To ensure that all parts of the community are addressed as spaces that hold the potential to deliver health and well-being benefits, the WELL Community Standard requires some buildings within the project’s boundaries to be certified under a qualifying health and well-being building standard and provides projects the opportunity to earn additional points for going above the minimum.

How many health and wellness certified buildings are required?

All WELL Community Standard projects must contain at least one health and well-being certified building. In new developments, 15% of the total buildings or gross building area within the project’s boundary that is owned, operated or managed by the project owner, rounded up to the nearest whole number, must be certified. A building is considered “certified” if at least 75% of its total floor area is certified.

For example, a new community project with 21 buildings in total would require that at least four of those buildings be certified under an approved health and wellness program. (21 buildings x 15% = 3.15 buildings, which must be rounded up to 4 buildings). 

Existing communities are not held to the 15% requirement, but must still have at least one health and wellness certified building. “Existing communities” are those with over 50% of total floor area constructed by the time of registration.

What rating systems qualify?

The current list of programs approved to count for health and wellness building certification is as follows:

• • WELL Building Standard (IWBI)
  • Living Building Challenge (ILFI)
  • Petal Certification (ILFI): any petal combination which includes Health and Happiness
  • Home Performance Index (Irish Green Building Council) 

  Because planetary health and human health are inextricably connected, WELL standards aim to be interoperable with green rating systems. Buildings with a sustainability certification within your project boundary will grant 1 innovation point per building, up to a maximum of 10. The current list of programs approved to count for green building certification is as follows:

• • LEED (USGBC)
  • BREEAM (BRE)
  • Green Star (GBCA)
  • Petal Certification (ILFI): any petal combination which does not include Health and Happiness
  • Zero Energy Certification (ILFI)
  • HQE (Certivéa)
  • Home Performance Index (Irish Green Building Council)
  • NF Habitat HQE (Cerqual)
  • BEAM Plus (Hong Kong Green Building Council)
  • GB/T 50378, Operation Stage (Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development)
  • DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council)
  • Miljöbyggnad (Sweden Green Building Council)
  • BCA Green Mark (Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority)
  • GBS Green Building Standard (Poland National Sustainable Building Support Association, OSWBZ)
  • GPR Gebouw (W/E Consultants, Netherlands)
  • Minergie-ECO (Minergie and Eco-bau, Switzerland)
  • NABERS: 4.5 stars (or higher) in NABERS Energy, 4 stars (or higher) in NABERS Water and 4 stars (or higher) in NABERS Waste (NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Australia)
  • IGBC Green New Buildings Rating System, version 3.0 (Indian Green Building Council)
  • SKA Rating (RICS, United Kingdom)
  • Home Quality Mark ONE (BRE)
  • Green Star (NZGBC)
  • Green Globes (GBI)
  • Green Building Index (Greenbuildingindex Sdn Bhd, Malaysia)
  • Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS Trust)
  • Code for Sustainable Homes (UK Department for Communities and Local Government)
  • Planet Mark Development Certification (Planet Mark, United Kingdom)

In order to qualify, rating systems must be available online at no cost, must include post-occupancy evaluation of a minimum of six on-site indoor environmental quality (IEQ) conditions (including at least one in air) and must involve project review by independent, third-party certifying bodies. See the WELL Community Standard overview for more details.

If you’d like to suggest a different rating system for inclusion, you may submit a request as an Equivalency Proposal documenting how the program meets the following criteria:

1. Its goal is to advance the health and safety of building occupants.
2. It includes transparent development, rating and scoring or evaluation.
3. It requires third-party review to confirm achievement.
4. It is based on supporting scientific, medical and/or industry research.

Early stage review or design awards for health and wellness or green rating systems, such as WELL Precertification, LEED precertification or buildings subscribed under WELL at scale but not WELL Certified are considered acceptable under initial WELL Community Standard certification. However, such buildings must be fully certified by the point of submission for WELL Community Standard recertification. 

WELL Core and WELL New and Existing Interiors projects are both considered qualified health and well-being certifications–note that for New and Existing Interiors projects, a total of 75% of the building’s total floor area must be certified.

Earning points with health and wellness or green certified buildings

Health and wellness buildings aren’t just a requirement for WELL Community Certification. They’ll also award additional points toward your certification. Buildings with a green building certification within your project boundary–regardless of the owner–also grant an additional point for each one up to a maximum of 10. 

Additionally, all projects earn one point for each building with a health and wellness certification within the project boundary not owned, operated or managed by the project owner, provided the total number of points awarded for health and wellness and green certified buildings does not exceed 30. If a building has achieved both a wellness certification and a green or sustainable certification, you may include it in both categories.

You will be granted points for the health and wellness certified buildings within the project boundary that are owned by the project owner according to the table below:

Note: Percentages will be rounded down when calculating points. For example, if your project has 39.5% of buildings certified, you will receive 3 points, not 5.

Exemptions

If your project is unable to meet the 15% certification requirement–for instance, if the party making decisions on building certification is distinct from the party making decisions on community certification–you may apply to be exempt from this requirement by submitting a request, including the reason you are requesting an exemption, to IWBI at wellcommunity@wellcertified.com.