Since its development in the 1990s, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system (LEED) has been applied to over 19.1 billion commercial square feet worldwide.43
Along with other systems like the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), Energy Star, and the Living Building Challenge, LEED has helped maximise the efficiency of buildings and minimise their impact on the environment.
The green movement has been expanding, and in the past few years new ratings systems have emerged. Here, we set out three international frameworks that focus on the direct contribution of buildings to occupant wellbeing.
The World GBC has developed a three pillar framework to help assess and quantify the health, wellbeing and productivity of people in buildings. Firstly, there is a focus on environment. This involves measuring workplace features to determine how they affect occupants. Secondly, comes experience.
This means surveying occupant perceptions of the workplace, including their feelings about whether the environment supports or detracts from their wellbeing and performance. Thirdly, economic factors are taken into consideration; metrics already collected at a corporate level are tracked over time as improvements are made to the office environment.
Launched in New Orleans in 2014, the WELL Building StandardTM is the first certification to focus exclusively on wellbeing. Having a similar framework and documentation process to LEED and BREEAM, its compliance requirements fall into seven areas: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.
Each category is scored out of 10 and – depending on the total achieved – silver, gold or platinum certification is awarded. Usually discussed early in the project design process, WELLTM requires members of the architecture, engineering, and operations teams to work together to submit documentation. Taking substantial effort and cost, at present44 it is best suited to a few locations within large portfolios.
It was late 2016 when the first European office achieved WELLTM certification and 2017 when the first was certified under Fitwel. Both offices were located in the City of London, and both certifications were pursued by engineering sector tenants. Like demand for ‘flexible’ and for ‘smart’, demand for ‘well’ ‘has been driven by occupiers. A recent survey conducted by CoreNet Global unsurprisingly found that corporate real estate executives are interested in enhancing occupant experience within the workspace. More notable are the 72% in EMEA who want to do this by pursuing WELLTM certified buildings. Today, consumer preferences feed through to building creators quickly; 22 Bishopsgate is the first project to register for WELLTM core and shell in Europe. “Office-building strategy needs a radical change” says the building’s developer
Sir Stuart Lipton, “office buildings have become stereotyped, built for investors rather than consumers. People must feel they are in spaces that respect their humanity.” As tenant demand accelerates, wellbeing will rise even further up the agenda for architects and developers – especially in Europe.
Fitwel is the techno-savvy sibling of paper- heavy WELLTM. It assesses buildings and workplace features such as the design of outdoor spaces, proximity to public transit, indoor air quality, and healthy food standards.
Organisations submit questionnaire answers, with photographic evidence where applicable, to receive a rating. It is possible to do this through the Fitwel app, which allows for certification via smartphone (in development) on an online portal.
Buildings earn zero, one, two, or three stars, and the assessment gives users feedback on changes to their buildings and operations that will create improvements. Straightforward and relatively quick, it is more easily applied to large real estate portfolios.
Global architecture rm Perkins+Will has committed to using Fitwel at all of its North American offices and will start working with clients who are interested in using the standard. “All of our clients are looking at retaining talent and motivating people. All the things that make any organisation thrive or operate in a more high-performance way are rooted in human wellbeing,” says Perkins+Will CEO Phil Harrison. “It seems like more and more of our design projects are starting with that. Not ‘we want 100,000 square feet and we want to spend US$50 million dollars.’ It starts with ‘we want our people to have these experiences’.” He believes this will help Perkins+Will focus on operational aspects of wellbeing that architects tend to pay less attention to.45
While new standards and frameworks help ensure challenging targets and are driving progress in the field of workplace wellbeing
Occupiers are striving to identify links between work environments and business performance. Google already collect quantitative and qualitative data about employee experience to help measure the impact of office design on staff.
The ‘well’ movement is inspiring others to do the same. Toronto- Dominion Bank recently WELLTM certified its downtown Toronto office, prompting them to look into data that had not previously been investigated; metrics – like absenteeism, productivity, and employee happiness – which, when linked back to the indoor environment, expose the impact of the workplace on staff wellbeing.46
The delivery of smart buildings will drive this forward. Beacons, chips and sensors will interact with both the office and its users, telling us more about the impact of the workplace on humans than we have ever known. The relationship between ‘where we are’ and ‘how we are’ will be laid bare, and it will redefine how we determine the value of real estate.
