WELL in the UAE: Trailblazing towards a happier, healthier future

IWBI will be presenting at this year’s Cityscape Global conference on Sept. 24 in Dubai. Cityscape Global is an annual conference and exhibition for the real estate industry in emerging markets and is one of the largest real estate events held globally. See our Events page for more information about WELL events in Dubai Sept. 23 - 26.

If you spend just a few days in Dubai, it’s clear how critical real estate has been to the city’s economic success and population: construction cranes scatter the sky, huge billboards advertise new homes from mega developers and model communities representing dozens of acres dominate the lobbies of many buildings. Yet real estate has also contributed to some of the biggest health and safety challenges that face Dubai and the broader Middle East today.

Large scale street networks have made it difficult or unpleasant to walk throughout parts of the city, contributing to a more inactive population and making road injuries the second leading cause of death in the UAE.¹ High rise buildings with valet service and no stairs in sight further discourage physical activity, which has helped lead to 66 percent of men and 60 percent of women living in the UAE becoming obese or overweight.² And a recent survey of schools in UAE found that indoor air quality is suffering from high-levels of VOCs, chemicals that can be found in everything from paint to carpet to furniture, which off-gas and can contribute to headaches, nausea and fatigue.³

However, as with most challenges, Dubai isn’t burying its head in the sand: it is aggressively setting goals and developing agendas to tackle these issues. The Dubai Health Strategy emphasizes the importance of prevention and healthy lifestyles to improving health outcomes, while the Dubai Plan 2021 puts people at its center. Its top goal is to help “individuals take care of their own wellbeing and their family members through proactive measures to manage their health.” Dubai’s Happiness Agenda is focused on fostering a more positive, engaged population, which is important for broader well-being.

Real Estate: Part of the Wellness Solution

Real estate can and needs to be a leader in fostering health and happiness in the region, as well. The WELL Building Standard^TM is a vehicle to help accomplish these goals: it is the first building standard to focus exclusively on the health and wellness of the people in buildings. The WELL v2 pilot^TM takes this system to the next level, with expanded pathways for certification, customizable scorecards, greater support for existing buildings or spaces and revised pricing. For multiple projects, WELL Portfolio helps organizations strategically scale WELL's impactful strategies, as well as track and benchmark health and well-being achievement over time. And at the district scale, the WELL Community Standard sets protocols for designing healthy neighborhoods or campuses.

WELL is grounded in a body of research that explores the connection between the buildings where we spend more than 90 percent of our time, and the health and wellness impacts on us as occupants. WELL Certified spaces can help create a built environment that improves the nutrition, fitness, mood, sleep patterns and performance of its occupants through performance requirements in ten concepts relevant to occupant health and well-being in the built environment: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community. WELL Certified buildings and spaces need to pass performance testing in indoor air and water quality, lighting parameters and acoustics, providing occupants assurance about the health of their environment.

The WELL Community Standard builds on this framework, with more than 100 evidence-based strategies that designers and owners can incorporate into district-scale design, addressing issues that include healthy food access, outdoor thermal comfort, social space design and programming, and connection to local health services.

WELL Projects in UAE

There are 19 WELL projects in the UAE, from sectors as diverse as government, healthcare, telecommunications, education, architecture and engineering, and financial industries. While some are private projects, the publicly identified projects include:

• District 2020, a world-class mixed-use development registered to pursue certification through the WELL Community Standard.
• Hamdan Ben Mohammad Smart University, an academic enterprise which enables knowledge creation and application through innovation, disruption and transformation.
• Natixis Dubai Office, a corporate and investment banking firm.
• Cigna DWTC’s office, which provides medical insurance and health services.
• Cundall’s Dubai office, a multi-disciplinary consultancy firm.
• Summertown Interiors’ office, a sustainable office fit-out company.
• XWorks Interiors' office, an interiors fit-out company, which is WELL Certified at the Gold level.
• du headquarters, a telecommunications firm.
• Zulekha Hospital in Sharjah.
• Alpin Limited (Masdar City) headquarters, a technical advisory firm for sustainable development, which is WELL Certified at the Silver level.

The projects are pursuing innovative ways of prioritizing health and wellness into their design, operations and policies:

Xworks Interiors is a Danish-owned and run design and build company focused on designing and delivering corporate interiors for the international clients. “With roots deeply set in the Scandinavia value set, it is obvious for us to take a human-centric approach to designing the workplace, both for our own employees and for our clients,” said Kaj Helstrand, Managing Director for XWorks. “We've created a space that allows our team to thrive and feel inspired, but we are also demonstrating how design can serve as a game changer for the attraction and retention of talent, as we know how critical that is to a successful business. Essentially we want to serve as a WELL case study for the clients we serve.”

“Over the years, we have cultivated a powerful culture of well-being – one that staunchly values employee safety and wellness, work-life balance, and engagement,” said Abdulhadi Alalyak, Senior Vice President of Corporate Services, du. “The WELL Building Standard echoes our many initiatives and programmes such as our recent UL Certification for Good Indoor Air Quality, as well as our indoor facilities, like the gym, swimming pool and clinic, in addition to wellness initiatives that encourage employee health and well-being. Our focus in the future is to strengthen our well-being initiatives which are benchmarked against internationally recognized standards such as WELL.”

Zulekha Hospital is a LEED-EBOM Platinum certified building that includes an open staircase that runs throughout its 12 floors, with artistic signage that encourages its use over the elevators to help people burn calories and incorporate physical activity in their daily lives. The hospital also conducts regular testing of its indoor air quality, water quality, lighting and acoustics. Taher Shams, Managing Director, Zulekha Hospitals, said “Becoming the first healthcare organization awarded Platinum LEED certificate in the Middle East is a testimony to our long-term commitment to being an environmentally conscious and responsible business. We’ll continue to focus on our patients’ safety and well-being by ensuring exceptional healthcare service quality while protecting our environment in a proactive manner.”

Alpin’s office in Masdar City is already LEED Gold certified and the team is focused on achieving WELL certification with a high focus on health and employee comfort. Over the past year, Alpin has been updating its HR practices in order to align with WELL and to better foster team member engagement and productivity. “When updating our HR handbook in 2016, we used WELL as one of our main guides,” said Hala Hassan, HR Lead for Alpin. The company’s commissioning team has also worked to enhance the quality of air and water supplied to the space, and is currently working with the master developer to upgrade on-site features such as organic, healthy food choices and fitness opportunities.

The Value of Healthier Buildings and Communities

Making health and wellness central to a company, and to its real estate development, makes economic sense. By placing people at the heart of design, construction, operations and development decisions, companies have the ability to add value to real estate assets, generate savings in personnel costs, improve productivity, and better recruit and retain talent.

The physical workplace is one of the top three factors affecting performance and job satisfaction.⁴ In a recent survey, 42 percent of UAE employees described their offices as stressful and only 47 percent believed their company took an interest in their well-being, health and safety.⁵ A separate survey of office workers in the Middle East found that improving environmental comfort was ranked as the number one change needed to improve their productivity.⁶ Addressing occupant health channels resources towards reducing the largest line item in the 30-year costs of a building – the personnel – offering a meaningful return on investment.

Several WELL Certified projects have undertaken comprehensive before-and-after evaluation to study the impact that WELL had on their physical space and the experiences of the people inside.  For example, the Cundall office at One Carter Lane in London found that WELL contributed to a 27 percent drop in staff turnover compared to the previous year, saving £122,000 (€132,500) and 50 percent lower absenteeism than the previous year, leading to an annual saving of £90,000 (€132,500). Visitors experience the open plans, tempered light and calming sounds – a soundscape plays birdsong in the reception area, gaining features in WELL’s Mind concept. They also see a planted wall that Cundall said lowers the need for ventilation by 11 percent, and reflective coatings that Cundall said bring “30 percent more daylight” to the office than a standard floorplan would. 

At the American Society of Interior Designers in Washington, DC in the United States, a WELL Platinum space, pre and post-occupancy evaluation found that WELL contributed to:

• 92 percent increase in satisfaction with acoustical quality. Sound levels were reduced 50 percent from the new open office to the previous co-working office in order to meet WELL’s high performance verified criteria.
• 110 percent increase in air quality satisfaction. WELL’s Air Concept sets performance standards for indoor air quality based on research that draws connections with cognitive performance and health concerns.
• Physical health and mental health scores improved
• Productivity increased 16 percent, yielding an estimated increase of $694,000 financial impact to the Society’s bottom line during the first year of occupancy (expected to yield a $7M increase in financial impact during the total 10-year lease agreement, given a consistent improvement rate)

For more information on these WELL project examples, see:

Cundall London office

American Society of Interior Designers office

For a developer that is looking to lease office space or to sell residences, WELL can also provide a competitive edge. For example, in China, a registered WELL multifamily residential project was ranked as China’s most anticipated development in 2016 by various real estate search engines and media outlets. According to the Sales Director, “At least 40 percent of buyers acknowledge the most desirable aspect of the Tianjiao project is the wellness benefit.”⁷

In a survey last year of building owners, 73 percent said they believed that healthier buildings would positively affect leasing rates and 62 percent said they would have a positive impact on a building’s value.⁸

Learn More about WELL

IWBI is presenting at this year’s Cityscape Global conference on Sept. 24 in Dubai. Cityscape Global is an annual conference and exhibition for the real estate industry in emerging markets and is one of the largest real estate events held globally. The event supports real estate growth worldwide to an international audience, highlighting iconic architecture, significant developments and investment opportunities. There are Cityscape events held annually in countries across the Middle East.

For more information about WELL in the Middle East or to discuss a potential project, contact Ann Marie Aguilar at ann-marie.aguilar@wellcertified.com.

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1. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. UAE Profile. http://www.healthdata.org/united-arab-emirates

2. Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

3. Evaluation of indoor environmental quality conditions in elementary schools ׳classrooms in the United Arab Emirates. Fadeyi, Moshood Olawale, et al., et al. 2014, Frontiers of Architectural Research, pp. 166-177.

4. American Society of Interior Designers. Recruiting and retaining qualified employees by design. White paper. 1999

5. Anderson, Robert. 42% of UAE employees find workplace stressful – report. Gulf Business. June 3 2015 http://gulfbusiness.com/42-uae-employees-find-workplace-stressful-report/

6. RICS. And MECO. Office Environments and Productivity in the Middle East, 2016. http://www.rics.org/us/knowledge/research/insights/office-environments-and-productivity-in-the-middle-east/

7. Delos Project Profile Tianjiao. https://www.slideshare.net/StephenBrown48/deloswellprojectprofiletianjiao110416englishfinal

8. The Drive Toward Healthy Buildings 2016: Tactical Intelligence to Transform Building Design & Construction. Dodge Data & Analytics. 2016