PRESENTED BY

Aayushi Pandya
Manika Aggarwal
Nidhi Gupta
Ritvika Srivastava

1st year (2020-2022)

Department of Building Engineering and Management
School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi
INTRODUCTION

The WELL Building Standard focuses on the health and wellness

impacts that buildings have on occupants. The standard is
arranged into eleven areas of concentration, called Concepts,
which are air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind.
● The standard lays out optimal conditions for each in an effort to
encourage a holistic, integrated approach to sustainability.
● In addition to the concepts, target health areas that the standard
intends to address have been identified: focus, energy, form, sleep,
stress, longevity, development, beauty, vitality, resilience, and
alignment.
● WELL certification is awarded at one of three levels: Bronze, silver,
gold or platinum.
● Certification requires that a building meet all preconditions for the
concepts.
● Buildings must also undergo on-site air and water testing and other
post-occupancy assessments.
● Reassessment is needed every three years in order to maintain
certification.
Core Principles of the WELL Building Standard
● According to the research related to the increasing health issues and indoor environmental conditions, it became quite clear
that ‘Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)’ is the major cause of lost productivity, efficiency, employee absence, and other long-term
health problems.
● IWBI was founded to address these concerns. They recognized that most people spend more than 90% of their time indoors.
And there was no standard to promote the wellness and health of the occupant.
THE HUMAN ARCHITECTURE INTERFACE

● The WELL Building Standard is founded on the understanding that facets of our
environment interact with personal, genetic and behavioral factors to shape our
overall health and wellbeing.
● WELL recognizes that many subconscious behaviors are dictated by external cues
and thus, it has carefully considered human built environment interactions that not FOCUS
only shape our physical health but also our behavior.
ENERGY
COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO HUMAN SUSTAINABILITY
FORM
The WELL Building Standard takes a holistic approach to health in the built environment
addressing behavior, operations and design. SLEEP

STRESS

LONGEVITY

DEVELOPMENT

VITALITY

RESILIENCE

ALIGNMENT
 WELL CERTIFICATION TYPE PILOT PROGRAMS

NEW & EXISTING NEW & EXISTING CORE & SHELL

BUILDING INTERIOR

Scoring and Certification Levels

WELL v2 operates on a
points-based system, with 110
points available in each
project scorecard
COMPARISON BETWEEN WELL V1 AND WELL V2

9 9

4
14
6
8
INNOVATION

-
5
12 7

7 9
 WELL FEATURES

WELL has two types of features: Optimization and

Preconditions

1. Optimization: This feature creates a flexible way towards

Platinum and Gold Level Certification. This includes optional
technologies, protocols, designs, and strategies.

2. Preconditions: It is essential to note that for WELL Certification

to be awarded, all specified and applicable Preconditions should
be met. To achieve the minimum Silver Certification level, you
need to meet different optimizations and all mentioned
preconditions, depending on the building type.

All preconditions – including all parts within them – are

mandatory for certification.
 SOURCES OF POOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY
AIR

The WELL Air concept aims to ensure high levels of indoor air quality
across a building’s lifetime through diverse strategies that include source
elimination or reduction, active and passive building design and
operation strategies and human behavior interventions.

Quality standards including filtration, cleaning protocols, microbe

control, material safety - 18 points

● In 2014, the American Lung Association gave an F

grade for ozone levels in countries where more than
140 million people live.
● Furthermore, some parameters of indoor air quality
often are worse than outdoor air quality due to
changing building techniques, materials that off-gas,
and poor ventilation practices.
● Concentrations of some pollutants are 2 to 5 times
higher indoors compared to outdoors.
Option 1: Mechanically ventilated spaces
Option 2: Naturally ventilated spaces
Option 3: Naturally ventilated spaces in areas with elevated particulate
matter
 The following thresholds are met in occupiable spaces:

a. Acetaldehyde: 140 µg/m³ or lower.

b. Acrylonitrile: 5 µg/m³ or lower.
c. Benzene: 3 µg/m³ or lower.
d. Caprolactam: 2.2 µg/m³ or lower.
e. Formaldehyde: 9 µg/m³ or lower.
f. Naphthalene: 9 µg/m³ or lower.
g. Toluene: 300 µg/m³ or lower.

Particulate Matter Thresholds Points

The following thresholds are met:

PM2.5: 12 µg/m³ or lower.8
1 a. Carbon monoxide: 7 mg/m³ [6 ppm] or lower.
PM10: 30 µg/m³ or lower.9
b. Nitrogen dioxide: 40 µg/m³ [21 ppb] or lower.

PM2.5: 10 µg/m³ or lower.9

2
PM10: 20 µg/m³ or lower.9
Building entry design
Building entry maintenance
Outdoor sport areas
 ● Contaminated water can reach large
WATER groups of people through centralized
distribution systems, meaning water
The WELL Water concept covers aspects of the quality,
pollution events can have rapid and
distribution and control of liquid water in a building. It includes
severe health consequences.
features that address the availability and contaminant
● failures in the municipal water system
thresholds of drinking water, as well as features targeting the
can lead to the consumption of
management of water to avoid damage to building materials
contaminated drinking water, and this
and environmental conditions.
is a concern relevant across the
globe.
Testing and monitoring to control public water additives and
system contaminants-16 points
Water quality pre-test
Water quality monitoring

Dispenser availability
Dispenser maintenance
NOURISHMENT

The WELL Building Standard for Nourishment establishes

requirements to encourage improved eating habits by
providing occupants with healthier food choices, behavioral
cues, and knowledge about nutrient quality

Promotion of healthy food options, nutrition labeling, safe

food preparation and sourcing

● Away-from-home foods steadily have been making up a greater

portion of our diets for decades: in 1970 about 25% of food
spending was on away-from-home foods, and by 2012 that
percentage rose to 43%.
● these types of foods often have more calories and more of the
nutrients that we tend to over-consume (like fat and saturated
fat), and less of the nutrients we tend to under-consume (like
calcium, fiber, and iron).
LIGHT
The WELL Building Standard for Light establishes
requirements to minimize disruption to the body’s
circadian rhythm. Requirements for window performance
and design, light output and lighting controls, as well as
task-appropriate illumination levels are included to
improve energy, mood, and productivity.
Glare free and circadian lighting design, effects of
surfaces & contrast, light quality, daylighting

● Studies have shown that light exposure has an impact on

the mood and reduces symptoms of depression in
individuals.
MOVEMENT
The WELL Movement concept promotes physical activity in everyday life
through environmental design, policies and programs to ensure that
movement opportunities are integrated into the fabric of our culture,
buildings and communities.

● Physical inactivity is one of the top 5 risk factors for mortality across
the globe, causing 6% of all deaths.
● In recent years, sedentary behavior—which centers on excessive
sitting time—has specifically emerged as a health risk factor,
independent from physical activity.
● Many facets of modern lifestyles, including work arrangements and
transportation methods, have increasingly moved us towards more
sedentary behaviors.
THERMAL COMFORT
The WELL Thermal Comfort concept aims to promote human productivity
and provide a maximum level of thermal comfort among all building users
through improved HVAC system design and control and by meeting
individual thermal preferences.

The analysis showed statistical significance in the correlation between

perceived comfort and perceived productivity, suggesting that the higher the
perceived comfort, the better the perceived productivity.

This indicates that productivity in free-running buildings is more related to

thermal comfort than to fixed temperatures.
SOUND
The WELL Sound concept aims to bolster occupant health and
well-being through the identification and mitigation of acoustical
comfort parameters that shape occupant experiences in the
built environment.

Sleep disturbance, hypertension

and the reduction of mental
arithmetic skills in school-aged
children.

Interior
Acoustic
Panels
P- S01-Sound Mapping S02- Maximum Noise Level

Background noise levels are measured over a period of five

Average background noise levels in bedrooms,
minutes and average sound pressure levels do not exceed the
when measured over a 12-hour minimum time
following thresholds, as applicable
period (which must include the hours of 10 pm
to 7 am), do not exceed 35 dBA (Leq)

Certification note:
Category 1 - Areas for conferencing, learning or
speaking
Category 2 - Enclosed areas for concentration
Category 3 - Open areas for concentration,
spaces with PA systems, and areas for dining.
S03-Sound Barrier S06- Minimum Background Sound

S04- Reverberation Time S07- β Impact Noise Management

Option 1: Reverberation time, design

Option 2: Reverberation time, performance

S05- Sound Reducing Surfaces S08- β Enhance Audio Devices

MATERIAL
The WELL Material aims to reduce
human exposure, whether direct or
through environmental contamination, to
chemicals that may impact health during
the construction, remodeling, furnishing CHEMICAL RELEASE PROCESS
and operation of buildings

P X03 - The health effects related to long term, repeated arsenic exposure include
irritation of the stomach and intestines, birth or developmental effects, skin cancer,
lung cancer, bladder cancer, infertility
X01-Material Restrictions X02-Interior Hazardous Material X03-Exterior materials and Structures
management

X08- Hazardous Material

X04-Waste Management X06- Site Remediation reduction

X045- In-Place Management X07- Pesticide Use

X09- Cleaning products and protocol X10- Volatile Compound Reduction X11- Long term emission control

X12- Short term emission control X14- Material Transparency

X15- Contact Reduction

X13- Enhanced Material Precaution
 M02
MIND Provide Connection To
The WELL Building Standard for Mind establishes requirements to Nature
Natural Materials, Patterns,
support mental and emotional health, providing the occupant with Shapes, Colors, Images Or
feedback and knowledge about their environment through design Sounds
elements, relaxation spaces, and advanced technology. Provide Connection To
Place
Organizational policies and transparency, biophilic design, The Project Integrates Design
Elements Such As
flexible and adaptable spaces 1. Celebration of culture
2. Celebration of place (e.g.,
local architecture, materials,
flora, artists),
3.Integration of art.

1. Stress can compromise the immune system, making it easier for people to fall
ill and also more difficult for them to recover from sickness.
2. Nearly one-third of adults believe that their stress levels have an impact on
their physical and mental health.
3. Building design can influence mental and social wellbeing by creating
aesthetically-pleasing and calm environments.
P- M01-Mental Health Promotion M04 -Mental Health Education M08- Restorative Programming

P- M02- Nature & Place

M09- Enhanced Access to Nature

M05- Stress Management

M03 -Mental Health Services M010- Tobacco Cessation

M06- Restorative Opportunities

M011 - Substance Use Services

M07- Restorative Spaces
COMMUNITY
The WELL Community concept aims to support access to essential
healthcare, workplace health promotion and accommodations for new
parents while establishing an inclusive, integrated community through
social equity, civic engagement and accessible design.

Promoting community
well-being must begin
with supporting the
fundamental factors
that influence
individual and
collective health.
Providing equal and
affordable access to
comprehensive health
services supports
better individual and
community health
outcomes, reducing
health disparities and
overall healthcare
costs.
1. WELL feature guide
2. communication
1. Parental leave
2. Parental support policies
INNOVATION
The WELL Building standards for Innovation features pave the way
for projects to develop unique strategies for creating healthier
environments.
Projects should use Feature
I01: Innovate WELL to submit innovation proposals. This feature
provides guidelines on the requirements that must be met in
order for an innovation proposal to be considered for approval.
Other Innovation features represent strategies pre-approved by
IWBI.
I04 Gateways to Wellness
Primary goal is to advance the health and well-being of
individuals or communities
I03 Experience WELL
Certification
To provide tours of WELL
certified spaces.
These projects have atleast
two WELL educational
components along with the
tours.
I05 Green Building Rating systems
WELL aligns with leading green building rating
systems and recognizes projects that balance a
commitment to environmental sustainability with a
commitment to human health.
Policies that reduce the environmental impact of
buildings contribute to the advancement of human
health at the building and community scale. The
environment itself can act as a mechanism to
promote and reinforce health by providing fresh air,
clean water, affordable and accessible food and
green spaces for physical activity and social
connection. By balancing sustainability and human
health considerations, both people and planet can
thrive.
PROCESS OF CERTIFICATION

WELL works in conjunction with global green building rating systems to optimize building performance for human health and our environment.
WELL vs IGBC

The objective of the rating is to facilitate the

buildings to incorporate people centric measures
for enhancing the health & well-being. The
framework will enable organisations to address
various aspects such as indoor air quality, water
quality, hygiene parameters, healthy food choices
and lifestyle.

Thank
you!