The WELL Building Standard could help shape healthier multifamily communities
If you have been following our blogs and reading about multifamily amenity trends, you know that health and well-being are important to today’s renters. The WELL Building Standard is taking that trend to the next level with its certification program.
Introduced and operated by the International Well Building Institute, the WELL Building Standard offers developers and builders a resource for ensuring that their projects are meeting health and well-being standards.
According to the institute’s website:
“Health and wellness is one of the largest growing industries, and consumers are impacting this growing demand. In the design and development industry, owners, designers and builders expect health to have a higher influence on design and construction decisions over the next two years.
The WELL Building Standard™ provides the opportunity to design and build with a human-centered approach, which ultimately supports the industry in comprehensively addressing human health…”
Building owners and developers can submit their projects for certification, which involves a five-step process from registration through verification and certification. In addition, the institute offers a professional certification for individuals who would like to be WELL AP accredited.
WELL in the multifamily market
The group emphasizes WELL’s impact on workplace health and productivity, saying, “Employers spend 90 percent of their annual operating costs on people. This means that even a small impact on productivity, engagement and satisfaction in the workplace can have huge returns on investment.”
However, we see the standard as an opportunity for multifamily properties as well. Consumers are seeking new and innovative ways to stay healthy, and apartment homes that offer health-supporting features and amenities (beyond a few treadmills and recumbent bikes) offer a unique appeal for many potential tenants.
According to Multi-Housing News:
“Based on a study of 20,000 renters across the country about what they care about when it comes to their living situation, Rohit Anand, principal at KTGY Architecture and Planning, said “wellness” was one of the most common denominator in the study, with focuses on outdoor activities and healthy living.”
The WELL Building Standard provides one more opportunity to gain an edge with today’s health-savvy renters.
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