Minimum requirements

WELL Core Certification showcases how a project implements health-focused features in the base building (also called Core or Core & Shell) to benefit the building management staff and tenants.

All building types can register for WELL Core Certification, provided that:

• At least 75% of the project area is occupied by one or more tenants and/or serves as common space in the building accessible to all tenants.

  AND

• At least 2.5% of the total building floor area is made available for performance testing. The available testing area must include all common areas and spaces directly under the control of the building management team.

  • If common areas and spaces under owner control comprise less than 2.5% of the total building floor area, the project must supplement with tenant spaces to reach this threshold. Testing in leased spaces in these cases can take place before or after tenant occupancy.

WELL Core eligibility for specific cases

Owner occupied office in a WELL Core building

Offices affiliated with the project owner but unrelated to the management of the project property may be considered a tenant so long as additional tenants unaffiliated with the project owner occupy at least 60% of the net leased area.

Mixed-use

Mixed-use buildings (e.g. office, retail and residential) must meet one of the requirements below to be eligible for WELL Core enrollment.

• At least 60% of the project area is occupied by one or more tenants

  OR

• If WELL Core is appropriate for less than 60% of the project area, the project should register one or more portions of the building as individual projects for WELL Certification under WELL v2 or WELL Core Certification, as appropriate.

Multifamily Residential

WELL v2

In WELL v2, multifamily residential projects cannot pursue WELL Core. Multifamily residential projects must pursue WELL Certification. This is the case even though the regular occupants are primarily tenants and the project owner may not complete fit-out for the dwelling units.

WELL v2 pilot

In the WELL v2 pilot, multifamily residential buildings were only eligible for WELL Core if they met all of the following requirements. If not, residential projects were enrolled under WELL Certification:

• Building must contain at least 5 dwelling units.

• Building provides minimal fit-out of the dwelling units, defined as meeting at least two of the following requirements where the developer does not install:

  • Kitchen cabinets

  • Stoves/ranges, ovens, or refrigerators

  • Showers/baths, toilets, or sinks in the bathroom or kitchen

  • HVAC terminals

• Project owner is unable to provide access to dwelling units for performance testing.

Please note the above only applies to WELL v2 pilot projects.

Defining project boundary for WELL Core

WELL Core Certification is generally considered a whole building certification and the complete area of the building is included in the project size boundary when registering a WELL Core project. The project boundary can include both interior and exterior spaces. However, WELL Core may be also applied to a portion of a building, provided that it meets the project boundary requirements in the WELL Program Guidebook: "The project must accurately communicate the scope of the certifying project [...] and distinguish it from non-certifying space". This means that the certified space has a separate entrances and a distinct name.

Note: if the project boundary includes exterior (outdoor) spaces, this area is not counted when determining the project's area. 

How features apply to a WELL Core project

Features have varying scopes of applicability for WELL Core projects, depending on the relevant population and project area. WELL Core requires features to be applied in multiple ways in order to be awarded. Scopes for features include:

• The whole building, defined as all areas within the project boundary.

• Non-leased spaces, defined as all areas within the project boundary that are not considered leased space, such as common areas and spaces under owner control.

• The extent of developer buildout, defined as all non-leased space and all construction within the leased space for which the project owner team is responsible.

• For building management staff, Individuals responsible for maintaining and operating the building, including contractors and sub-contractors. Workers who spend less than 30 hours per month in the building (i.e., who are not regular occupants) are not considered building management staff.

• For direct staff, defined as building staff under direct employ by the project owner. If a project has no direct staff on-site (i.e., the building is entirely operated by contracted building management staff), your project is allowed to earn points by meeting feature requirements for all or a defined subset of building management staff.

WELL Core ownership scenarios

Eligibility of buildings that will be sold

Project owners can pursue and achieve WELL Core Certification for buildings that they intend to sell at a future date.

To do this, the project owner must complete the certification program, including documentation review and on-site performance verification. At certification, the original owner submits an operations schedule that demonstrates how they intend to continue monitoring results as long as they are still the owner of the building.

The initial certification is valid for three years, so it won’t be revoked at sale, even if the new owner doesn’t complete the ongoing annual reporting. If both parties want to transfer the original owner’s rights and obligations under the WELL Certification agreement to the new owner, the original and new owners must complete and submit a Change of Owner Agreement. If the new owner does continue the monitoring as required, then the project is eligible for recertification after three years.

Eligibility of buildings that will be leased to a single tenant

Project owners can pursue and achieve WELL Core Certification for single-tenant buildings, but the process will likely require more tenant participation and collaboration than certification of a multi-tenant building. Learn more in "Earn WELL Core for a single-tenant building."

Alternatively, the single tenant can enroll the location for WELL Certification directly. This path would not enable the base building owner to claim the certification award on any future Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings, such as an annual GRESB assessment, but it may be a good fit for certain tenant relationships.