This is a legacy version of the WELL Building Standard. Please check the latest version here.

Enhanced material safety

Many chemicals used in building materials have not been fully evaluated for safety and may be known or suspected carcinogens, mutagens, or endocrine, developmental and reproductive disruptors. Voluntary programs in the market allow suppliers that have carefully screened the composition of their products and avoided potentially harmful substances to be recognized for their achievements.

This feature promotes the use of products that have been independently verified to be free of many suspected hazards.

Part 1: Precautionary Material Selection

At least one of the following requirements are met:

a) The project completes all Imperatives in the Materials Petal under Living Building Challenge 3.0.
b) At least 25% of products by cost (including furnishings, built-in furniture, and all interior finishes and finish materials) are Cradle to Cradle Certified™ with a v2 Gold or Platinum or a v3 Silver, Gold or Platinum Material Health Score.
c) At least 25% of products by cost (including furnishings, built-in furniture, and all interior finishes and finish materials) have no GreenScreen v1.2 List Translator 1 or List Translator P1 substances at concentrations over 100 ppm, as verified by an independent third party accredited by the the Health Product Declaration (HPD) Collaborative.
d) Some combination of requirements b and c.
Cardiovascular
Respiratory
Endocrine
Immune
Integumentary
Muscular
Digestive
Nervous

Applicability Matrix

Core & Shell New Construction WELL Interiors
Part 1: Precautionary Material Selection - O O
Commercial Kitchen Education Multifamily Residential Retail
Part 1: Precautionary Material Selection O O O O

Verification Methods Matrix

Letters of Assurance Annotated Documents On-Site Checks
PART 1 (Design)
Precautionary Material Selection
Architect
1

U.S. Green Building Council. LEED v4: Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction. Washington D.C.: U.S. Green Building Council; 2013: 37, 43-44, 542-43, 545, 541-552, 567, 605, 623, 645-53, 658-61, 682, 685-6, 723-4.

26.1.b

USGBC's LEED v4 MR Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization allows Cradle to Cradle v2 Gold or Platinum or v3 Silver, Gold or Platinum as one way to achieve Option 2.

26.1.c

USGBC's LEED v4 MR Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization allows GreenScreen v1.2 Benchmark as one way to achieve Option 2. The List Translators are equivalent to the Benchmark.

26.1.d

USGBC's LEED v4 MR Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization allows projects to combine allowed materials lists in meeting the 25% threshold.

13

International Living Future Institute. Living Building Challenge 3.0. Seattle; 2014: 38, 43-49, 60

26.1.a

The International Living Future Institute's Living Building Challenge 3.0 Imperatives 10 and 12 require independently verified declarations of products.