How WELL Certification can help you build brand equity

WELL Certification provides organizations with unique, powerful ways to attract and engage occupants, garner attention, and bolster their brand. This article highlights projects that are showcasing and communicating about WELL in diverse ways – with their occupants, the press, industry partners and others.

1. To celebrate their WELL Gold achievement at the Porter Building, a Core and Shell project in the United Kingdom, Landid created a website page for the education of current and potential tenants, offering exciting statistics related to how occupant experiences have been enhanced through the implementation of WELL concepts. Landid also developed a brochure outlining their team’s approach to WELL and the features they pursued, with supporting data metrics for each of the seven WELL v1 concepts. For example, under the Nourishment concept, the brochure highlights a finding that “78% of employees feel more energised after opting for nutrient-rich snacks over high-sugar alternatives, whilst performing up to 45% more productively” (CBRE and the University of Twente, 2017).

   
   [Image credit: https://www.landid.co.uk/#our-work]

2. Upon receiving WELL Gold Certification at their Washington D.C. office, DPR Construction released a case study, Channeling the Power of ‘And’, detailing their design goal to maximize planetary sustainability and employee well-being. Using this case study as a platform to highlight WELL, the DPR team was able to conduct a building certification analysis for WELL Certification, LEED Certification, and a pending NZE (net-zero energy) certification. The study concluded that, “you don’t have to choose between cost, wellness, and creating an incredible workplace. With the right team, engaged early you can maximize the benefits”. Prior to moving into the new space, DPR also launched a digital model of its new office, allowing employees to virtually navigate the space. Through this virtual tour, people are able to experience many of the space’s wellness elements rooted in the WELL Building Standard. Some of the elements showcased include: biophilic finishes, mindful eating spaces, such as the patio, workstations filled with daylight, an in-office gym, and an employee lounge acoustically treated to prevent noise pollution.

   [Image credit: https://www.dpr.com/view/path-to-net-zero-energy]

3. To raise awareness among the building occupants of 222 Bay Street in Toronto, Cadillac Fairview produced a personalized website dedicated to highlighting WELL features pursued by the project. This site, which helps to convey all of the project’s health and well-being amenities and achievements, provides overviews of each of the seven WELL v1 concepts, relevant features, as well as associated project goals. Describing the organization’s commitment to increasing physical activity and circulation, it is stated on the webpage that they “opened up the main stairwell in 222 Bay Street and continue to promote stair climbing as an opportunity for physical activity. The property is also connected to the PATH, a large underground walkway that provides an ideal option for walking breaks and walking meetings.”

   [Image credit: https://www.cfoffice.ca/]

4. Swedish developer, Skanska, produced a mini-movie for each of the seven WELL v1 concepts, which describe how WELL has helped them to achieve their health goals. For example, their project team was able to implement “lighting systems that help and sustain the body’s circadian rhythm, ensuring a good quality sleep at night time.’’ By designing spaces with the Light concept in mind, Skanska is creating offices that help employees perform at their fullest potential.

   [Image credit: https://www.skanska.ro/who-we-are/skanska-in-romania/]

5. There is no better way to experience the impact of a WELL Certified space than to spend time in one. Many projects - including the JLL Office at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai, Mirvac Headquarters in Sydney, Castellana 81 in Madrid and TD23 in Toronto - have opened their WELL Certified spaces to the public for tours in order to showcase their achievements and educate visitors, including clients, investors and others, about the importance of health in the built environment and the value placed on their employees’ well-being.

   [Image credit: https://resources.wellcertified.com/articles/mirvac-headquarters/]

As evidenced in the examples above, communicating about the health and wellness scope and impact of WELL Certification to occupants, investors, and industry competitors can take many creative forms. How are you engaging and educating people for your WELL project? Reach out to our WELL coaching team via the support tab of their WELL digital platform account and let us know!

Interested in leveraging your WELL project to achieve similar goals? In addition to viewing the projects above for inspiration, check out the WELL Marketing and PR guidelines and the Welcome to WELL Toolkit for template materials. Projects that provide IWBI with a tour script and tour destination descriptions (including at least one destination per WELL concept) may also be eligible to earn an innovation point towards their WELL certification.

For more examples of how projects are communicating their well achievements, see this article.