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

The WELL Building Standard® Executive Summary

The WELL Building Standard (WELL) focuses on the people in the building.

Over the last decade, green building standards and standard-setting organizations have made significant strides towards the market transformation of the building industry, resulting in a rapid expansion of green buildings and environmentally conscious building practices throughout the world.

Over the same period, strategies to enhance human health and wellbeing have played a relatively small role in the evolution of building standards. We believe that the time has come to elevate human health and comfort to the forefront of building practices and reinvent buildings that are not only better for the planet—but also for people.

  1. This is the first standard of its kind that focuses attention solely on the health and wellness of building occupants.
  2. WELL identifies 102 performance metrics, design strategies, and procedures that can be implemented by the owners, designers, engineers, contractors, users and operators of a building.
  3. WELL is based on a thorough review of the existing research on the effects of indoor spaces on individuals, and has been advanced through a comprehensive peer review.
  4. In order to achieve the requirements of the WELL Building Standard, the space must undergo a process that includes an onsite assessment and performance testing by a thirdparty.

A Wellness Standard for Buildings

The WELL Building Standard marries best practices in design and construction with evidence-based health and wellness interventions. It harnesses the built environment as a vehicle to support human health, wellbeing and comfort. WELL Certified™ spaces and WELL Compliant™ core and shell developments can thus lead to a built environment that can help improve the nutrition, fitness, mood, sleep patterns and performance of its occupants. This is achieved in part by implementing strategies, programs and technologies designed to encourage healthier, more active lifestyles and reducing occupant exposure to harmful chemicals and pollutants.

This document presents the overall strategies, performance targets, and certification and compliance steps required for projects to meet the WELL Building Standard v1.0.

Version 1.0

WELL Building Standard v1.0 is optimized for commercial and institutional buildings and can be applied to three types of projects:

  1. New Construction and Major Renovations;
  2. Tenant Improvements; and
  3. Core and Shell Developments.

Future refinements will address the specific requirements of multifamily residences, retail and restaurants, sports facilities and convention centers, schools, and healthcare facilities. Projects representing these typologies are invited to register and join our ongoing pilot process.