Health: IWBI and Green Building Council Italia Initiate Partnership To Promote Well-Being in Italian Cities' Buildings

New collaboration encourages sustainable and environmentally friendly practices in the construction and building sector to enhance citizens' quality of life

MILAN, December 14, 2023 /3BL/ - The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the global authority for driving market transformation toward healthy buildings, organizations and communities, today announces a new collaboration with the Green Building Council Italia (GBC Italia), a part of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), representing the world's largest organization for the sustainable construction market. The collaboration aims to promote awareness and implementation of health and well-being standards in built environments (homes, offices, public buildings, etc.) in Italy.

With an increasing awareness of the importance of protecting public health and well-being within cities and communities, IWBI has chosen to enhance its engagement in Italy alongside SIMA and GBC Italia.

Some of the activities under this collaboration include:

• Collaboration to support the diffusion of existing standards and protocols to market segments through the common value proposition that associates health, well-being and sustainability.
• GBC Italia will continue to raise awareness about WELL educational and training modules to industry professionals, and promote the WELL Accredited Professional credential (WELL AP) within Italy. Registrants for the WELL AP exam have the opportunity to learn about healthy building practices as they prepare to pursue the WELL AP credential, which designates expertise in WELL and a commitment to advancing human health and well-being in buildings, organizations and communities.
• Joint events and conferences: Organizing joint conferences and events to promote best practices in the sustainable construction and citizens' well-being sector.
• Common advocacy: Collaboration to support policies and regulations favorable to sustainable construction and occupational well-being in government entities and institutions.

In April of 2022, Alessandro Miani, MD, former President of the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (SIMA) and Professor, University of Milan, joined the IWBI Governance Council. Professor Miani supports the mission of IWBI through a strategic advisory role focused on helping uphold the integrity of IWBI’s certification and rating frameworks and helping accelerate market transformation at a global scale. In this capacity, Alessandro Miani is in a position to speak with Italian institutions and stakeholders to advance the adoption and recognition of WELL.

Professor Miani will promote IWBI’s mission and programs in Italy, bringing his extensive experience and expertise to lead efforts in promoting higher health and well-being standards in Italian city buildings.

"We are excited to initiate this collaboration with the Green Building Council Italia. The goal is not only to raise awareness but also to actively collaborate with institutions, companies, the construction industry, and citizens to integrate sustainable construction practices that promote the health and well-being of those living and working in buildings," declares Alessandro Miani.

“The challenges associated with a changing climate, including significant impacts to public health, require a multifaceted approach and a deep commitment to collaboration,” said Ann Marie Aguilar, IWBI’s Senior Vice President, EMEA region. “To help support the global real estate sector and address these evolving vulnerabilities in our buildings, we are proud to join forces with GBC Italia and SIMA as we look for opportunities to engage the wider industry on ways to drive solutions advancing both human and planetary health.”

"The well-being of citizens is increasingly central for GBC Italia. This strategic partnership with IWBI represents a fundamental step to strengthen our country's commitment to sustainability, combining the expertise of GBC Italia with the well-being-centered approach of the International WELL Building Institute," comments Fabrizio Capaccioli, President of GBC Italia. "This collaboration underscores the crucial role of the built environment in the health and well-being of people."

Specifically, IWBI develops and administers the WELL Standard, the world’s leading roadmap for creating and certifying spaces that advance health and well-being. The WELL ecosystem includes certification through the WELL Building Standard and the WELL Community Standard pilot, along with ratings that are targeted subsets of strategies from the WELL Standard, and which focus on thematic, goal-focused achievements that demonstrate an organization’s commitment to health and well-being.

GBC Italia is committed to transforming the Italian construction and real estate market, thanks to the promotion of a third-party certification system through proprietary protocols, whose parameters establish precise criteria for the design and construction of healthy, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly buildings.

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About Green Building Council Italia

It's a nonprofit association whose members include the most competitive companies and the most qualified Italian associations and professional communities operating in the sustainable construction segment. GBC Italia is part of World GBC, a network of national GBCs which is present in more than 70 countries, representing the largest international organization in the world active for the sustainable construction market. GBC Italia promotes a process of transformation of the Italian construction market through the promotion of the third-party certification system and its own certification protocols (the GBC systems) expressly developed for the specificities of the Italian market, whose parameters establish precise criteria for the design and construction of healthy, energy-efficient buildings with low environmental impact.

About SIMA

The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (SIMA) is a no-profit scientific organization aimed at promoting multidisciplinary independent researches and studies in the field of environmental determinants of health and climate change. SIMA involves experts from different fields (Medicine, Engineering, Biology, Chemisty/Biovhemistry, Phisics, Circular Economy etc.) and has delegations in several European countries as well as in United States, where the Organization established fruitful collaborations with the most prestigious Universities. SIMA actively cooperates with the European Commission, the World Health Organization, OSCE, and is leader in communicating the results of scientific publications to the general public.

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 WELL ratings and certifications, 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, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL EP, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Equity Rated, WELL Equity, Works with WELL, 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.

Media contact:

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