What is WELL?

The WELL Building Standard® v1 is the first building standard to focus exclusively on the health and wellness of the people in buildings. WELL v1 is a performance-based system for measuring and certifying features of the built environment that impact human health and well-being, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. It marries best practices in design and construction with evidence-based medical and scientific research – harnessing the built environment as a vehicle to support human health and well-being. WELL v1 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. WELL v1 sets performance requirements in seven categories, or Concepts, relevant to occupant health and well-being in the built environment: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. Each WELL Feature is designed to address issues that impact the health, comfort or knowledge of occupants through design, operations and behavior. The WELL Building Standard v1 can be applied across many real estate sectors, and the current WELL v1 is optimized for commercial and institutional office buildings. WELL is further organized into Project Types of New and Existing Buildings, New and Existing Interiors and Core and Shell, which take into account the specific set of considerations that are unique to a particular building type. Pilot Programs are now available for new market sectors including retail, multifamily residential, education, restaurant and commercial kitchen projects.