New York City residential building achieves first WELL Multifamily Residential Certification
New York, NY (April 6 2017) – With the average person now spending approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, there is both an opportunity and a need to optimize buildings to support human health and wellness. Today, 21W20, a new luxury residential project in Manhattan developed by Gale International, became the first multifamily residential project in the world to be certified under the WELL Building Standard (WELL), a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact the health and wellness of the people who live, work, and learn in the buildings.
The places where we live play an integral role in our health and wellness. 21W20 is located in the prominent and busy Flatiron District, and we are excited to see a WELL Multifamily Residential Certified™ project in such a densely populated area that can exceedingly benefit from the healthy building features WELL encompasses. Multifamily residential buildings represent a major opportunity to enhance people’s daily lives and overall health and wellness. By introducing building components that can minimize disruption to our circadian rhythms, improve our sleep, support healthy eating, improve air quality and optimize our cognitive and emotional health, our homes can enable us to more easily make healthy choices.
Gale International, the Manhattan-headquartered developer of 21W20, is a world leader in sustainability and green building. Gale International is also pursuing LEED certification for 21W20 – promoting the importance of both healthy and high performance living environments.
The project’s pioneering achievement of WELL Multifamily Residential Certification demonstrates Gale International’s continued commitment to sustainable development. Throughout the certification process, Gale International applied innovative and knowledgeable strategies to implement the Multifamily Certification in order to advance resident health and well-being. As a leader in the industry, the company’s collaboration on the project has generated cutting-edge solutions that could be applied to residences globally.
“We are tremendously proud to announce the world’s first WELL Multifamily Residential Certified project,” says Rick Fedrizzi, Chairman and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute™. “The certification marks a significant step towards creating better buildings for people, and highlights Gale International’s vested interest in the health and well-being of its residents.”
“We are proud to be a standard-bearer for WELL as we have been with LEED in projects around the world,” said Stan Gale Jr., President, Gale International New York. “Our project in the Flatiron District, 21W20, is an excellent example of the prestigious WELL Certification that recognizes the need to enhance the health and well-being of those who live, work and play in our real estate.”
For more information on the Gale International and the condominiums at 21W20, please visit www.galeintl.com. For more information on IWBI and WELL, visit www.wellcertified.com.
