The WELL Building Standard (WELL)

Introduced by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), WELL was introduced to transform health and well-being with their people-first approach to buildings, organizations and communities. Since the launch of WELL in 2014, 2000+ companies have adopted WELL as an evidence-based roadmap for scaling health across their organization [1]. 

In 2018, IWBI launched the WELL v2, an enhanced version of the first iteration, with the aim to build a healthier future for all by consolidating the latest research, technology and building practices. Some notable features of the WELL v2 standard are as follows [2]:

Dynamic Scorecard

The digital WELL v2 platform allows project teams to select relevant features based on project-specific parameters that they can later further define and refine, as necessary.

Universal Preconditions

Preconditions define the fundamental components of a WELL space and serve as the foundation of a healthy building. WELL v2 offers a universal set of preconditions for all projects which are mandatory for certification. 

Meaningful Optimizations

WELL v2 operates on a point-based system, with a total of 100 points available to each project, plus 10 innovation points. All optimizations have a maximum point values, which is determined by its potential for impact on health and wellness. 

10 concepts

There are 10 concepts in WELL v2: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community. Each concept is comprised of features with distinct health and well-being intents. Features are either preconditions or optimizations.

Scoring and Certification Levels

Projects must achieve all preconditions, as well as a certain number of points to earn different levels of certification:

• WELL Certification Silver: 50 points

• WELL Certification Gold: 60 points

• WELL Certification Platinum: 80 points

Projects must earn a minimum of 2 points per concept, and not more than 12 points per concept. 

A separate set of point systems apply for WELL Core projects. WELL Core projects refer to core and shell buildings seeks to implement fundamental features in the base building for the benefit of tenants. For such building types, the owner should not occupy more than 25% of the gross floor area of the project - the remainder of the space is occupied by tenants.

• WELL Core Bronze Certification: 40 points

• WELL Core Silver Certification: 50 points

• WELL Core Gold Certification: 60 points

• WELL Core Platinum Certification: 80 points

Core Projects must earn a minimum of 1 point per concept, and not more than 12 points per concept. 

Continuous Monitoring

WELL v2 encourages the market to conduct real-time continuous monitoring of building performance via sensors and surveys to assess the human experience to ensure healthy and high performing buildings.

Sources: 

[1] https://v2.wellcertified.com/en

[2] https://www.wellcertified.com/certification/v2-pilot/

Benefits

Through evidence-based, design, policy and operational strategies, the implementation of WELL building standards can improve the health and well-being of building occupants. Some of the benefits of incorporating WELL concepts have been detailed below. 

• Improve productivity of workers.

• Address the diverse needs of hybrid, remote and in-person workforces

• Foster a culture of health

• Boost sleep and cognitive well-being

• Mitigate burnout

Source: https://www.wellcertified.com/certification/v2/

Through this project, we will analyse how Lumnia Building has incorporated the 10 concepts under WELL v2 to achieve their WELL v2 Platinum Certification.