What is the Certification WELL?
It is a scoring system that allows you to identify, measure and monitor the performance of the building with respect to the health and well-being of the people inhabiting it.
It is the first certification based on the health and comfort of its occupants.
Objective of the Certification WELL
Born after several years of research with the goal of understanding and improving the connection between the buildings and the impact on the health, well-being and productivity of its occupants.
WELL refers to the word wellness is the process through which a person begins to take decisions in favor of a healthy life and increase in the level of well-being.
Creating positive experiences that are reflected in the increase of the concentration, productivity, social sense, and motivating them to feel part of the environment, all of these positive experiences to encourage the improvement in the nutrition, physical well-being, behavior, sleep patterns, and production performance of the people that occupy the building.
The 3 features that is based WELL to assess the impact of the building are:
- Behavior
- Operation
- Design
Concepts of the Certification WELL
Air: The aim of the concept of air is to improve the quality of the air that is breathed in the interior of the building through a variety of strategies that include the elimination or reduction of pollution sources, or filtering.
- Natural Ventilation
- Smoking ban
- Control appearance of moisture
Water: The aim of the concept of water is to give people access to high quality water.
- Water treatment
- Sources of drinking water
- Control of legionella
Power: The concept of power requires the availability of fruits and vegetables, access to nutritional support, to foster an environment where the healthier choice is the easier.
- Fruits and vegetables free
- Nutritional information for easy access
- Dining room for employees
Lighting: The lighting concept has as its objective the design of systems of natural and artificial lighting to improve the comfort, clarity and quality of sleep at night.
- Individual controls
- Natural lighting
- Quality lighting
Movement: Promote the movement, encouraging physical activity and discourage sedentary behavior by creating and improving the spaces where we live daily.
- Furniture active
- Spaces focused on physical activities
- Movement that encourages the movement
Thermal Comfort: The aim of the concept of thermal comfort is to increase productivity through the design of the heating system.
- Performance parameters
- Zoning thermal
- Humidity Control
Sound: The aim of the concept of sound is to improve the comfort through control of acoustic parameters and a proper insulation, intrusion of outside noise and privacy in the spaces.
- Acoustic barriers
- Sound absorption
- Reverberation time
Materials: The concept of materials aims to reduce the exposure of people to the polluting components of the materials.
- The absence of lead, asbestos and mercury
- Pesticide use
- Reduction of Vocs
Mind: The aim of the concept of mind is to support the emotional health and cognitive strategies through design, technology, and treatment.
- Contact with nature
- Improvement in the labour market policies
- Prevention of addiction
Community: The objective of this concept is to create a community inclusive and integrated through the social justice, civic engagement, and accessible design.
- Policies of work-life balance
- Universal design and accessible
- Emergency procedures
Versions of the Certification WELL
Today are available 3 versions of the Certification WELL, although these versions have the same goal, each of which represents style and way of work of different teams. The pursuit of obtaining the certificate, WELL implies compliance:
- Preconditions: Concepts to comply with the mandatory
- Optimizations: Concepts at the choice of the team depending on the level of certification WELL sought after.
WELL v1: It is the first version with the nace Certification WELL and obtaining implies 7 concepts:
- Air
- Water
- Nutrition
- Lighting
- Physical well-being
- Comfort
- Mind
WELL v2: It is the latest version of WELL, which is a methodology with pre-conditions, more universal and optimizations more flexible for all kinds of projects, obtaining means 10 concepts:
- Air
- Water
- Nutrition
- Lighting
- Movement
- Thermal comfort
- Sound
- Materials
- Mind
- Community and Innovations
WELL Core: This version of the WELL is a variation of WELL v2, is obtained with the same 10 concepts.
How to gain the Certification WELL?
To get the Certification, WELL, you must register your project on WELL online (location, use, and data in general) to receive the scorecard specific to the project and have access to all the tools and resources needed, as well as the WELL Coaching contact.
The next step is to comply with the preconditions (mandatory), as well as the assigned number of optimizations (optional, voluntary) on the level of certification that the team has decided to reach for your project.
The team should identify which concepts should be applied to your project, involving a greater benefit for tenants, it depends on the level of certification increases the number of optimizations to meet.
Levels of Certification WELL
Certification levels WELL v1
Silver Level: 100% compliance of the preconditions of the type chosen.
Gold Level: 100% compliance of the preconditions of the type chosen and a minimum of 40% of the optimizations applicable.
Platinum Level: 100% compliance of the preconditions of the type chosen and a minimum of 80% of the optimizations applicable.
Certification levels WELL v2 and WELL Core
Bronze Level: Level that only reach the projects under the methodology WELL Core, serving a minimum of 40 points and 100% of the preconditions.
Silver Level: 100% compliance of the preconditions of the type chosen and obtaining a minimum of 50 points.
Gold Level: 100% compliance of the preconditions of the type chosen and a minimum of 40% of the optimizations applicable to, and obtaining a minimum of 60 points.
Platinum Level: 100% compliance of the preconditions of the type chosen and a minimum of 80% of the optimizations applicable to, and obtaining a minimum of 80 points.
In each level of certification you can earn up to 10 points for innovation
Advantages of the Certification, WELL
- Return on investment in a short time
- Value added for the company in the market
- Work in a healthy environment
- Collaborative environment between the people that occupy the building.
- Greater productivity and satisfaction of people in their workspaces.
- Reduces absenteeism
- Increases the happiness of the people
- To make it easier to attract and retain the talent, customers and investors.
Costs of Certification WELL
The additional cost and investment that involves the certification, WELL it depends on each project and the level of certification sought, most of the concepts do not imply materials or costly elements only mean a better selection, a selection of items more aware.
Do you have a project that you seek the certification WELL?
We can support you, we develop the design and specification for your project to meet and be certified.
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