Buildings: Making Buildings Better by Making Folks Feel Better

For a long time believing in wellness in buildings took an act of faith. That is changing fast, and as it becomes easier to measure the benefits, the philosophy of wellness is spreading. Rapid advances in technology is allowing building owners and tenants to measure far more accurately the impact their buildings have on the people that use them, for better and for worse

And the benefits for developers and owners are starting to be quantified too. Earlier this year the Porter Building in Slough near London became the first WELL-certified office in the U.K., and the International WELL Building Institute, which awards WELL certifications, said China now has more square footage of WELL-certified buildings than the U.S., where the concept is much more established. 


“If you look at corporate occupiers, more and more of them have an individual with Wellness in their job title,” Landid Director Chris Hiatt said. Landid developed the 120K SF Porter Building, to the west of London in a joint venture with private equity firm Brockton. “The end users have got this right up front in their thinking. “There is so much evidence about the links between work and life and the importance of mental health,” he added. “More people leave work because of mental health reasons rather than physical issues.” 

And where the customer leads, the provider will follow. “Companies want this, and when one developer provides it everyone else has to follow to keep up,” Gutter said.