Page 26B—
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
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September 2-September 15, 2015
2016. It’s more accessible
than something like the
Living Building Challenge,
and does what LEED does
best: balancing human and
environmental health into a
broadly holistic system. Yes, you
can still drive yourself crazy
with point chasing credits that
may not make the most sense
in your particular application,
but the improvements
and new credits are really
significant, from interior
lighting quality to daylight
to quality transportation
access to material ingredient
transparency. And whether
or not you’re seeking a
certification, it serves as a great
definition for the metrics and
best practices that define green
building.
To be fair, many projects are
using LEED 2009 as a solid
foundation from which to
incorporate other sustainability
and health-related features, and
to admirable and successful
ends. But to view this outdated
version of LEED as the
forefront of the green and
healthy buildings movement
would be turning a blind eye to
the areas that are really driving
the industry forward. There is
impressive movement afoot to
make the built environment
a healthier, more livable and
more sustainable place in
ways that are adding value
to projects in increasingly
meaningful and relevant ways.
experience and promote sleep,
including: activity-based levels,
color quality, daylighting and
glare control.
n
Fitness.
For fitness, the
standard allows for the seamless
integration of exercise and
fitness into everyday life by
providing the physical features
and components to support
an active and healthy lifestyle,
including: exterior active
design, interior active design,
activity-based working, physical
activity spaces and awareness
and habits.
n
Comfort.
In terms
of comfort, the standard
establishes requirements
designed to create a
distraction-free, productive
and comfortable indoor
environment, including:
thermal, acoustical, ergonomic,
olfactory and accessibility.
n
Mind.
The standard for
mind requires design that
design and technology provide
a physical environment that
optimizes cognitive and
emotional health, including:
connection to nature, beauty,
wellness awareness and
protocols, feedback design,
adaptable spaces, integrative
design and social, equity and
altruism.
By taking a holistic approach
to the built environment,
we can address and improve
people’s health and wellness
at the center of design. We
welcome the WELL Building
Standard as a tool to design and
build with a human-centered
approach and look forward
to its growth potential here in
Colorado’s built environment.
the score is calculated based
on Optimizations awarded
out of the total Optimizations
possible for the project. In
addition to the overall Wellness
score, each Concept is awarded
a score Silver to Platinum, so
the building occupants can
see how each Concept scores
individually.
n
Energy and productivity
case study.
To determine
the effect that the WELL
Building Standard has on
energy usage, consider the
particular type and usage of
the building, its climate zone,
and if the health benefits
outweigh the energy cost of
a particular Precondition or
Optimization. For a typical
office building for example, the
cost of employees’ salaries far
outweigh the utility costs. Take
a 250,000-square-foot office
building with 1,000 employees
each earning on average
$50,000 per year. Energy
savings for high-performance
buildings range from 30 to 50
percent compared with a code-
compliant building. According
to Jason McLennan, founder
of the International Living
Future Institute, temperature
can cause a drop in productivity
by up to 9 percent, poor air
quality by 6 to 9 percent,
and noisy work places by up
to 20 percent. On average,
productivity gains from healthy
and buildings range from 1
to 20 percent compared with
employee costs without a
healthy building or wellness
program. Assuming the low end
of savings on both spectrums,
30 percent energy savings and
1 percent productivity gain,
the annual cost savings from
productivity are over 4 times
that of energy cost savings
(Table 1).
n
Energy impact.
Of
the 102 Preconditions
and Optimizations, five
Preconditions and 18
Optimizations have energy
impacts. Table 2 and Table 3
summarize the relative energy
impact of credits unique to
WELL for Preconditions and
Optimizations. I have not
included the energy impact of
the credits that have the same
impact as LEED or that are
already in the ASHRAE 90.1-
2013 energy standard (soon to
be adopted as building code
per IECC 2015 in Denver).
The following summarizes
each Precondition and
Optimization and its impact on
energy usage. More specifics
on each Precondition and
Optimization are available
within the standard, which
can be downloaded at www.
wellcertified.com/standard.
Of the five Preconditions
with an energy impact, all
have an overall energy savings,
which is beneficial. Design
teams can then determine
which Optimizations to select
based on the health and
energy impacts. Of the 18
Optimizations with energy
impacts, seven have an energy
penalty, seven save energy and
four will vary depending on
option selected or particular
building type or climate zone.
Overall, the WELL Building
Standard will significantly
contribute to the quality of
our buildings and improve
the productivity, mental and
physical health of employees.
