Launch of WELL Performance Rating Signals Future of Smart, Healthy Buildings

IWBI joins forces with smart building market leaders to introduce new rating, which launches to strong demand and early commitments from Cyclone Energy Group, Delos, Edge Technologies, Environmental Charter School, Ernst & Young (EY), Ethos, GreenJump Sustainability, Honeywell, International Commerce Centre (ICC), Laguna, Nucleus Office Park, StrongLED Smart Lighting, View Inc. and WELL Living Lab China

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) today announced the launch of the WELL Performance Rating, a new rating that recognizes building owners and operators for achieving excellence in healthy building performance aimed to enhance the well-being and experience of the people inside. The announcement was made during the opening session of the WELL Summit, with IWBI leading partner organizations driving a movement for people-first places forward through application of WELL at scale.

Developed in collaboration with a host of industry leaders in smart building technologies and with input from IWBI Performance Advisory, WELL Performance Testing Organizations (PTOs) and WELL Enterprise Providers (EPs), the rating provides a roadmap for organizations to demonstrate excellence in occupant experience and building performance across key indoor environmental quality (IEQ) indicators related to air quality, water quality, thermal comfort, acoustics and lighting.

“The WELL Performance Rating puts us on an accelerated path to make buildings smarter for human health, unlocking the use of new technologies and more intelligent approaches to improve and enhance well-being and performance,” said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI. “Thanks to the contributions of our collaborators from across the globe, the rating will connect building performance with the experience of the people inside, allowing organizations to make actionable what was once invisible through data and occupant insights.”

Through the achievement of the rating, organizations can garner intelligence to drive better business performance and strengthen organizational culture through the use of sensor networks, onsite tests and surveys that assess employee perceptions of their health, well-being and performance while in the building.

Recognizing the many world-class experts and leading companies involved, such as Carrier, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Panasonic, Schneider Electric, SGS and Trane Technologies, Hodgdon added, “The creation of this rating has been a deeply collaborative effort. The top players in the industry united around a common set of performance thresholds for healthy buildings and best practices for continuous monitoring through the installation of sensor networks to advance human health and experience.”

Leaders from Cyclone Energy Group, Delos, EY, Honeywell, StrongLED Smart Lighting, View and WELL Living Lab China joined Hodgdon on stage at the WELL Summit to celebrate the launch and to signal their commitments to be among the first to pursue the WELL Performance Rating. “I am excited to stand with organizations on the leading edge of this work, who see the importance of creating people-first places for everyone, everywhere,” Hodgdon said.

Demonstrating a commitment to optimizing the health of the people inside the buildings, the following organizations have enrolled in the WELL Performance Rating:

• Cyclone Energy Group
• Delos
• Environmental Charter School (ECS)
• Edge Technologies
• Ernst & Young (EY)
• Ethos Engineering
• GreenJump Sustainability
• Honeywell
• International Commerce Centre (ICC)
• Laguna
• Nucleus Office Park
• StrongLED Smart Lighting
• View Inc.
• WELL Living Lab Beijing

Organizations currently enrolled in the WELL Performance Rating span all industries and building types, signaling the rating’s substantial impact across sectors. Here’s what they’re saying:

“Building performance extends beyond material resources, energy, and water efficiency. People’s health and well-being are core to our mission and was the driver behind achieving the WELL Health Safety Rating for Cyclone Energy Group’s Chicago Office in September 2021. The newly released WELL Performance Rating aligns with Cyclone’s airPLAN service which enables our team and occupants to continuously monitor key metrics of indoor air quality,” said Sumayyah Theron, Director of Sustainability, Cyclone Energy Group. “Cyclone leverages the real-time data to help manage the balance between energy efficiency and a comfortable and healthy space. We’re glad to be on the leading edge with IWBI in pioneering places that leverage technology for people, extending this to our clients for greater benefits all around.”

“Edge knows it’s possible to activate people-centricity on a holistic and a personal level. The WELL Performance Rating enables us to leverage technology to gather insights on the built environment in order to make adjustments that unleash human potential,” said Thomas Ummels, Chief Development Officer, Edge Technologies. “We are proud to continue our WELL journey with IWBI in enrolling for the WELL Performance Rating, making buildings better for people.”

“As an industry leader in mechanical and electrical consultancy in Ireland and across Europe EMEA, Ethos Engineering is dedicated to advancing our knowledge of the effect of the built environment and its impact on human health and well-being,” said Greg Hayden, CEO, Ethos Engineering. “That’s why we are delighted to be an early participant in the new WELL Performance Rating process, adopting it for our Head Office in Dublin, which is on track to become one of the first in Europe to achieve this standard of building performance and analysis.”

“Environmental Charter School (ECS) began as a group of inspired parents and community leaders and bloomed into a system of learning,” said Jon McCann, Chief Executive Officer, Environmental Charter School. “As we support young learners and future leaders, we understand how the environment where they learn impacts their well-being. With the WELL Performance Rating, ECS can help our students by using information about where they’re learning, to help impact how they live.”

“At EY, we thrive in helping our clients create optimized experiences. With the roadmap the WELL Performance Rating provides, there is enhanced building intelligence through actionable visibility of the levers that adjust our environments,” said Jade Dauser, Corporate Real Estate and Technology Services Leader, EY. “This can improve the well-being of visitors and tenants alike. With IWBI’s WELL Performance Rating, EY can use real-time data to make impactful changes.”

“GreenJump Sustainability is committed to creating healthy, sustainable living environments and lifestyles, enhancing employee well-being through the WELL Performance Rating with smart building features and objectivity,” said Tzung-Han Ho, CEO, GreenJump Sustainability. “We are proud to join IWBI in using this rating to better inform our actions.”

“Based on research we’ve conducted, people want viable evidence that the buildings they use every day for work, school or care are healthier and use technology that helps to foster their well-being,” said Manish Sharma, vice president and general manager of sustainable buildings, Honeywell Building Technologies. “We look forward to implementing the WELL Performance Rating at our new corporate headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., where our priority is to deliver an unmatched occupant experience to support the well-being of our employees and guests while also being conscious of our environmental impact.”

“Sun Hung Kai Properties is fully committed to providing its customers and tenants with the best services. Health and well-being have become even more important nowadays. The WELL Performance Rating will help us improve our building performance and maintain the International Commerce Centre (ICC) as one of the best business locations in the world for our tenants,” said Lo King-Wai, General Manager, Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency, ICC.

“Measured performance is what attracted Laguna to WELL in the first place. Not just the promise of better, healthier buildings, but the ability to track various settings and understand the impact that different strategies have on people’s lives,” said André Marin, Director of Incorporation, Laguna. “That’s very important to us, and it’s the reason we are excited about prototyping the WELL Performance Rating at Galeria Laguna, our new experiential design space and showroom.”

“Health and well-being are prime considerations for Nucleus Office Parks. Nucleus Office Parks is committed to implementing meaningful and measurable building performance and tangible strategies across our portfolio to enhance the quality of life of our customers, partners and employees,” said Quaiser Parvez, CEO Nucleus Office Parks. “The newly launched WELL Performance Rating from IWBI is a gold standard and will help us continuously monitor and improve the ongoing performance of our buildings. We at Nucleus Office Parks are excited to partner with IWBI at the launch of the WELL Performance Rating and create new benchmarks in health and wellness in the built out and operating environment in India.”

“StrongLED Smart Lighting is committed to developing the most technologically advanced lighting products, including intelligent sensors and control systems, through scientific research. Leveraging the WELL Performance Rating is our response to WELL’s human-centered, healthy building concept, and we pledge to provide the highest quality indoor lighting environment,” said Lawrence Lin, CEO, StrongLED Smart Lighting (Cayman) Co., Ltd. “Putting people’s well-being and experience first is our commitment to IWBI, and our unremitting goal to achieve.”

“Our mission at View is to create delightful human environments by transforming buildings to improve human health,” Chief Business Officer of View, Rahul Bammi. “We are excited to use our own smart building technology to achieve the WELL Performance Rating at our headquarters and promote the health and well-being of our employees.”

The WELL Performance Rating consists of features drawn from the WELL Building Standard (WELL) along with new strategies and features that call for specific leadership thresholds, and can be earned as a standalone designation or a milestone toward a single-building certification or enterprise commitment. IWBI first announced plans for developing the new rating system in July 2021, tapping the expertise of a global network of advisors as well as a diverse group of organizational and industry leaders, including Aircuity, BSI, Carrier, CETEC, Cognian Technologies, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Kaiterra, LeGrand, Lennox International, Panasonic, Schneider Electric, SGS, Thornton Tomasetti, Trane Technologies and WSP.

Since 2021, IWBI has engaged stakeholders in a series of sessions to further the integrity and use of the rating, including educating individuals on how the rating works and what to prepare for. In March, IWBI’s Governance Council, the leadership body tasked with upholding the integrity of WELL through rigorous standard development criteria, ratified the rating in a unanimous vote. The Governance Council includes public health icons such as Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey of the University of Pennsylvania and former President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the 17th U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona; and Nancy Roman, President and CEO of Partnership for a Healthier America.

About the International WELL Building Institute

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people-first places to advance a global culture of health. IWBI mobilizes its community through the administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and the WELL Health-Safety Rating, management of the WELL AP credential, the pursuit of applicable research, the development of educational resources, and advocacy for policies that promote health and well-being everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.

International WELL Building Institute pbc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delos Living LLC. International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL Portfolio, WELL Portfolio Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rating, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Health-Equity, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Performance Rating, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.

Contacts

Media:

Yan Tai
media@wellcertified.com