WELL for ALL - Snapshots of Rapidly Expanding Space Types of WELL Adoption
Whether a project is an airport, a train operator, a school district, a mall or a multifamily development – IWBI has options to support the health and well-being of your greatest asset, people.
Over the last few months, we’ve seen increased WELL adoption across organizations and industries that may surprise you. The versatility of WELL offerings provides a great strength: whether a project is an airport, a train operator, a school district, a mall or a multifamily development – IWBI has options to support the health and well-being of your greatest asset, people.
Driven by the growing demand for health and well-being solutions, many organizations are embracing WELL outside of the typical spaces of commercial real estate. Some projects took collaborative efforts between project teams and IWBI support staff via available processes of implementing innovations or alternative pathways. Others went through innovative pathways to achieve their WELL Certification or ratings. We’d like to highlight a few of the many projects that keep the movement going:
Orlando International Airport (MCO)
This month, an exciting first – the first airport in the world to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating! The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) announced the achievement earlier in June, with three specific locations on-site achieving the seal: the North Terminal, Automated People Mover/Intermodal Terminal Facility (APM ITF), and the South Terminal.
This certification, guided through compliance by GOAA Operations and EcoBuild Strategies, symbolizes a commitment to all who visit MCO and affords a level of confidence in transportation implementing protocols backed by science and third-party verification. This is great news to the millions of travelers who transit through the airport every year, and the thousands of employees who work there.
Brightline
In April, Brightline, the esteemed provider of modern, eco-friendly, intercity rail in America, became the first train company worldwide to receive the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management for its trains and stations. This effectively made Brightline the first moving WELL Health-Safety rated project in the world!
A moving structure was not the focus of WELL Health-Safety when the rating was launched. However, seeing the benefits of the rating for the millions of passengers and staff it serves, Brighline went an extra mile to meet the rating criteria. “I just couldn’t take no for an answer,” said K. Denaye Hinds, sustainability executive at Brighline after receiving the rating. “So, I emailed and called the IWBI team and started offering rigorous alternative pathways because achieving the WELL Health-Safety Rating would mean a lot for our customers and our staff.”
“It was really an insightful experience seeing the Brightline project through to the finishing line,” said Nathan Stodola, chief engineer at IWBI. “Many of the features are relevant for employees in any industry, like providing paid sick leave. But in other cases, like ventilation improvements, we found ourselves comparing best practices for settings never envisioned when we first published the WELL Health-Safety Rating.”
At the end of the document submission phase , Brightline received this designation based upon demonstrating that the company’s trains and stations meet up to 15 operational protocols, including air quality and safety features. For more information, visit this link.
Royal Albert Hall
The first historic building in Europe, the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London, achieved the WELL Health- Safety Rating in April of this year. The storied performance venue, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, achieved the rating across cleaner air, water and sanitization criteria.
Of the achievement, Director of Visitor Experience Anthony Winter-Brown said, “We saw this as a great opportunity to demonstrate to our staff and customers that we take their health and well-being seriously and we are a safe place to work and visit. IWBI has been supportive throughout our journey to gain the rating and guided us to ensure we have the necessary and relevant evidence against the set criteria.”
For more information, visit this link.
KinderCare
KinderCare Learning Companies, one of the US’ largest providers of early childhood and school-age education and child care, announced that it has earned the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management for more than 1,500 locations at the end of April.
KinderCare is the largest education provider and only national provider of early childhood education and care that has received this distinction. Upon achieving the rating, KinderCare sent a newsletter to all parents and their family community saying: “It’s one thing for us to say we’re doing our best to keep everyone well at KinderCare. It’s another thing to have the experts verify it! We’re proud to share that we’ve earned the WELL Health-Safety RatingTM from the International WELL Building Institute.”
For more information, visit this link.
Planet Fitness
Finally, Planet Fitness, one of the largest and fastest-growing global brands and operators of fitness centers with more members than any other fitness brand, became the first fitness brand to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management at the beginning of the year.
The achievement encompasses all of its facilities – nearly 2,200 clubs across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico and Australia, as well as its company headquarters in Hampton, N.H.
Upon achieving the rating, Planet Fitness’ leadership team repeatedly expressed, through media interviews, the value of the WELL Health-Safety Rating for boosting customer confidence in the facilities and driving up membership.
For more information, visit this link.
