TD Bank Bethesda receives WELL Building Certification
TD Bank's retail branch shows how WELL can transform the employee and customer experience for the better.
TD Bank is making health and wellness a cornerstone of their retail store design and operations. Their headquarters in the TD Centre in downtown Toronto broke ground as the first-ever project to achieve WELL Certification, and TD continues to be a trailblazer, earning WELL Certification at the Gold Level for their retail banking branches in Bethesda, Maryland in December 2017 and Princeton, New Jersey in May 2018.
"TD Bank is committed to enhancing the health and well-being of our customers, our employees and the communities that we serve,” said Jacquelynn Henke, Sustainability and Innovation Director, TD Bank Group.
The Bethesda branch also achieved LEED Gold Certification in 2018, fulfilling their deep-seated commitment to environmental and human sustainability.
AT A GLANCE
How does WELL align with the mission or values of TD Bank?
Protecting and promoting the well-being of our employees is part of TD Bank’s effort to provide an extraordinary workplace. WELL Certification was a clear way for us to demonstrate our commitment to this mission. TD already had extensive programs in place to help employees assess, manage and improve their well-being in three critical areas: physical, financial and mental. WELL features aligned closely with these three critical areas, allowing us to enhance our policies with innovative design solutions and performance metrics.
How did your team approach the WELL Certification process, and work together to achieve your WELL goals?
Similar to the way we approach LEED, TD Bank took an integrated design approach to WELL Certification at the Bethesda retail store. We engaged all stakeholders on the team from very early on, including representatives from our architecture and design firm, members of the operations and construction teams, as well as marketing, Human Resources and some of the end-users (staff) themselves.
For example, the design team coordinated with the facilities team to ensure proper cleaning and maintenance contract changes were implemented, and the team also coordinated with human resources to get clarification and documentation on benefits policies that helped support TD’s WELL goals.
Most importantly, the team shared all of the work and documentation of the WELL process transparently with the store employees- the real end users of the WELL space. This allowed them to better understand and embrace their new space, as well as share messaging about the store with TD customers.
HIGHLIGHTS
WATER
Feature 37: Drinking Water Promotion
Intent: To promote the consumption of water by making high-quality drinking water easily accessible to occupants.
TD Bank Bethesda championed access to drinking water and promotion of optimal hydration by providing complimentary reusable water bottles that can be filled with filtered water from the hydration station located in the customer lounge area. This feature promotes hydration among both employees and customers and aligns with TD Bank’s sustainability goals.
MIND
Feature 71: Active Furnishings
Feature 84: Health and Wellness Awareness
A primary goal of TD Bank Bethesda was creating awareness and educating TD Bank employees and customers about the many wellness strategies incorporated throughout the space. This was successfully achieved by strategically positioning informational plaques highlighting both sustainability and wellness features. Plaques displayed information on indoor air quality, hydration and explanations of the biophilic elements infused into the design of the space.
MIND
Feature 88: Biophilia I - Qualitative
Intent: To nurture the innate human-nature connection within the project.
TD Bethesda’s design successfully incorporated beauty and nature into the workspace by featuring natural elements and artwork. On the exterior, the building celebrates and engages the community with a green wall and roof. Inside the space, a mural of native ivy covers the walls of the wellness café and throughout the customer service areas.
What are the most innovative or stand-out aspects of your WELL project?
The Bethesda store features a living green roof planted with a variety of sedum plants,-which helps reduce the distribution of dust and dirt to enhance air quality in the area,- and an exterior living wall of flowering Virginia Creeper ivy to holds and slowly release stormwater from the roof. Additionally, wellness signage posted throughout the retail store highlights key WELL features in the space as a way to passively educate employees and customers.
What challenges did you face as you were incorporating WELL features? How did you solve them?
Aligning HR and facilities management policies with the WELL requirements was a challenge. Addressing these requirements at a single location was difficult and added some ongoing costs to this store. There were many lessons learned regarding strategy and coordination to more easily implement WELL Certification, and we have used these at additional stores pursuing WELL.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
What positive impacts resulted from your WELL Certification?
Pursuing WELL Certification brought an awareness to employees about TD Bank’s focus on their health and well-being in the workplace, which in turn encouraged the employees to share with customers visiting the store.
“When we designed the store, we focused on ways to reduce stress and increase productivity for employees while enhancing the customer experience," said Martha MacInnis, Design Director, TD Bank Group. "The implementation of our numerous WELL features – in addition to our exterior green wall and roof – delivers a unique customer experience that demonstrates our commitment to sustainability.”
Overall, our experience with WELL Certification was educational for the project team and many other key stakeholders. It led to an expanded group of WELL APs within the bank and strengthened lines of communications across business groups.
How has WELL Certification changed or improved your company culture or operations?
WELL has created a cohesive set of metrics for TD Bank to compare its design standards and has inspired us to evaluate health and wellness attributes across our portfolio. It was positive to identify existing policies and practices that aligned with WELL and gave us additional strategies to think about.
Based on what we learned in this groundbreaking WELL Certification process, we hope to incorporate wellness features into other locations, whenever we can, in tandem with our larger focus on green building practices and sustainability.
