The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) announced that it had passed the major global milestone earlier this month, with the standard now being used in nearly 60 countries.
“With more than 4,000 projects in nearly 60 countries and spanning all space types – offices, schools, hotels, residences and more – it’s clear that this second wave of sustainability has gathered powerful momentum,” said IWBI Chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi. “To reach a half-billion square feet of spaces applying WELL is to positively impact the health and wellbeing of more people in more places and to begin to truly change the narrative around how we design and operate the spaces where we spend our time.”
It follows an earlier announcement that the number of WELL Accredited Professionals (APs) and registrants has exceeded 10,000, further evidence of the accelerating growth of the global movement to help people thrive through better buildings and communities and stronger organisations.
Fedrizi added: “So much of WELL’s success is due to our WELL APs and WELL Faculty, an active and growing community that brings education about WELL to colleagues and clients around the world. Together with the market reach of our 130+ organizational members, this combined leadership has played a critical role in IWBI’s journey towards market transformation, one that puts the people we care about squarely in the centre of every decision we make. Given these enormous accomplishments in just the five years since WELL first launched, we’re beyond excited to see what this new decade will bring,” said Fedrizzi. “Every new project, WELL AP, WELL Faculty and IWBI member helps us take more steps forward in this journey. And when the mission is to improve the health of people, every milestone is worth celebrating.”
Launched in 2014, WELL v2 is the latest version of the Well Building Standard, and over the course of 2019, nearly four times as many new projects registered to pursue WELL as throughout all of 2018.
“Halfway to a billion is one thing, but what’s truly remarkable is the pace of adoption,” said Rachel Gutter, President of IWBI. “WELL entered the market in 2014, and it took roughly four years to reach 250 million square feet, but it’s only taken a year to double that to a half-billion. While that’s a potent market signal, it really reflects an unbelievable rise of a dedicated community around the world that is committed to investing in health.”
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About the International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is leading the global movement to transform our buildings, communities and organizations in ways that help people thrive. WELL v2 is the latest version of its popular WELL Building Standard, and the WELL Community Standard pilot is a district scale rating system that sets a new global benchmark for healthy communities. WELL is focused exclusively on the ways that buildings and communities, and everything in them, can improve our comfort, drive better choices, and generally enhance, not compromise, our health and wellness.
Content Team
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