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

Core & Shell Scope

WELL Core and Shell Certified projects integrate fundamental WELL Building Standard™ (WELL) features into the base building design and operation, which creates an incentive for future tenants seeking to support the health and productivity of their occupants. It also enables future tenants to more easily pursue WELL Certification for their interior spaces.

Core and Shell Certification includes the areas of the building controlled by the owner, including common spaces, such as lobbies and elevator banks, as well as any areas of the interior buildout managed by the project owner. Depending on the developer's scope, Core and Shell projects can receive Optimizations for complying with all parts of a WELL feature determined to be not applicable (see the WELL applicability matrix in the Introduction to the WELL Building Standard).

For further clarity, the following document outlines applicability determinations for Core and Shell projects.

  • Entire Building: These features are required to be met throughout the entire building, in both tenant and owner-occupied spaces. For features which are intended to impact all occupants, such as amenity and common spaces, Core and Shell projects should use the expected building occupancy or the default occupancy of 250 ft²/person (23 m²/person).
  • Extent of Developer Buildout: These features are required to be met in all common areas, spaces under owner control, and all portions of the interior buildout managed by the project owner.
  • Extent of Developer Buildout with Capacity for Tenant Achievement: These features are required to be met in all spaces included in the developer buildout and require that the building systems in place have capacity to allow tenants to implement the feature requirements within their leased space.
  • Extent of Developer Buildout and Confirmed Tenant Support: These features are required to be met in all spaces included in the developer buildout and require the building owner to provide tenants with full support to meet the feature requirements. This may include providing tenants fiscal allowance to implement the feature. Additional documentation may be required in these cases, depending on the type of support provided. Lease or sales agreements that leave the cost of implementation to the tenant do not qualify.
  • Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control: These features are required to be met in common areas and spaces under building owner control.
  • Spaces Under Owner Control: These features are required to be met only in spaces that are used by the staff operating the Core and Shell building.
  • Spaces under Owner Control with Tenant Education: These policy-based features are required to be met for the staff employed by the Core and Shell project and require the project owner to provide education to tenants regarding the benefits of the feature and its relationship to the WELL Building Standard.

Nourishment

Feature 47: Serving sizes

Part Scope
Part 1: Meal Sizes
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control N/A
Part 2: Dishware
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control N/A

Feature 48: Special diets

Part Scope
Part 1: Food Alternatives
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control N/A

Feature 49: Responsible food production

Part Scope
Part 1: Sustainable Agriculture
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control N/A
Part 2: Humane Agriculture
Common Areas and Spaces Under Owner Control N/A

Feature 50: Food storage

Part Scope
Part 1: Storage Capacity
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control N/A

Feature 51: Food production

Part Scope
Part 1: Gardening Space
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Planting Support
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Feature 52: Mindful eating

Part Scope
Part 1: Eating Spaces
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Break Area Furnishings
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Light

Feature 53: Visual lighting design

Part Scope
Part 1: Visual Acuity for Focus
Entire building N/A
Part 2: Brightness Management Strategies
Entire building N/A

Feature 54: Circadian lighting design

Part Scope
Part 1: Melanopic Light Intensity for Work Areas
Entire building N/A

Feature 55: Electric light glare control

Part Scope
Part 2: Glare Minimization
Extent of Developer Buildout PRECONDITION

Feature 56: Solar glare control

Part Scope
Part 1: View Window Shading
Extent of Developer Buildout and Confirmed Tenant Support OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Daylight Management
Extent of Developer Buildout and Confirmed Tenant Support OPTIMIZATION

Feature 57: Low-glare workstation design

Part Scope
Part 1: Glare Avoidance
Entire building N/A

Feature 58: Color quality

Part Scope
Part 1: Color Rendering Index
Entire building N/A

Feature 59: Surface design

Part Scope
Part 1: Working and Learning Area Surface Reflectivity
Entire building N/A

Feature 60: Automated shading and dimming controls

Part Scope
Part 1: Automated Sunlight Control
Extent of Developer Buildout and Confirmed Tenant Support N/A
Part 2: Responsive Light Control
Extent of Developer Buildout and Confirmed Tenant Support N/A

Feature 61: Right to light

Part Scope
Part 1: Lease Depth
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Feature 62: Daylight modeling

Part Scope
Part 1: Healthy Sunlight Exposure
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Feature 63: Daylighting fenestration

Part Scope
Part 1: Window Sizes for Working and Learning Spaces
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Window Transmittance in Working and Learning Areas
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 3: Uniform Color Transmittance
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Fitness

Feature 64: Interior fitness circulation

Part Scope
Part 1: Stair Accessibility and Promotion
Entire Building PRECONDITION
Part 2: Staircase Design
Entire Building PRECONDITION
Part 3: Facilitative Aesthetics
Entire Building PRECONDITION

Feature 65: Activity incentive programs

Part Scope
Part 1: Activity Incentive Programs
spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 66: Structured fitness opportunities

Part Scope
Part 1: Fitness Programs
Entire Building N/A
Part 2: Fitness Education
Entire Building N/A

Feature 67: Exterior active design

Part Scope
Part 1: Pedestrian Amenities
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Pedestrian Promotion
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 3: Neighborhood Connectivity
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Feature 68: Physical activity spaces

Part Scope
Part 1: Site Space Designation for Offices
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: External Exercise Spaces
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Feature 69: Active transportation support

Part Scope
Part 1: Bicycle Storage and Support
Extent of Developer Buildout with Confirmed Tenant Support OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Post Commute and Workout Facilities
Extent of Developer Buildout with Confirmed Tenant Support OPTIMIZATION

Feature 70: Fitness equipment

Part Scope
Part 1: Cardiorespiratory Exercise Equipment
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Muscle-strengthening Exercise Equipment
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION

Feature 71: Active furnishings

Part Scope
Part 1: Active Workstations
Entire building N/A
Part 2: Prevalent Standing Desks
Entire building N/A

Comfort

Feature 72: Accessible design

Part Scope
Part 1: Accessibility and Usability
Extent of Developer Buildout PRECONDITION

Feature 73: Ergonomics: visual and physical

Part Scope
Part 1: Visual Ergonomics
Entire building N/A
Part 2: Desk Height Flexibility
Entire building N/A
Part 3: Seat Flexibility
Entire building N/A

Feature 74: Exterior noise intrusion

Part Scope
Part 1: Sound Pressure Level
Entire Building PRECONDITION

Feature 75: Internally generated noise

Part Scope
Part 2: Mechanical Equipment Sound Levels
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control OPTIMIZATION

Feature 76: Thermal comfort

Part Scope
Part 1: Ventilated Thermal Environment
Extent of Developer Buildout with Capacity for Tenant Achievement PRECONDITION
Part 2: Natural Thermal Adaptation
Extent of Developer Buildout with Capacity for Tenant Achievement PRECONDITION

Feature 77: Olfactory comfort

Part Scope
Part 1: Source Separation
Entire building N/A

Feature 78: Reverberation time

Part Scope
Part 1: Reverberation Time
Entire building N/A

Feature 79: Sound masking

Part Scope
Part 1: Sound Masking Use
Entire building N/A
Part 2: Sound Masking Limits
Entire building N/A

Feature 80: Sound reducing surfaces

Part Scope
Part 1: Ceilings
Entire building N/A
Part 2: Vertical Surfaces
Entire building N/A

Feature 81: Sound barriers

Part Scope
Part 1: Wall Construction Specifications
Entire building N/A
Part 2: Doorway Specifications
Entire building N/A
Part 3: Wall Construction Methodology
Entire building N/A

Feature 82: Individual thermal control

Part Scope
Part 1: Free Address
Entire building N/A
Part 2: Personal Thermal Comfort Devices
Entire building N/A

Feature 83: Radiant thermal comfort

Part Scope
Part 1: Lobbies and Other Common Spaces
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control Only OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Offices and Other Regularly Occupied Spaces
Entire building N/A

Mind

Feature 84: Health and wellness awareness

Part Scope
Part 1: WELL Building Standard® Guide
Entire Building PRECONDITION
Part 2: Health and Wellness Library
Entire Building PRECONDITION

Feature 85: Integrative design

Part Scope
Part 1: Stakeholder Charrette
Extent of Developer Buildout PRECONDITION
Part 2: Development Plan
Extent of Developer Buildout PRECONDITION
Part 3: Stakeholder Orientation
Extent of Developer Buildout PRECONDITION

Feature 86: Post-occupancy surveys

Part Scope
Part 1: Occupant Survey Content
Entire Building N/A
Part 2: Information Reporting
Entire Building N/A

Feature 87: Beauty and design I

Part Scope
Part 1: Beauty and Mindful Design
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control PRECONDITION

Feature 88: Biophilia I - qualitative

Part Scope
Part 1: Nature Incorporation
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Pattern Incorporation
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control OPTIMIZATION
Part 3: Nature Interaction
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control OPTIMIZATION

Feature 89: Adaptable spaces

Part Scope
Part 1: Stimuli Management
Spaces under owner control N/A
Part 2: Privacy
Entire building N/A
Part 3: Space Management
Entire building N/A
Part 4: Workplace Sleep Support
Spaces under owner control N/A

Feature 90: Healthy sleep policy

Part Scope
Part 1: Non-Workplace Sleep Support
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 91: Business travel

Part Scope
Part 1: Travel Policy
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 92: Building health policy

Part Scope
Part 1: Health Benefits
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 93: Workplace family support

Part Scope
Part 1: Parental Leave
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A
Part 2: Employer Supported Child Care
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A
Part 3: Family Support
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 94: Self-monitoring

Part Scope
Part 1: Sensors and Wearables
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 95: Stress and addiction treatment

Part Scope
Part 1: Mind and Behavior Support
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A
Part 2: Stress Management
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 96: Altruism

Part Scope
Part 1: Charitable Activities
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A
Part 2: Charitable Contributions
Spaces under owner control with tenant education N/A

Feature 97: Material transparency

Part Scope
Part 1: Material Information
Extent of Developer Buildout OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Accessible Information
Extent of Developer Buildout OPTIMIZATION

Feature 98: Organizational transparency

Part Scope
Part 1: Transparency Program Participation
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control N/A

Feature 99: Beauty and design II

Part Scope
Part 1: Ceiling Height
Extent of Developer Buildout OPTIMIZATION
Part 2: Artwork
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control OPTIMIZATION
Part 3: Spatial Familiarity
Common Areas and Spaces under Owner Control OPTIMIZATION

Feature 100: Biophilia II - quantitative

Part Scope
Part 1: Outdoor Biophilia
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION
Part 3: Water Feature
Entire Building OPTIMIZATION