Episode 228 - WELL Building Standard & Certification

So let's start at the very beginning.

What exactly is the WELL Building Standard? So WELL is a building and organizational rating system developed by the International WELL Building Institute that focuses specially on human health and wellbeing in the built environment.

Where many traditional sustainability certifications concentrate on energy, carbon, materials, and resource use, WELL is explicitly framed around how buildings and workplaces affect the people who occupy them on a physical, mental, and social level.

Now, the current version, WELL Version 2, is described by the International WELL Building Institute as their most rigorously tested and vetted version to date, consolidating previous versions and pilots into a single framework that can be applied to virtually all project types and sectors.

It is performance-based, which means projects are assessed against measurable outcomes and verified data rather than just design intent on paper.

So at its core, WELL is organized around 10 key concepts or subject areas, which includes air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind, and community.

Now, across these concepts, the standard sets out a series of features, some of which are preconditions that every project must meet and others that are optimizations which contribute to a points-based score and ultimately the certification level achieved.

A useful way to think about WELL is this, that it's not a purely environmental sustainability standard, and it's not just a workplace wellbeing checklist.

It is a structured, evidence-based framework that links building design, building operation, and organizational policies to specific health-related outcomes for occupants.

Now, let's briefly walk through the 10 concepts we just mentioned so you have a clear mental map of what WELL is trying to address.