well building movement V02 ergonomic workstation design

a consultant’s insight into ergonomic workstation design for the WELL building certification Movement V02

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What feature of a healthy building does Precondition V02 focus on?

Projects here need to show that they have provided ergonomic workstation furniture to all users of the building as well as practical guidance to ensure the furniture is used to maximum effect. Why does this matter? Get this one wrong and a workplace will likely suffer increases in absenteeism and a reduction in worker productivity.

In blue collar jobs especially there are physical risks at play whenever there is a manual component, such as lifting or loading whilst in white collar workplaces extended periods spent hunched over a screen and a keyboard can, if not positioned correctly, equally lead to pain and injury.

There is no one size fits all response to this but in general ergonomics in the workplace are designed to encourage movement during the day while avoiding awkward, uncomfortable positions. Adjustable furniture plays a large part in resolving the issue but education and knowledge sharing has also been deemed crucial by the WELL Certification.

For details on ROI to show to the ever vigilant company CFO, see here.

For a separate article we have written about ergonomic furniture in workplaces designed for worker wellbeing see here.

part 1: Visual ergonomics in WELL standard V02

WELL are looking for adjustable desktop monitors that avoid neck pain, you’ll need monitors arms or specific adjustable stands for this one. Laptops should also have an external keyboard and mouse to allow for more of an upright stance, additionally a stand for the laptop will prevent the head tilting down at an awkward angle and shoulders hunching forward. We want office workers to sit straight and or stand tall whenever possible to save their backs!

part 2: height adjustable work surfaces in well standard V02

A quarter of all workstations need to be height adjustable so that workers can sit or stand at will, whether it be manual or electric adjustment. Additionally, desk extensions can be included if a dedicated sit-stand desk is not an option, for example due to budget restrictions. We have written in more detail about this subject here in relation to WELL feature V07 Active Furnishings. For example, the photo above shows the standing desk set-up in Casa Biofilico, using a standard home office desk with an adjustable extension placed on top of it.

part 3: adjustable office chairs for WELL standard V02

Most new office chairs will come equipped with some form of adjustment options, in our experience providing office furniture for a luxury coworking office interiors project, spending a little extra brings additional ergonomic benefits from a workplace wellness perspective, and the office workers in question will thank you for it eventually!

WELL have some specific criteria here that your WELL Consultant would need to check with the office furniture supplier prior to making an order. If you are looking for options, we recommend ACTIU, a Spanish brand that specialises in workplace wellness furniture solutions.

part 4: provide support at standing stations for well standard v02

For anyone who is a regular user of a standing desk, it soon becomes clear that some additional support is needed to make this a comfortable experience after the first hour or two standing. WELL specify anti-fatigue mats, recessed toe space, a footrest and or a leaning chair. Only once you have spent a day working like this will you truly understand how important these small details are to the whole active furnishings debate! We usually work with a brand like FULLY for these smaller details.

part 5: provide workspace orientation for well standard v02

This one is an easy win, simply ask your WELL consultant or HR department to arrange in-person training or a video education session on the importance of ergonomics, demonstrating how to get the best out of the chosen office furniture and other resources for further reading on the subject.

To discuss how we can help you create a healthy workplace or healthy building project with WELL certification, contact us here.

well building standard movement V01 active buildings & communities

a consultants response to the well building standard’s movement V01 Active buildings & communities

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What is the intent of WELL Precondition / Feature V01 / Active Buildings & Communities?

Fundamentally this is about promoting movement and physical activity in all its guises within the context of the built environment, specifically as a way to reduce sedentary behavior in the workplace thanks to targeted design interventions, a.k.a ‘active design’.

inactivity is a health problem because it can lead to chronic diseases and premature mortality, that may sound like hyperbole but many people spend 8hrs or more in their office five days a week and will have a career that spans decades. That’s potentially a lot of inactivity!

The answer to this lies in promoting active design in our healthy buildings, this may be by encouraging greater use of stairwells rather than an elevator, cycling into work rather than driving, engaging in a group physical activity class during the working week with office colleagues, using a standing desk to reduce lower back pain, and so on.

How to design active buildings & communities for this WELL feature

In this Precondition WELL are looking for projects to achieve at least one point from V03: Circulation Network, V04: Facilities for Active Occupants. V05: Site Planning and Selection and V08: Physical Activity Spaces and Equipment.

This makes the Precondition highly achievable in our opinion but remember that the aim with WELL is never just to scrape through with the minimal investment of time and energy possible but rather to look for synergies between features and, where possible, creative solutions to their requirements that have a positive impact on occupant health.

V03: See here for our WELL AP expert opinion on the active design / stairwell strategies in Movement Feature V03

V04: We have written here on Facilities for Active Occupants, effectively these are bike storage, showers and changing facilities on site in adequate numbers to accommodate building users.

V05: See here for our insights into Site Planning & Selection feature in the WELL healthy building standard.

V08: We have previously written (here) in some detail about this WELL feature on Physical Activity Spaces and Gym Equipment as specialists in this particular field of gym design and gym equipment procurement.

To enquire about our services as WELL consultants, wellness real estate and healthy building experts, email us here.

Active Stairs: Well Building Standard Movement V03 — Biofilico Wellness Interiors

A consultant's response to the WELL Building Standard Feature: Movement V03 / Circulation Network and Active Design Principles

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, including active design principles and active design strategies, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. Building owners play a crucial role in promoting physical activity through active design strategies. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity‘, ‘Movement‘ and ‘Nourishment’.

What healthy building issue is WELL Feature Movement V03 addressing to encourage physical activity?

In this feature of the WELL building certification we are dealing with, wait for it… staircases! As consultants specialising in the field of wellness real estate, we admit to getting quite excited about stairwells as they represent an often neglected corner of an office or residential building that in a sense has physical activity built into it, however far too often they are not decorated with anything beyond whitewash and basic directional signage.

A healthy building needs to switch its priorities to make the stairwells a feature that regular occupants want to use, even enjoy using. To do that, WELL encourages projects to think about aesthetics, visibility and signage prompts.

The underlying problem is, once again, physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles. The solution is more movement during the work day and that means, amongst other things such as physical activity spaces and physical activity opportunities), climbing stairs more often and designing spaces that encourage physical activity.

Where did this WELL movement feature draw its inspiration?

The researchers went looking for ‘active design’ case studies from airports, healthcare facilities, universities and offices, all leading them to the conclusion that an enhanced stairwell experience combined with subtle but effective prompts nearby in the form of permanent signage, all have a tangible impact on overall movement and activity levels in the workplace. The concept of 'active living' and 'promoting physical activity' through architectural principles and urban design also served as inspiration for these strategies.

What do we mean by ‘enhanced aesthetics' in this WELL healthy building feature?

For us, this is about being creative with a minimal budget. The reality is that projects are unlikely to apply huge budget per floor, imagine a 10 story building for example, even at a 3,000 euro budget per floor that still adds up to 30,000 euro in total just for active design stairwells. So how do we recommend using what minimal budget is on offer?

Options include flooring, wall decor, lighting, plats or biophilia in general, music speakers even artworks or motivation vinyls on the walls. It’s about making the stairwells bright, visually pleasant and dynamic areas rather than cold, heartless corners of the building. Incorporating visually appealing stairs and feature stairs can significantly enhance the aesthetic appeal and promote physical activity.

Artworks need not be originals, prints will do here. Wall decor can be blocks of brightly coloured organic / low-VOC paint, or large format vinyls. Flooring needs to be extremely hard wearing for obvious reasons but it could be brightly coloured, or have a biophilia, nature-inspired pattern such as the one in our concept design above for a corporate headquarters with a healthy building objective in Switzerland. Bright and or coloured LED lighting can also bring life to a dark stairwell with no natural light.

If the option is available, a WELL AP should lobby the master-planners and architects on a new build construction project to position stairwells in a location that makes them visible and easily accessible to all regular building occupants. It’s all about an active design approach, placing stairs not as a Plan B but as a preferred option, or Plan A,… within reason!

WELL / movement V03 / Part 1: Design Visually Appealing Stairs (1 point)

There is no limit to how far this creativity can be pushed clearly but in terms of securing a point for this WELL healthy building feature, the certification standard is looking for at****least one staircase with a minimum of two****features from the list below on each floor. Central stairs and those in educational and auditorium spaces are prime examples of where these design elements can be applied:

1. Music

2. Artwork

3. Light levels of at least 215 lux when in use

4. Windows or skylights that provide access to daylight

5. Natural design elements (e.g., plants, water features, images of nature)

6. Gamification

WELL / movement V03 / part 2: signage prompts (1 point)

This is where a WELL AP and consultant team need to align with the signage consultants, or indeed take ownership of this element of the overall signage plan whilst integrating the design and production with the rest of the project's signage style.

At least on staircase servicing all floors needs point-of-decision signage near the main entrance or reception desk , at the elevator or escalators, and at the base / entry points of the stairs. The objective here is to grab the attention of building users just before they commit to taking the elevator or escalator instead of taking the stairs.

We want to nudge them in the direction of the stairs, this could be done in a very simple, neutral tone or indeed with something more playful that challenges the users to ‘burn some extra calories while you work', or ‘hit those quads and hams', as long the messaging is positive, not negative.

Finally, additional wayfinding signage may be required if the stairs are not visible from the location of the signage prompts, to ensure users do not get lost and change their mind!

WELL / movement V03 / part 3: promote visible stairs for improved employee health (1 point)

As a WELL consultant, we find this to can be a challenging point to win, as it requires at least one staircase servicing all floors that is open to regular occupants of the healthy building and located before elevators or escalators.

Why is this a challenge? Quite simply because we are rubbing up against the requirements or the building engineers and architects, so ‘active design’ requirements often have to take a back seat. Additionally, considerations such as building codes and mental health must be factored into the design of visible stairs. That said, the point is there for the taking if the project’s stairs happens to fit within these requirements.

If you are interested in our services helping you create active design stairwells on your real estate project for WELL Movement V03,contact us here.

WELL Building Standard Movement V05 Site Planning & Selection

A WELL consultant responds to WELL Building Standard feature: Movement V05 Site Planning & Selection

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What is the main focus of this WELL healthy building feature?

This feature is very similar to some of the features in green building standards such as BREEAM and the USGBC LEED that consider site selection as one of the very earliest decisions for any project to ensure that the result is a piece of real estate in tune with people and planet.

Specifically then, WELL are looking for evidence that the area around the project promotes walkability and has access to public transportation. Read on to discover what that means in practice… there are no fewer than four points on offer here within the WELL certified process after all!

What problem is this healthy building feature addressing?

The WELL Standard make the point that contemporary real estate has a tendency to make our lives easier, more comfortable, less strenuous physically - unlike healthy buildings. This contributes to the worrying dominance of largely sedentary lifestyles in the developed world today.

To combat that this WELL feature looks to raise awareness around active design strategies in interiors but also, just as importantly, to a project’s location and its relationship with physical activity opportunities.

How does site planning connect with physical activity?

Their basic premise here is that thoughtful site planning can improve community health; walkable neighborhoods tend to align proximity, with connectivity, density, safety and aesthetics. They take into account a wide variety of different user profiles, promoting mobility for all.

Even tall buildings cna have a genuine impact on the community through its ground-level architectural choices, by adding public walkways, landscaping and so on that encourage walkability and nature interaction.

Prioritising pedestrians for a healthy community (2 points)

Part 1: STREETS: Projects need to provide at least one building entrance that links to a pedestrian walkway as well as one of a variety of technical considerations such as its WalkScore, vehicle traffic restrictions and the presence of continuous sidewalks. In other words, pedestrians need to be treated with respect, indeed encouraged in the streets surrounding the project. We can imagine this being especially problematic in some US cities where the car tends to dominate the streets still.

Part 2: ENVIRONMENT: Exterior building walls need to include some combination of transparent glazing, overhangs, murals, biophilic design and mixed design features to give the overall impression of a building designed to be aesthetically pleasing for pedestrians in the area.

Access to mass transport (2 points)

For an extra two points, this WELL feature requires that all spaces are located within an area with a specific Transit Score, in vicinity to a bus network and in walking distance to a bus rapid transit stop, rail station or ferry service.

This is to ensure that public transport can be the primary way for regular building occupants to travel to and from the site, if they are not cycling or jogging in.

This is to reduce car usage, which in turn lowers greenhouse gas emissions and lowers our collective impact on the environment, whilst also requiring less car park spaces in urban hubs.

To discuss our consultancy services as WELL Healthy Building experts, contact us here

WELL Building Feature V11: Ergonomics Programming

A consultants response to the WELL Building Standard’s Movement Feature V11: Ergonomics Programming

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today.

It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What is required from projects pursuing WELL Feature / Movement V11 Ergonomics Programming?

Real estate and healthy building projects pursuing WELL Certification are, for feature V11, required to engage with a certified ergonomist to assist in creating comfortable workstations for all staff in order to avoid the most common issues such as lower back pain, wrist pain or a sore neck.

This specialist should also be brought in for regular visits to make ongoing improvements. Given the shift to working from home of late, he/she is also to assist with remote workers’ ergonomics arrangements.

Why is ergonomics important for a healthy building or healthy workplace?

In short, we’re confronting musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) here, one of the primary health risks in the modern workplace that has a direct correlation with absenteeism / sick days and low productivity due to anxiety, discomfort and low level stress.

What does the WELL standard aim to do about it?

An ergonomics specialist will look at the physical environment, for example sit-stand desks or active workstations, as well as internal organizational culture / behavior and, especially in blue collar circumstances, the type of movements and processes involved in the work itself.

• For a separate blog article on ergonomic furniture in a healthy office design see our blog post here

• See our 9-point guide to healthy buildings here.

Implementing an ergonomics program for WELL Feature V11 (1 point)

Firstly, in terms of human resources, a project must either engage with a certified ergonomist / consultant for help with this feature or have an employee with a similar certification and iis formally responsible for delivering the program.

In other words, this needs to be handled by someone who knows what they are doing and WELL want to see proof of a company taking it seriously!

Additionally, a program needs to include stakeholder consultations, a task analysis by a certified ergonomist, individual ergonomic assessments either virtually or in-person on an annual basis after initial employee on-boarding.

This program also needs to be backed up by an engagement plan with workshops or annual training delivered by the certified ergonomist.

Ergonomic improvements for a healthy workplace (1 point)

A project pursuing WELL certification Feature V11 needs to either describe how this feature informed their decisions in Feature V02 Ergonomics Workstation Design and V07 Active Furnishings.

Alternatively, the project team show that they have heard individual ergonomic needs of employees and have actioned a plan to respond to them, with a timeline communicated to those individuals.

Supporting remote work ergonomics (1 point)

Finally, a project team ought to show they have taken into consideration working from home ergonomics too, tailoring parts of the plan above to those spending time at home on a regular basis for remote work, this includes making ergonomic furnishings available to remote workers, whether via a subsidy or reimbursement.

We hope this article has proven useful! Contact us here to discuss how we can help you with workplace wellness and the WELL Building Certification process.

WELL building standard movement V07 active furnishings

A consultant’s response to the WELL healthy building standard feature ‘V07 active furnishings’

our standing desk at Casa Biofilico, Barcelona, Spain - an example of active furnishing

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What problem does WELL Movement V07 active furnishings address?

In this Movement feature of the WELL Building Standard, the credit is focused on sit-stand desks and treadmill desks. The example from Casa Biofilico above shows a desk that can be used at variably heights, either seated or standing.

In reality, I tend to spend most of the morning standing and then alternate more between sitting / standing in the afternoons as my legs became a little more tired.

That said, I train for 90-minutes every morning before work so by the time I hit my desk, I have been pretty ‘active’ already and am ready for my first caffeine hit!. WELL are mostly concerned with pathologically sedentary behavior and those who spend 8 hours or more in a seated position five days per week, for years and years on end.

This has a direct correlation with obesity levels, Type 2 diabetes and premature mortality. We are simply not wired to spend our lives like this. Frequent ‘movement snacks’ during the day are essential to break up the workday and integrate modest amounts of movement at frequent intervals.

What are active furnishings?

Active workstations are those that offer multiple height options, allowing a worker to sit or stand, easily changing the height of the desk whilst maintaining a comfortable position, head up, shoulders back, not slouched in a chair.

Standing has been shown to burn more energy than being seated but that is not actually the point here, we’re looking to mix it up during the day, not just sitting, but not just standing either. We want workers to move around every hour or so, change position, stand for a bit, then sit, or take a break.

Treadmill desks are more common in the US than the UK or Europe but they are a valuable addition to a workspace, albeit a relatively expensive one. Certain tasks are better adapting to a treadmill desk than others. Deep work is not going to happen here, in my opinion, but lighter loads such as basic admin or responding to emails can certainly be done whilst walking slowly on a treadmill desk.

What do projects pursuing WELL certification need to do for 2 points in this movement feature?

Employers need to invest in active workstations for a minimum of 50% (1 point) or 90% (2 points) of the workforce. This does not mean that all those workers need to spend their time working standing up, far from it and in any case, it would be impossible to police that in practice.

The feature only specifies simply that the desks or workstations need to be provided, how they are used by employees is not reflected in the WELL score, that part then comes down to signage prompts, positive peer pressure / acceptability of working while standing or walking on a treadmill, and so on.

What type of active workstations are suitable for WELL V07 active furnishings?

In our home office, we currently use a manually adjustable desk, leaving it in a standing position permanently and then pairing it with an office stool rather than an office chair. This combo works well for us and encourages more standing than sitting.

Electrically powered sit-stand desks are of course more convenient and better suited to shared desk areas where a variety of different workers will use the desk each week, requiring a corresponding range of heights.

In the photo above from our Casa Biofilico project you can see what the WELL healthy building standard refers to as a ‘supplemental solution’, allowing “all or part of the work surface and all input devices (monitor or screen, keyboard, mouse) to be raised or lowered to seated or standing heights”. Effectively it is an extension of an existing desk, this works out to be a cost-effective solution.

Additionally, WELL also recognises treadmill desks, bicycle desks and stepper machine desks, although for us these would not replace a standard sit-stand desk, rather being supplement to the former.

We hope this article has proven useful! Contact us here to discuss how we can help you with workplace wellness programs and the WELL Building Certification process

WELL Building Standard: Movement V10 Self-Monitoring

a WELL consultant’s response to WELL Building Certification Feature ‘Movement V10 Self-monitoring’

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What does this WELL healthy building feature focus on?

A developer, employer or landlord provides wearable fitness monitors for physical activity and healthy behaviors at a subsidized cost to all employees / regular building occupants.

What good is a wearable in promoting a healthy building? It provides reliable, or at least more reliable than ‘self reported data’ from building occupants on how active a lifestyle they lead during the working week.

This is not to pry into their personal lives but simply to gauge whether the facilities provided within the healthy building, such as physical activity spaces are being put to good use.

What can tech do in promoting physical activity in a healthy building?

Yes, this can seem an intangible argument and clearly an apple watch or Fitbit alone is not going to make much difference by itself however within the context of a suite of measures that combine hardware and software, physical activity programming for workplace wellness as well as an on-site fitness room with fitness equipment, the wearables can be a valuable part of the package.

To answer the privacy concern head on, WELL Feature V10 suggests selecting a piece of tech that has adequate privacy measures in place - to be clear, the purpose is not for individuals to upload their data for the HR department or external workplace wellness consultant to review, although we believe that there are potential gains in some form of gamification of workplace activity with, for example, prizes for those who take more than 10,000 steps inside the building in a month, etc.

The point here is not any one individual’s performance, quite the opposite, we’re simply looking to use the wearables to promote activity and monitor successes at an individual level, there is no requisite to share this info at all within the WELL standard. Each business / employer is then free to take additional steps as they see fit, or indeed employees may choose to form their own social groups for sharing limited amounts of data amongst themselves, assuming they all have the same piece of tech or software.

How to use wearable tech in WELL V10 self-monitoring

The WELL standard specifies that ALL eligible employees should be provided with a wearable fitness monitor device with the following requirements:

1. Available at no cost or subsidized by at least 50%.

2. Allow users to monitor their own metrics over time (i.e., provides a dashboard where individual metrics are aggregated).

3. Measure at least two physical activity metrics (e.g., steps, floors climbed, activity minutes).

4. Measure at least one additional health behavior (e.g., mindfulness practice, sleep).

As WELL consultants, how do we respond to this feature?

At least in its current format, the problem we have with this feature of the WELL healthy building standard is that it is better suited to smaller scale buildings or workforces, assuming that no allowance is made for a project looking to take a random sample of the workforce as a trial to test the impact of their investment in wearables.

Many people will already have their own wearable tech, or use smartphone apps that do some or all of the same work for them. One question we’d raise with WELL on that basis is whether we could use a hybrid approach of a client sponsoring wearables only for those people who do not have suitable tech already.

Going one step further, we would in future like to explore opportunities to take a sample of data from amongst a workforce to analyse the impact of new active design features in a building for example (with each individual’s consent, or perhaps while wearing the monitor only in the office).

We have heard of problems at other organizations where wearables given to staff were seen as a way to monitor them, or check if they were working at their desks, so there are many hurdles to overcome here in order to leverage occupant movement data in a way that respects privacy.

We shall continue to explore this theme and propose creative solutions to our clients!

We hope this article has proven useful! Contact us here to discuss how we can help you with workplace wellness programs and the WELL Building Certification process

WELL MOVEMENT V04 Facilities for Active Occupants

a consultant’s response to WELL Building Certification Feature ‘Movement V04 / Facilities for Active Occupants’

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What is main focus of WELL Movement V04 Facilities for Active Occupants?

Essentially we are looking at bike storage facilities for those wishing to travel to their workplace by bike, as well as changing facilities and lockers for all those arriving by other forms of active transport, whether it be jogging or simply in need of a shower after a long, hot commute into the office in summer!

Nowadays these are essential components in a healthy building, either with or without a WELL certification.

The target audience here is active commuters but also active occupants - those showers can also encourage employees to go for a run after work, take a shower and then head out for a social appointment with friends, for example.

What issue is WELL Movement V04 Facilities for Active Occupants addressing?

On one level, it is about facilitating the lives of those who wish to travel under their own steam, by jogging or cycling into work, an active commuter in other words. These employees will be generally fitter, healthier and more productive in the workplace, with less days off (unless they end up hitting the IronMan circuit of course!) and less sick days. We can imagine this being especially important in the US where car culture and the lateral spread of cities makes a cycle commute more of a challenge.

In another sense, these active commuters are also placing less pressure on the road networks, they are not polluting, nor are they using public transport, so it is a win-win for both sides.

WELL Movement V04 Cycling Network & Bike Parking

Cycling infrastructure for a healthy building going for WELL Certification can be linked to location, tapping into the cycling network such as cycle lanes and bike sharing schemes.

Additionally, bike parking can be split into short-term (i.e. a public bike rack) for 2.5% of peak visitors, with a minimum of four spaces per building.

Long-term parking would be something like a dedicated bike room or bike wall with space for 5% of regular building occupants and a minimum of four per building. Finally, this same bike room, should provide a basic set of tools for cyclists to fix a tyre. Basic stuff but any cyclist will be glad to find a repair kit one day!

An extension of this we have seen in some healthy building case studies is to bring in a local bike mechanic every three months or so to give the regular cyclists a free bike tuning to ensure they are riding on safe tyres, brakes and so on.

All of the above simply needs to be verified by on-site photographs and a Letter of Assurance – by an architect or designer.

WELL Movement V04 On-site Shower Facilities

Showers, lockers and changing facilities come as a cluster for obvious reasons, and these elements need to be co-located next to each other, with five lockers per shower and the only other variable being the total requisite number of showers on offer within the healthy building to secure another point within WELL V04.

Essentially the calculation is 1 + 1 extra shower for 150 occupants above 100 for any WELL project below 1000 regular occupants.

If you are interested in our services helping you create a physical activity space / equipped gym for WELL Movement V08, contact us here.

WELL Building Standard: V06 Physical Activity Opportunities

We specialise in group training classes to meet the certification of WELL Building V06 Physical Activity Opportunities for workplaces and schools.

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What is the WELL certification looking for in Movement V06?

In short, the focus here is “no-cost physical activity opportunities led by a qualified physical activity professional” but as ever the devil is in the detail so let’s look at exactly how mied-use real estate, workplace and school projects can secure maximum points for this particular credit of the WELL healthy building standard.

Why is physical activity at work or school important?

It is well known that gym membership rates in most countries hover around 10-15%, and that is just membership, not even usage! WELL reference the fact that around 25% of the global population is considered physically inactive.

On the positive side, a more active workforce or student population has been shown to reduce healthcare costs and absenteeism whilst improving productivity.

Biofit carried out one study into the benefits of indoor green exercise on mental wellbeing showing similarly encouraging results as well as a similar study focused specifically on the mental health benefits of spending time in a green ‘Vitamin Nature’ restorative space (no physical activity this time) during a workday, again with highly positive results. See the results of those studies here.

The role of workplace wellness programs in WELL V06

Simply put, the workplace and businesses in general are are powerful platform from which to reach the adult working population, just as schools are for the younger generations.

There are various factors at play here such as giving ‘permission’ to take time out during a paid work day, the positive benefits of peer pressure and collective group activity (rather than trying to train solo at home in for example).

Employers also have the opportunity of sponsoring gym memberships, providing onsite physical activity spaces with equipment at the workplace (whether indoor or outdoor) and promoting physical activity programming.

What do we mean by Physical Activity Opportunities in the workplace?

Firstly these need to be free of charge for employees and regular occupants of the workplace. The type of activity on offer should also match the demographics of the target audience.

Group physical activity classes should also take place either on-site or within 650ft walking distance from the project boundary and last for at least 30-minutes but ideally for 60-minutes for a total of up to 150 minutes in total of the physical activity programming each week.

Examples of Physical Activity Opportunities for WELL standard V06

So, for example that might equate to a free weekly 45-minute yoga class in a dedicated recharge room or restorative space within the building, at no cost to participants.

Or it could be a bi-weekly natural fitness group class held in an adjacent park or indeed on a vacant rooftop of the building, using bodyweight only for simplicity an to make it accessible to all, again with those costs covered by the employer and the class lasting for 60-minutes.

The WELL standard specifies that classes need be given by a qualified professional, be that a certified yoga instructor, a certified Biofit training coach or someone with a REPS Level 2 or higher qualification in the UK (or local equivalent for group fitness classes in other countries).

NB: the training can also be delivered virtually, via a large screen and Zoom, for example, if there are issues bringing in a qualified teacher to the workplace due to health concerns, availability, etc.

Finally, the above needs to be verified for WELL Certification of MOVEMENT V06 Physical Activity Opportunities with a company policy or an operations schedule.

We hope this article has proven useful! Contact us here to discuss how we can help you with workplace wellness programs and the WELL Building Certification process

WELL Building standard Movement V09 Physical Activity Promotion

a WELL consultant’s perspective on HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAMS IN THE WORKPLACE FOR WELL feature V09 MOVEMENT

a Biofit outdoor class in mindful movement for the Second Home co-workin community, Lisbon, Portugal

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What is the WELL certification looking for in Movement V09?

WELL are interested in a joined-up approach here for Movement V09, one that recognises that workplace wellness can be a complex beast given that everyone reacts differently to the promotion of physical activity at work. Some will be early adopters, some will have their own routine outside of the workplace, while still others will struggle to engage at all. For this reason, it is advisable to combine environmental design with behavioral strategies.

We recommend starting the process with an understanding of the building occupants, the end users or target audience for the physical activity promotion in other words. It can be useful to develop 3-5 hypothetical user profiles for example, that describe a number of character types who will each respond to a different type of physical activity promotion best.

Physical Activity Incentives for WELL feature V09

Physical activity incentives such as what WELL refer to as ‘conditional incentives’ have been shown to have a respectable success rate. For example, if a business owner were to offer a reduced gym membership to all staff yet this came without any ‘ask’ in return, it is likely to have less long-term success that pinning that subsidy to X number of visits per month for example. With a wearable in the mix, we could imagine setting a monthly target of calories burned, steps walked and so on in exchange for the gym subsidy, almost like a form of gamification in fact.

Schools and Physical Activity Incentives in WELL Building Standard

Student populations are particularly relevant to this feature as early uptake of a physical activity regime can set a young person on a path to a lifetime of fitness, potentially, just as the opposite is equally true. Schools might include Physical Education classes with basic bodyweight exercises, calisthenics and group games. After-school activities such as specific sports are an even bigger opportunity to encourage physical activity as team sports and competition can tap into deep-rooted psychological needs in all of us, if pitched correctly.

We also recommend schools focus on reducing sedentary hours via the use of standing desks for example and generally promoting movement as part of the school day via any means possible. Eight hours crouched over a desk or laptop is not going to help anyone, especially not when a project is aiming for WELL Feature V09.

What type of physical activity programs does the well building standard ask for?

At least two of the following physical activity promotion programs to eligible employees:

1. Rewards for physical activity engagement (imagine the HR team creating a league table amongst departments with monthly or annual rewards)

2. A subsidy towards physical activity costs incurred by employees (perhaps a free weekly group fitness studio class to test out something new, or a subsidized small group fitness / personal trainer who coaches staff at a convenient hour in their schedule)

3. Reductions in health care premiums based on physical activity engagement.

4. Flexible work hours to accommodate physical activity (an extended lunch hour to allow time to change out of work clothes, run/swim/train and shower, as well as eat)

5. Paid time off for physical activity with a minimum of four days per calendar year (perhaps for a fitness holiday, to attend a race or for a full-day workshop deep dive into a fitness subject of particular interest)

Additionally, this feature asks for proof of employee utilization, such as one of the following:

1. The project monitors utilization of incentive programs and demonstrates an annual utilization rate of 50% (this would need to be monitored by the HR team or Office Manager for example)

2. The project demonstrates an annual improvement in utilization of at least 10 percentage points (this shows there are external efforts underway to continue the health promotion efforts, ensuring an increase in uptake over time, rather than letting the initiative slowly fade out due to lack of promotional effort within the workplace)

We hope this article has proven useful! Contact us here to discuss how we can help you with workplace wellness programs and the WELL Building Certification process

WELL Building Standard: Movement V08 Physical Activity Spaces & Equipment

DESIGNING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY SPACES WITH EQUIPMENT FOR WELL / MOVEMENT / FEATURE V08

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

How we can help you create a physical activity space in your real estate project

We create physical activity spaces with functional fitness equipment, a.k.a gyms and fitness studios, aligned with green and healthy building certifications such as the WELL Building Standard (ref: Movement V08).

We specialise in designing green fitness spaces, such as the one shown above, that secure additional points within the WELL certification for MIND M07 Restorative Spaces and MIND M09 Enhanced Access to Nature (using biophilic design that brings the outside world in).

This equates to a total of 4 extra points on top of the 2.5 points on offer in V08 Physical Activity Spaces & Equipment!

What are the requirements of WELL Movement V08 Physical Activity Space & Gym Equipment?

WELL are looking for evidence that there is a gym or fitness facility available at no cost for regular building occupants to. use, either in the building itself, nearby or in a nearby outdoor space such as a park.

Does this mean you have to provide a fitness room if there happens to be an outdoor gym in the adjacent public park? Clearly not but not every project is going to be that fortunate, nor is it always an entirely satisfactory solution, for example in northern hemisphere locations with a lot of rainfall, or adverse weather conditions for six months of the year.

Creating an indoor physical activity space for WELL V08

The specifications for an indoor gym space are as follows:

• The space includes at least two types of exercise equipment (e.g., free weights, treadmill) in quantities that allow use by at least 5% of regular occupants at any time.

• The space includes at least two types of exercise equipment (e.g., free weights, treadmill) and is at least 270 ft2 plus 1 ft2 per regular occupant, up to a maximum of 10,000 ft2.9

So WELL are looking for a combination of strength and cardio machines in other words but in projects where budget is limited, we would recommend specifying a spin bike or rowing machine instead of a treadmill where it is far better to spend a little more for a good quality machine that will not cause damage to the knee joints for regular users.

Good quality spin bikes and rowers are comparatively far cheaper ‘physical activity equipment'‘ choices, usually in the £1.5k - £3k price range, whereas a treadmill is more like £5k - £10k, yet the former two still offer a solid cardio training experience. In many cases, it is far better to go run outside when weather allows anyway!

Additionally, a dumbbell rack of 5kg-25kg and perhaps some kettlebells in 12kg-16kg-20kg, an exercise bench or two and perhaps some medicine balls 6kg-8kg-10kg. There is really no need for isolation strength machines that take up a lot of space, cost from £5k up and will only ever help with one movement.

If available budget and space allow, a multi-gym strength machine is a far more efficient approach, combining upper and lower body training options. We. would also recommend a pull-up bar, barbell, weight plates and a squat rack, as a bare minimum. Add in some exercise mats and a foam roller or two and you are good to go!

The off-site physical activity space option for WELL V08

• The project provides regular occupants access to a fitness facility within a 650 ft walk distance of the project boundary at no cost.

This might be an existing gym, YMCA, health club or group fitness studio for example. In order for occupants to have free access to a private facility however, the project owner would obviously need to arrange for a corporate agreement with the nearby facility, making a bet on rates of uptake by occupants.

This is unlikely to work out cheap in the long-term if the occupants are remotely interested in using the facility, suggesting that the option of creating a small on-site fitness facility, or physical activity space with equipment, might be a smarter solution in response to WELL V08.

An outdoor physical activity space in response to WELL V08

Two points are available here so this is worth looking at in detail. At least one of the following should be within a 0.25 mi walk distance of the project boundary and available at no cost to regular occupants:

1. Green space (e.g., park, walking/biking trail).

2. Blue space (e.g., swimming area).

3. Recreational field or court.

4. Fitness zone that includes all-weather fitness equipment.

5. For projects with child occupants, play space geared toward children (e.g., playground).

This is all dependent on the project location and is beyond the control of the project owner so is likely either to be a quick win in points terms, or remain frustratingly out of reach if none of the above conditions can be met.

If you are interested in our services helping you create a physical activity space / equipped gym for WELL Movement V08, contact us here.

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Further Reading

• Key Concepts In Wellness Real Estate & Healthy Buildings

• Design Consultants For Leisure Spaces, Wellness Facilities & Gyms

• Mental Health & Wellbeing In Healthy Buildings

• Benefits Of Combining Biophilia And Fitness (A.K.A “Green Exercise”)

• Top Wellness Residential Real Estate Developments In The USA

well building standard: mind M09 Enhanced Access to Nature

biofilico well building consultants & nature design experts respond to mind feature M09

Introduction to Biofilico: WELL Building Consultants

Biofilico is a green building, health and wellness advisory based in Barcelona, Spain and London, UK. We offer creative design and consultancy services for mixed-use real estate developments and hospitality brands.

Our experience is in delivering small-scale projects independently as well as working within a team on larger buildings and master-planned communities. Our mission is to have a positive impact on People and Planet through the built environment. 

What is the WELL Building Standard?

Among many green building standards and certification systems, the WELL standard completely re-wrote the rulebook of human-centric green building certification, going further than both LEED and BREEAM in its quest to promote healthy buildings. As a result, it pairs well with LEED or BREEAM as it goes deep into the health aspects of a building rather than its environmental impact per se.

Credit categories cover air, water, nourishment, light, comfort, fitness, mind and innovation with WELL Associated Professionals (a.k.a “APs”) playing the role of project lead, ensuring that the stringent demands of the standard are successfully implemented while Performance Verification is completed by an authorized WELL Performance Testing Agent (a.k.a an Assessor).

Why does MIND Feature M09 require enhanced access to nature?

We have long promoted the mental and physical health benefits of access to nature, whether that be outdoors or indoors, through plants, trees and other natural elements. This MIND feature in the WELL certification explains that connecting with nature can reduce stress and anxiety levels, restore concentration levels, boost feelings of vitality and purpose, and generally make the day just that little bit more pleasurable. In summary, this concept is generally referred to as a biophilia - man’s innate connection to and love of the natural world.

What contribution has Biofilico made to this biophilia thesis with its own research?

Our Vitamin Nature / mindfulness space in Canary Wharf, London went deep into this concept, looking at the effect exposure to nature and mindfulness combined can have on our mental wellbeing. The results were reassuringly positive and scientifically backed by a research team at the University of Essex.

What are the requirements of WELL MIND M09 in regards to nature access indoors?

The WELL Certification specifies 75% of all workstations and seating in conference rooms, lecture halls and classrooms offer a direct view of nature, plants, a water feature or trees outside. Alternatively, those same spaces need to be located within 33ft of an element of indoor nature such as a vertical garden wall, or water feature. Either one of these points will need to be verified with a Technical Document by WELL upon submission.

Unsure what an example of the indoor nature might look like? The restorative green space we installed in the lobby area of a corporate headquarter building in Switzerland (see photo above) would be an ideal answer to that question, although smaller and less capital intensive interventions are equally as suitable, depending on requirements. For example, this wellness interiors interior project of ours called Casa Biofilico shows what can be done on a more modest scale:

What are the requirements of WELL MIND M09 in regards to nature access outdoors?

WELL Feature MIND 09 specifies that an outdoor space ought to be equivalent in size to minimum 5% of the project interior area with at least 70% of it from a bird’s eye view above covered in plants or other natural elements?

Alternatively, access to an existing nature space, be it green nature such as a park or blue nature such as a lake, needs to be located within 650m walking distance from the project boundary, with free access for all regular building occupants during opening hours. The total combined green space needs to be at least 1.25 acres in size.

This outdoor restorative green space we designed, also for the corporate office project in Switzerland shows the type of outdoor space that responds effectively to MIND 09 Enhanced Nature Access thanks to its dense greenery and landscaping as well as the incorporation of a small water feature and plenty of natural materials such as sustainably sourced wood in the furniture and pergola to create a verdant outdoor oasis geared for workplace wellness.

WELL asks for a verified technical document for this part of the credit.

Finally, outdoor nature access needs to be verified with a professional narrative stating that building occupants are able to, even encouraged to access outdoor nature via signage, maps or the availability of nature breaks during the workday.

An example of this in action would be with our work for Black Mountain Partners in London. Their offices are 100m from a royal park, meaning the location is one of the city’s most desirable but with space at a premium, we needed to encourage staff to feel empowered to take a 15-minute nature snack in Green Park next door as a way to restore concentration and energy levels. Instead of reaching for caffeine or sugar, we recommended outdoor nature access as a company policy.

How do Biofilico respond to WELL Feature MIND M09 Enhanced Nature Access as consultants?

We start with a quick discovery phase including a project briefing, relevant stakeholder meetings, a review of the project plan and any concept designs for the development as a whole, establish the WELL Certification project’s overall wellness and sustainability priorities, then identify user or occupant profiles so we know who the end users will eventually be. This all helps to keep our priorities on track.

For the indoor nature access component, we work with project architects and interior designers to review the space plans, checking for views of nature and/or propose creative ways to integrate biophilic design, plants and other natural features into the interior design as a way to boost its nature credentials.

Biophilic design is our specialty and requires a coordinated effort that factors in not just the interior architecture but also landscaping and operations / maintenance factors.

For the outdoor nature access component, it is more a case of checking local area maps and if possible walking the neighborhood in person to identify suitable nature spots that building occupants could be directed to for a dose of Vitamin Nature during their work day.

To discuss how we can help you secure maximum points in your WELL certification, contact us here.

well community: AIR / Fundamental Air Quality

biofilico well community standard consultants: specialists in healthy indoor air

What is the WELL Building Standard?

The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.

Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.

What is WELL consulting?

A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.

Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.

What does WELL Community Fundamental Air Quality require from you?

The WELL Community standard has some fairly stringent air quality standards that, for those unfamiliar with air quality data standards, such as RESET Air for example, may appear initially intimidating. This is what they look like:

• Annual average PM2.5 less than 35 µg/m³.[5]

• Annual average PM10 less than 70 µg/m³.[5]

• Annual fourth-highest daily average 24-hour concentration (99th percentile) PM2.5 less than 75 µg/m³.[5]

• Annual fourth-highest daily average 24-hour concentration (99th percentile) PM10 less than 150 µg/m³.[5]

• Highest 8-hour average ozone less than 240 µg/m³ (122 ppb).[5]

• Highest 8-hour average carbon monoxide less than 14 mg/m³ (12 ppm).

(Sourced from https://v2.wellcertified.com/community/en/air/feature/1)

What basis questions do you need to ask yourself for WELL Community Air Feature AQU?

Existing quality of outdoor air in the project location is a good place to start. We can safely assume urban mega-city vs a remote, or rural location will makes a huge difference in the baseline quality of outdoor air intake and how much work the filters will have to do. Natural ventilation with operable windows may be a terrible idea in a city like Shanghai for example!

Indoor air quality monitors

Have commercial grade indoor air quality monitors been specced, as well as a suitable monitor deployment plan, correct installation and cloud data storage with alerts and maintenance protocols?

HVAC filters & Recirculation filtration

Has the MEP consultant or engineering team specified suitably high-grade HVAC filters in each building? MERV 13 are the new gold standard so remember that name if you can. Consider recirculation filtration units in-ceiling rather than the portable versions.

Green Procurement Policy

A green, low-VOC and non-toxic procurement policy for building materials & fit-out materials will then ensure that there are limited if any off-gases present inside the building post occupancy.

Identify sources of combustion

If there are possible sources of combustion (carbon monoxide) near the buildings in question, that might well create an air quality problem, specifically heavy industrial, commercial kitchens or car exhausts / car parking areas.

Green Cleaning Policy

Post-occupancy, an enhanced green cleaning policy should be obligatory in each building, delivered by via the facilities management, as some cleaning materials contain harmful chemicals, believe it or not.

Green walls for air quality

Finally, we always recommend designers integrate the strategic use of 'living machines' such as vertical gardens / green walls with a high plant density (especially the root systems and soil, we need that to purify the air) to have a tangible impact on IAQ in certain locations - a pot plant in the corner of a conference room will not change much unfortunately. Remember to aim for 1 x air-purifying plant per 8 regular occupants in each enclosed room as a baseline.

How do we approach this WELL community feature as project consultants?

We start with a project briefing and stakeholder meetings, review the project plan & concept designs as well as the overall wellness & sustainability goals before agreeing on some occupant / user profiles to understand who will be using the community once completed. Specifically to address the possible features for additional points:

Feature SGR / Integrate Streetscape Greenery

We advise on required masterplan landscaping adaptations for spacing / density of urban greenery, environmental equity and population density / existing tree cover, document installation and species selection in line with local code, document maintenance plan for tree plantings

Feature GRE / Restorative Green Spaces

We advise on required masterplan landscaping adaptations for access to green spaces, entry points and draft recommended signage content & locations for green spaces and finally minimum planting requirements in green spaces, suggestions on how to offer respite while encouraging voluntary attention.

Feature VEG: Urban Vegetation & Built Spaces

Here we make recommendations on location & density of tree shading, identify outdoor spaces for evaluation and advise on vegetation coverage strategies. We then advise on required masterplan landscaping adaptations for spacing / density of urban greenery, environmental equity and population density / existing tree cover, document installation and species selection in line with local code, document maintenance plan for tree plantings

Feature BLT: Restorative Built Spaces

We identify qualifying restorative places in existing masterplan and recommend necessary adaptations, draft entrance signage content for each space and draft content on respite voluntary attention elements.

For more info on our healthy building strategies see here.

To discuss how we can help you with the WELL Community standard, email us here.

well building standard: Mind M08 Restorative Programming

Biofilico well building standard consultants: specialists in health & fitness programming

What qualifies Biofilico to deliver the WELL MIND M08 Restorative Programming?

Company Founder Matt Morley advises on wellbeing and sustainability for the real estate and hospitality sectors. He is a certified green building professional and a natural health & fitness expert with a specialism in creating biophilic, nature-inspired spaces.

Biofilico is his wellness interiors consultancy offering expert advisory, creative interiors and green / healthy building certification services but in this instance it is his experience creating Biofit Health & Fitness that is perhaps even more relevant.

Biofit has its own natural fitness courses online as well as a growing tribe of certified coaches around the world promoting this unique combination of functional fitness, mindful movement and mobility.

Additionally, Matt’s brother, Charlie, is a bestselling author and teacher of mindfulness, lucid dreaming and shadow integration making him ideally placed to advise on this MIND feature of the WELL Building Standard on Restorative Programming.

Charlie was “authorised to teach” within the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism by Lama Yeshe Rinpoche in 2008. Since then he has written four books which have been translated into 15 languages and has run mindfulness workshops & retreats in more than 20 countries.

He’s spoken at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the Ministry of Defence Mindfulness Symposium, The Houses of Parliament (on Buddhism & youth culture) and the Mindfulness Association Annual conferences.

In 2018 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship grant to research PTSD treatment in Military Veterans and continues to teach people with trauma-affected sleep a set of practices called Mindfulness of Dream & Sleep. 

What is the WELL Building Standard MIND M08 feature?

WELL are looking for ongoing programming for building occupants that gives them access to classes in, for example, mindful movement, meditation or yoga. Why? As a response to workplace stress and poor mental / physical health in the workplace. A stressed office worker is less productive, creates negative energy and is going to burn out eventually.

The role of Mindfulness in MIND M08

Mindfulness has become a buzz word of late but it’s principles are sound. We approach this theme by taking inspiration from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of mindfulness, being present in the moment, as it is happening.

This can be brought on via mindfulness meditation or indeed by practicing a form of mindful movement such as walking slowly barefoot outdoors or, practicing yoga or forms of mindful movement fitness such as Biofit.

The results are likely to include less stress, less anxiety and an improvement in mood.

Our Vitamin Nature / mindfulness space in Canary Wharf, London went deep into this concept, looking at the effect exposure to nature and mindfulness combined can have on our mental wellbeing .

What are the requirements of WELL Feature MIND M08 Restorative Programming?

WELL are specifically looking for two or more of the following to be on offer for regular building occupants and the services should be fully subsidized or by 50% at a minimum to ensure equitable access to all.

• Mindfulness training course either online or in person

• Guided meditations or yoga classes, either in-person or online

• Digital mindfulness programs such as an app combined with a dedicated space for self-practice

  All of this must then be verified by a Policy or Operations schedule for certification.

How do we deliver WELL Feature MIND M08 Restorative programming as consultants?

We start with a quick discovery phase including a project briefing, relevant stakeholder meetings, a review of the project plan and any concept designs for the development as a whole, establish the project’s overall wellness and sustainability priorities, then identify user or occupant profiles so we know who will the end users will eventually be.

We would then research and select a suitable mindfulness training course, or propose one of our own if language-appropriate. We research, select and pre-screen a local yoga and/or meditation teachers, or provide a mindful movement program ourselves as Biofit. We also research and select suitable digital mindfulness offerings for the local market, such as an app, whilst ensuring that there is a designated space within the WELL project boundary for self-practice.

Finally, we deliver a restorative programming plan, contacts and recommended budget to cover two or more of a mindfulness training course, weekly mind-body program and digital mind-body offerings to secure the maximum available point score in WELL MIND M08 Restorative Programming.

To discuss how we can help you secure maximum points in your WELL certification, contact us here.

WELL Building Standard: M07 Restorative Spaces

Biofilico designs restorative spaces for the WELL Building Standard (MIND M07)

Introduction to Biofilico: WELL Building Consultants

Biofilico is a green building, health and wellness advisory based in Barcelona, Spain and London, UK. We offer creative design and consultancy services for mixed-use real estate developments and hospitality brands.

Our experience is in delivering small-scale projects independently as well as working within a team on larger buildings and master-planned communities. Our mission is to have a positive impact on People and Planet through the built environment. 

What is the WELL Building Standard?

Among many green building standards and certification systems, the WELL standard completely re-wrote the rulebook of human-centric green building certification, going further than both LEED and BREEAM in its quest to promote healthy buildings. As a result, it pairs well with LEED or BREEAM as it goes deep into the health aspects of a building rather than its environmental impact per se.

Credit categories cover air, water, nourishment, light, comfort, fitness, mind and innovation with WELL Associated Professionals (a.k.a “APs”) playing the role of project lead, ensuring that the stringent demands of the standard are successfully implemented while Performance Verification is completed by an authorized WELL Performance Testing Agent (a.k.a an Assessor).

What is WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces?

WELL are looking for restorative environments that promote mental wellbeing by reducing stress and mental fatigue. They reference workplaces primarily as this is where most of our mental challenges will take place in a typical day.

Recharge rooms are a response to the phenomenon of workplace tiredness and stress. Biofilico designed one for a project in Switzerland working for the Hero Group’s Chief People Officer, see our case study here.

Nature interaction has been shown to boost recovery and productivity, whether indoors through the use of biophilic design or outdoors with direct nature contact.

See our project video here:

Nature-based restorative Spaces with biophilia

We have also previously delivered a scientific research study into exactly these benefits of exposure to nature, or Vitamin Nature as it has been called. Another topic specifically references in WELL MIND M07.

This explainer video shows more about that restorative space project we created for residential real estate development The Wardian by Eco World Ballymore in London.

Our response to WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces

So having established Biofilico’s experience in delivering exactly the type of restorative space that the WELL certification is looking for, how do we typically approach a project for this WELL feature?

We start with a Discovery process that involves a project briefing, a number of stakeholder meetings, we review the overall project plan and any existing concept designs for the rest of the development, agree on the project’s wellness & sustainability goals, then finally review occupant / user profiles, or work with the project team to define these if not already available.

We then move into the Development phase in response to WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces. Having agreed on a suitable location, we propose various possible uses or functions for a WELL MIND Restorative Space.

Once agreed, we begin work on the layout and floor plan, identify suitable healthy building materials and start to incorporate those into a restorative space concept design integrating biophilia / nature and wellness design features that match the WELL Building Standard feature precisely.

Wellness design features for WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces

These include wellness lights, calming sounds, thermal comfort, seating, nature, colours & privacy.

Finally, we provide content for the required signage and/or educational materials that WELL look for in the finished restorative space to help communicate its many wellness design features.

Delivery

What details are important in this WELL Mind feature?

At least one designated restorative space needs to be made available for all regular occupants, whether indoor or outdoor, whether one space or multiple smaller spaces.

It needs to be designated for this purpose, or at least not also used for work at certain times of day. Its dimensions need to be minimum 75sq ft but ideally closer to 2000 sq ft is feasible.

Dimmable lighting, nature sounds, shade from direct sunlight, biophilia or nature incorporation, comfortable seating arrangements that encourage relaxation, we recommend a relaxing colour palette of natural hues and textures, combined with enough visual privacy to ensure that an occupant can make full use of the space without concern of colleagues looking on from outside.

Finally, all of this has to be verified by Technical Document for the WELL certification process.

To discuss Biofilico’s WELL building design and consultancy services, contact Matt here.

RESET Air standard for healthy building & interiors

A healthy workplace consultant’s review

What is the RESET Air quality standard & certification?

RESET stands for “Regenerative, ecological, social and economic targets”.

The company was started by architects in Shanghai in 2001 adopting an eastern perspective based on a 5000 year history of health and regeneration, rather than the explicitly green / sustainable approach promoted in the west.

Unlike other green building or healthy building standards, such as LEED, WELL or FITWEL, RESET AIR does not insist on any set, prescribed paths towards achieving high quality indoor air results.

Their approach is simply to leave the door open to innovation, how each project gets there is up to the project team. It is the destination that matters most in this instance, RESET do not concern themselves with prescribing the journey.

In their terms, this is a biomimetic approach, that takes its inspiration from nature and the biosphere’s 3.8 billion year history. They talk our language in other words!

What standards make up RESET Air?

• Deployment and installation of monitors (APs are trained to create a professional monitor deployment plan

• Standards for qualified monitors (only Grade A and B, not retail grade C)

• Standards for collecting and reporting data via accredited cloud data providers (priority is data completeness and data on a project meeting targets for key pollutants of TVOC, CO2 and PM2.5 specifically) 

The goal here is effectively to make occupant health measurable leveraging technology, shifting the focus from prescriptive design to measured results, using cloud software and making building data ‘social’ (easily available to occupants).

Why should a real estate development engage with RESET Air?

Green buildings have been shown to have a positive impact on cognitive scores, even a 10% increase in productivity in an office or workplace can pay potentially for or greatly offset a business’s rental costs.

What’s more, health & safety are often the main criteria in building satisfaction for occupants. Deliver a healthy building with high quality indoor air and you add value to the property in other words.

It is worth stating too that RESET have launched with RESET AIR but recently announced a series of other declinations that shows the true ambitions of this young contender in the green & healthy building sector.

Next up is a MATERIALS standard, currently in pilot phase at the time of writing, that will be followed by standards for WATER, ENERGY, and waste or CIRCULARITY (all three still under development).

What makes the RESET Air quality standard different?

It’s all about integration of available technology that has been rigorously tried, tested and maintained to ultimately create buildings with feedback loops, buildings and real estate that ‘talk to us’.

So whether it be a Core & Shell or a Commercial Interiors fit-out, the data is king.

Pollution thresholds have been adopted from best practices from existing authorities such as ASHRAE, leaning on other specialist institutions in other words.

Why is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) so important?

Indoor pollutants such as CO2 have a negative impact on cognitive function and performance. the best solution is source control - nipping the problem in the bud, by not bringing harmful materials into the space that carry chemicals, VOCs or off-gases. For that, we need building materials and fit-out materials that disclose their chemical ingredients, ideally with a healthy product accreditation to back up their claims.

One of the main culprits in this sense are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) or chemicals that off-gas at ambient temperature from building materials such as particle board, glues, paints and carpet backing 

Particulate Matter PM2.5 and PM10 are made up of dust and synthetic materials decomposing around us from furniture, fabrics and so on. For RESET, Carbon Monoxide is only relevant for projects where combustion is present. As reference, CO reduces the amount of oxygen transported in the bloodstream, making it potentially lethal.

Sensor technology cannot cover every pollutant, other air quality sensors do exist but they are prohibitively expensive, so as the market for high-grade sensors steadily democratizes over coming years, new pollutants will be incorporated into the standard.

What air quality monitors are accepted by RESET AIR?

Direct read or hand-held instruments may be good for a walk-through survey or in detecting a specific pollutant but they have been deemed unsuitable for RESET as the standard requires high quality and constant air quality data in order to detect trends and patterns over time in a specific, fixed location. A lab test is good for a deep-dive but will only reflect a specific moment in time.

RESET provides standards for the deployment, location and installation of monitors that have been classified as Grade A (reference grade) or Grade B (commercial grade) only, excluding the increasingly common consumer Grade C.

It is RESET APs (accredited professionals) that are responsible for the monitor deployment plan, RESET then acts as the neutral stakeholder capturing data in the cloud. As all monitors will gradually drift over time and need to be cleaned / recalibrated, the occasional follow-up site visit is required to inspect the monitors, again by a RESET Accredited Professional.

To discuss Biofilico assisting with your project’s RESET Air certification process please contact us here.

Introducing the World Green Building Council Health & Wellbeing Framework

Our review of the Health & Wellbeing Framework, it’s benefits and uses in real estate

Six Principles for a Healthy, Sustainable Built Environment

Neither a green building nor a healthy building certification as such but rather an umbrella framework for thinking about both sides of the coin, this welcome model from the World Green Building Council strikes a conciliatory tone, making it eminently practical, user-friendly and comfortably aligned with current industry trends. In other words, we like it!

So what exactly is health and wellbeing in this context and how can it help guide sustainable development in the real estate industry?

Read on to find out more as we break down each section into bite-size chunks within the framework of sustainability health and wellbeing.

This is applicable to workplace health projects as well we employee wellbeing framework requirements and wellbeing strategy for residential developments, or indeed for those looking to maximize wellbeing benefits in mixed-use real estate developments.

If there are any up and coming health and wellbeing guardians looking to implement wellbeing initiatives in their organization, this is also a great place to start.

principle 1 / PROTECT HEALTH: Air Quality, Water Quality, Mental Health and Infectious Disease in Buildings

Indoor Air Quality: This feature looks at air pollution and airborne diseases in the context of human health and public health, specifically household pollution from solid fuel combustion, household pollution from gas appliances, pollutants such as VOCs present in fabrics and materials, and finally biological contaminants.

Ambient Air Pollution: Issues such as the manufacture of building materials contributing to black carbon emissions, the construction process itself and its carbon emissions and more generally the operations of buildings via heating, cooling and lighting, with their corresponding energy demands.

Raising awareness of these issues relating to wellbeing health is a valuable initiative, no matter whether led by the World Green Building Council or the World Health Organization.

Water Quality: Testing for contaminants, regular cleaning schedule in communal areas, Legionella management plan.

Mental & Social Health: Biophilic design, acoustic comfort, shared communal spaces, access to and views of nature, active space for exercise, post-occupancy surveys.

Reduce Transmission of Infectious Diseases: Integrate sensor activations in buildings, HVAC maintenance schedule, use of UV lamps, high touch surface disinfection plan.

principle 2 / Prioritise comfort: Thermal Comfort, Lighting, Acoustics, Visual, Ergonomic and Inclusive Design

Thermal Comfort: Airtight building envelopes and suitable ventilation, thermal massing, use of beneficial solar gain, insulation and glazing, retention of existing trees, Passive House design strategies, integration of traditional or vernacular design. These are fundamental well being principles common in any healthy building plan.

Natural and energy efficient lighting: Maximize natural light in a building whilst reducing glare, avoid using glossy finishes, specify light-coloured opaque shading systems

Acoustic comfort: Use of sound-absorbing interiors products, sound masking, vibration isolation devices

Multi-sensory comfort: Olfactory comfort (avoid unpleasant odours), ergonomic furniture and visual stimulation via aesthetics

Inclusive design: consideration for those with physical or mental disabilities as well as the vulnerable or ageing populations

principle 3 / harmony between natural and built environments

Occupant access to nature in buildings: biophilic design features, landscaping features, natural patterns and textures, opportunities for human interaction with nature

Occupant access to nature outside and biodiversity within the site: Green infrastructure such as green roofs or courtyards, native plant species, rehabilitate degraded land on site

principle 4 / healthy behavior

Active design: attractive stairwells, end of trip facilities (showers, bike storage, etc), access to nearby public transportation

Hydration, nutrition and social connectivity: Clean water provision, communal dining facilities, healthy food options (cafe/restaurant), food prep areas

principle 5 / social value

Protect human rights related to health: Social and demographic equity within project and construction team, inclusion of human rights and labour provisions in supplier tendering, Human Rights Impact Assessment and Supply Chain Mapping

Health of construction workers: Responsible construction practices, protection of worker rights, health & safety measures, educational programs

Improve local quality of life: Engage with the local community early on, reduce impact of construction site on local community wherever possible, implement organizational strategies to help support local economy (e.g. restaurants)

principle 6 / take climate action

Commit to net zero emissions: Improve lifecycle energy efficiency / reduce building energy demand, aiming for net zero operational carbon emissions in all new buildings by 2030, and net zero embodied carbon in all new buildings by 2050, measure and disclose carbon, generate power from renewables where possible and off-set the rest, use passive design measures, opt for low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants

Design for Resilience: Plan for resilient systems, carry out environmental assessments, use vernacular natural ventilation strategies where possible, specify products and materials that will not off-gas in the event of a natural disaster, design for reduced dependence on complex building controls and systems for when the worst happens

https://worldgbc.org/health-framework

To discuss how we can help you implement this framework into your business, contact Matt directly here.

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Further Reading

• Well Building Standard / A 5-Minute Guide

• Biophilic Design And Wellbeing Interiors- An Evolutionary Perspective

• Wellbeing Strategy & Wellness Interior Design

• The Biofilico Guide To Workplace Wellbeing

• A Guide To Workplace Wellbeing Design

• Wellbeing Strategy & Wellness Interior Design

• Multi-Sensory Wellbeing Interiors

• Mental Wellbeing In Healthy Buildings

• What Is Wellness Design In A Healthy Buildings

• The Secrets Of A Healthy Building

• How To Know If Your Workplace Fits The Wellness Office Concept

• What Is Wellness Design In A Healthy Buildings And Wellbeing Interior Strategy

• Workplace Wellbeing With Wellwise In The Uae

• Real Estate ESG Frameworks

• Carlo Battisti - A Vision For Biophilic Architecture And Interiors In Regenerative Real Estate

• Sustainable Hotel Resort Standards, Certifications And Ecolabels

• How Do Branded Wellness Residences Promote Mental And Physical Health Of Residents?

• Mental Wellbeing In University Environments

• What Is Biophilic Design And The Biophilia Hypothesis?

• Boutique Hotel & Real Estate ESG Consultants

• Posts tagged healthy materials

• Posts tagged frameworks

• Posts tagged materials

• An Introduction To Biophilic Design And Wellbeing Interior Concepts

• The Secrets Of A Healthy Building: ‍9 Essential Principles For Optimal Wellness And Sustainability

• Wellness Interior Design Consultants

Introducing the WELL Health & Safety Rating

Our review of the new WELL Health & Safety Rating

Who is the WELL health & safety rating aimed at?

Having spent some time digging into the available literature online, WELL’s new healthy building rating system appears better adapted to the remit of an in-house facilities management team looking after the interests of their workforce than, say, an owner intent on enhancing a property’s health and safety features either prior to occupancy or in collaboration with tenants and the Facilities team post-occupancy.

This may represent a source of frustration for some forward-thinking developers as there is scope to implement around 50% of the features independently pre-occupancy but the remaining 50% are only deliverable by an HR department on behalf of its workforce.

To receive the WELL Health & Safety rating applicants need to hit at least 15 of the 20 features and by our calculations at least, that is practically impossible to deliver as a conscientious landlord. There are simply too many features linked to the workforce and HR policies for a building owner such as a developer or real estate fund to implement this rating system alone.

On this basis, it would be interesting to imagine an alternate path to certification for landlords acting independently. That said, for businesses keen to protect their staff by implementing a range of scientifically backed operational measures, this new rating hits the spot.

What policies does the WELL health & safety rating require?

Cleaning & Sanitization Procedures

• Support hand washing (appropriately hygienic soap dispensers, hand dryers and signage prompt

• Reduce surface contact (touchless faucets and water fountains, hands-free operation of entry doors, lift doors, washroom doors, window blinds, light switches, waste / recycling bins)

• Improve cleaning practices (a highly detailed and professional cleaning plan that documents all relevant processes and procedures)

• Select preferred cleaning products (all products to be ISO14024 Eco Label compliant)

• Reduce respiratory particle exposure (a range of more intrusive distancing measures, only applicable at times of higher incidence of respiratory disease)

Emergency Preparedness Programs, a.k.a ‘resilience plans’

• Develop emergency preparedness policies (undertake a risk assessment and draft plan)

• Create business continuity plan (BCP) for operating under disruptive circumstances, such as a pandemic

• Plan for healthy re-entry (a set of strategies designed to protect occupant health when returning to the workplace after an emergency evacuation)

• Provide emergency resources (information indicating emergency procedures, at least one first aid kit per floor, a building emergency notification system, occupant training in CPR, designated emergency responder, security / crisis response team in place)

• Bolster emergency resilience (designated space for emergency responders in case of emergency, shelter-in-place plan for emergencies in which occupants can’t leave the building)

Health Service Resources

• Provide sick leave (employers to offer short-term and long-term sick leave)

• Provide health benefits to all eligible employees

• Support mental health recovery to employees at no cost

• Promote / provide flu vaccines to regular building occupants

• Promote a smoke-free environment (ban indoor and outdoor smoking within project boundaries, restrict sales of tobacco products on-site)

Air & Water Quality Management

• Assess ventilation (professional assessment of building ventilation supply rates, potential improvements, air recirculation rates)

• Assess & maintain air treatment systems (complete system inventory, air treatment assessment by a qualified engineer, device maintenance with accompanying evidence of new filters or UV lamps)

• Develop Legionella Management Plan (risk assessment of all water assets, documented maintenance program)

• Monitor air & water quality (on-going data from air quality monitoring system, annual chemical / biological water quality assessment

• Manage mold & moisture (moisture management plan for building operations, annual mold and leak inspection data)

Stakeholder engagement & Communication

• Promote health & wellness (set a health mission for the building, communicate around health & wellness resources to regular building occupants)

• Share food inspection information (applicable to on-site food establishments)

Healthy & Safe Building Innovation

• Innovation within the rating standard, taking it forward in some way

• A WELL Accredited Professional (WELL AP) on the project team

• Implement one of the main WELL certification requirements

• Reach Pre-certification phase for the main WELL certification

We discuss the main WELL Certification on our green & healthy building certification page here.

https://www.wellhealthsafety.com

Wellness Architecture for Healthy Buildings

The ‘Green & Healthy Places’ podcast series takes a deep-dive into the role of sustainability, wellbeing and community in real estate, offices, hotels and educational facilities.

Pati Santos is the Founder of The Good Thing, a new architecture practice focused on health & wellness in London, UK. Pati worked with world renowned landscape architects Lily and Charles Jencks for many years where she developed an interest in environmental psychology and biophilic design, eventually certifying in the WELL Building Standard and setting up her own practice.

wellness architecture with the good thing

Pati Santos is the Founder of The Good Thing, a new architecture practice focused on health & wellness in London, UK.

biophilic design & the well building standard

Pati worked with world renowned landscape architects Lily and Charles Jencks for many years where she developed an interest in environmental psychology and biophilic design, eventually certifying in the WELL Building Standard and setting up her own practice.

green buildings / healthy buildings

We discuss the distinction between design components and operational policies within the WELL system; the role of natural and toxin-free materials in creating green and healthy buildings, the potential of timber in constructing urban buildings, the connection between sustainability and wellness within a client's brief, the benefits of circadian lighting systems, the new WELL Health & Safety Seal as a response from commercial real estate to the Covid crisis and the shift toward healthier, greener homes equipped for both work and exercise.

to discuss collaborating with Biofilico on your next wellness interiors or biophilic design project, potentially with Pati as well (!) please contact us here

LEED certification - learn all about LEED rating system

In this article we will explain the basics of the U.S. Green Building Council & LEED and how green building benefits both our lives and the planet we inhabit. We will look specifically at the LEED Certification, without doubt the dominant green building qualification in the global real estate industry today. 

LEED buildings consider both the human aspect, working to create a healthy indoor environment for its occupiers, while also reducing the building’s environmental impact - from waste management, to energy use, water consumption, materials selection and more.

From motivation boosts to an increase of life expectancy, living and working in a healthy environment benefits humans in a variety of ways. Spending eight hours sitting in a poorly lit office filled with stale air on the other hand, not only impacts the productivity of the office workers but can have a negative affect on their lives outside of the building too.

Working and living in poor indoor conditions (often referred to as ‘sick building syndrome’) has been linked to numerous psychosomatic issues including migraines, insomnia, stress and obesity. 

By implementing the LEED green building approach, you are minimizing these risks by optimizing an indoor space for better performance, creating a healthier environment for you and your team, whilst minimizing negative impact on the planet. 

What does LEED certification mean? 

Developed by the non-profit organisation named U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification is a “green building” certification program for the real estate industry. 

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and it is an internationally recognized eco building certification which includes a unique rating system for the construction, design, maintenance and functionality of environmentally responsible buildings.

How does a LEED building make a difference?

Through different media outlets we hear news about the fragile state of our ecosystems on a daily basis. Real estate is a major contributor to the future health of our planet and so LEED identifies the key metrics that environmentally responsible buildings need to consider in order to promote the wellbeing of its users as well as that of the planet.  

The goals of LEED certified buildings include:

• Energy savings 

• Water efficiency 

• CO2 emissions reduction

• Improved indoor environmental quality 

• Stewardship of natural resources and the sensitivity to their impacts 

What is the purpose of LEED? 

Improving the real estate industry’s impact on environmental and human health metrics is LEED’s mission. Healthy building certification gives real estate developers and building operators with a framework for practical and efficient building design, construction and maintenance solutions. 

In conclusion, LEED’s main objective is providing a safe, sustainable and productive living or work environment. 

Advantages and solutions

A common misconception around eco-friendly real estate is that it equates to additional CAPEX and OPEX costs for the building owner, as well as adding to a project’s delivery timeline.

In reality, LEED can be a long-term cost-saver when applied correctly and integrated into the development process, something known as Integrative Design, resulting in highly efficient commercial and residential buildings that are in a way ‘future-proofed’. 

Many ESG property funds are now looking for such sustainable credentials when making real estate investments, another reason to build green.

How has the LEED rating system evolved over time?

Ever since it was introduced, LEED has been in a process of constant evolution to more accurately represent and implement the latest sustainable building techniques and technologies, as well as healthy building principles with a human or social focus. 

Four different versions of the LEED rating system have been released over the years, right up to the current LEED V4.1 in use today. 

Accredited Professionals (APs) and Green Associates (GAs) are required to stay up to date with the latest iterations of the system in order to ensure their work in the real estate sector is delivered in line with current benchmarks in green building excellence.

Green Building Certification levels

LEED ratings are classified into five different categories which in turn have a number of sub-categories used to reflect the specific genre of green building project in question, with the prerequisites: 

Green Building Design & Construction 

• LEED for New Construction

• LEED for Core & Shell

• LEED for Schools

• LEED for Retail: New Construction and Major Renovations

• LEED for Healthcare

Green Interior Design & Construction

• LEED for Commercial Interiors

• LEED for Retail: Commercial Interiors

Green Building Operations & Maintenance

• LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance

Green Neighborhood Development

• LEED for Neighborhood Development

Green Home Design and Construction

• LEED for Homes 

The various LEED rating scales are: 

• Certified: 40-49 points

• Silver: 50-59 points 

• Gold: 60-79 points

• Platinum: 80 points or above

LEED certification process

After fulfilling the previously stated requirements, certification is admitted by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) which handles the third-party verification of a project’s concurrence with the LEED requirements.

LEED certification fees are applied during the process of registering the building and submitting the design and construction applications. The price of the fees can vary depending on the size of the project starting from around 2000 USD.

The entire application process is then handled through an online service which is filled with PDF forms that allow project teams to fill out credit forms and upload additional documentation. 

Why is LEED certification important?

Even though we have previously stated the numerous benefits of environmental design, it’s crucial to mention that the biggest advantage of LEED is providing a sustainable framework for construction, design and maintenance of new and existing buildings. 

We are great supporters of and professionals trained in the LEED certification process. Biofilico offers eco interior design services, green building consultancy and ESG advisory services for real estate development funds. 

If you wish to discuss a certain type of certification for a real estate project, contact us here.