by Brianna Crandall — April 8, 2015—At the end of March, the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) and the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) formally introduced the WELL Building Standard in China. WELL is a system that focuses on human health and wellbeing in the built environment.
WELL, which complements green building rating programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program, China’s “Three Star” Green Building Evaluation Standard (explanation here) and U.K.-based BREEAM scheme, has come forward at a time of increased environmental awareness among the Chinese people, who are said to be looking for solutions to improve quality of life.
“Our world today is confronting massive health challenges that are assaulting our complete physical, mental and social wellbeing,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “As these challenges continue to mount, all of us have an obligation to be more purposeful when addressing how human health relates to our built environment. The WELL certification program is a powerful way to accelerate better, healthier buildings throughout China.”
The WELL Building Standard is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring features that impact human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.
Grounded in a body of medical research that explores the connection between the buildings where we spend more than 90 percent of our time and the health and wellness of the people in them, WELL certification allows building owners and employers to know their space is designed to promote health and wellbeing and is performing as intended.
“We think there is a great market opportunity in China for companies to be at the forefront of healthy building practices,” said Paul Scialla, founder of the International WELL Building Institute. “We are excited by the strong interest and demand we have already received from companies and projects that are interested in WELL certification and merging together best practices in environmental and human sustainability.”
The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), as the official certifying body of both WELL and LEED, intends to successfully integrate the certification and credentialing processes of both systems to help project teams efficiently deliver on both their environmental and human health goals.
WELL can be applied across all building types, and version 1.0 of WELL is currently optimized for commercial and institutional projects.
