

The WELL Score offers a comprehensive overview of a building’s commitment to health and wellbeing.

Employers spend 90 percent of their annual operating costs on people. This means that even a small impact on productivity, engagement, and satisfaction in the workplace can have huge returns on investments. Given our breadth of experience, we can guide teams through a broad range of scenarios including new construction, building fit-outs, and existing building upgrades.