Sweden Green Building Council and International WELL Building Institute™ Join Forces to Advance Health in Buildings
February 8, 2017 /3BL Media/ – The International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) and the Sweden Green Building Council today announced their intent to collaborate on the advancement of practices that improve human health and well-being in buildings and communities. The goal is to promote the successful adoption of IWBI’s WELL Building Standard™ (WELL), a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact the health and well-being of the people who live, work, and learn in the buildings.
“Sweden has long been at the forefront of sustainable practices that save energy, improve indoor air quality and reduce hazardous chemicals and emissions,” said Bengt Wanggren, CEO, Sweden Green Building Council. “We think WELL provides us a pathway to continue this leadership and expand our work to focus specifically on human health.”
WELL is the first building standard focused exclusively on the health and well-being of building occupants. WELL is grounded in evidence-based research that demonstrates the connection between the buildings where we spend more than 90 percent of our time and health and wellness impacts on us as occupants. WELL complements green building rating programs such as LEED, Three Star and BREEAM, and is third-party certified by Green Business Certification, Inc.—the same body that administers 10+ billion square feet of LEED buildings globally. To date, WELL has enrolled more than 350 building projects in 28 countries, encompassing over 73 million square feet.
“WELL is a powerful tool, and we are excited about the prospects of extending its immediate and measurable impact in the Swedish real estate market,” said IWBI Chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi. “We know that every market has unique challenges, but a single global standard that has a mechanism for flexibility and adaptation without reducing rigor or compromising on the elements that are common across geographies is an effective and cost efficient approach, and we look forward to working with SGBC to advance its use in Sweden.”
About the Sweden Green Building Council
The Sweden Green Building Council is Sweden's leading organisation for a sustainable built environment. Our members are Swedish companies and organisations that are active in creating sustainable buildings and cities. Together, we want to develop and influence the built environment so that it becomes more sustainable. We want to create better buildings and places that give people a healthier environment in which to live, work and play.”
About the International WELL Building Institute™
The International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) is a public benefit corporation whose mission is to improve human health and well-being through the built environment. Public benefit corporations like IWBI are an emerging U.S. structure for corporations committed to balancing public benefits with profitability – harnessing the power of private capital for greater good. IWBI administers the WELL Building Standard™ (WELL) – a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of buildings that impact the health and well-being of the people who live, work, and learn in them. Fulfilling the vision of IWBI Founder Paul Scialla, IWBI has a pioneering altruistic capitalism model that will address social responsibility and demonstrate a sustainable model for philanthropy. IWBI has committed to direct 51 percent of net profits, after taxes, generated by registration fees, certification fees and recertification fees received from real estate projects applying for WELL Certification toward charitable contributions and impact investment focused on health, wellness and the built environment. IWBI was established by Delos in 2013 pursuant to a Clinton Global Initiative commitment to improve the way people live by developing spaces that enhance occupant health and quality of life by sharing the WELL Building Standard globally. www.wellcertified.com
About the WELL Building Standard™
The WELL Building Standard™ (WELL) is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact the health and well-being of the people who live, work, and learn in the buildings. WELL focuses on seven categories of building performance: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind. Pioneered by Delos, the WELL Building Standard is grounded in evidence-based research that demonstrates the connection between the buildings where we spend more than 90 percent of our time and health and wellness impacts on us as occupants. The WELL Building Standard is administered by the International WELL Building Institute™ and third-party certified by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). www.wellcertified.com
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IWBI
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