WELL booming in Asia-Pacific region

As the pandemic heads into its third year, the Asia-Pacific region has increasingly adopted WELL programs. The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) recently highlighted the exponential growth as it crossed the 300 million square metre mark of spaces enrolled in WELL programs.

IWBI reports that nearly 80 million square metres of real estate are applying for WELL programs across Asia-Pacific – an uptake that has almost doubled over the last year.

IWBI president and CEO Rachel Hodgdon believes the growing interest is driven by WELL’s holistic approach to applying the science of how physical and social environments can affect human health, wellbeing and performance.

“The Asia-Pacific region stands out in leveraging WELL to implement evidence-based strategies, set human and social capital performance goals, track progress and celebrate impac,” she says.

China ranks at number one for the cumulative total of enrolled space in this category worldwide, with 22 million square metres to date enrolled under WELL Certification. Approximately 43 per cent of the WELL projects are residential buildings.

According to the IWBI, Australia has also seen a large uptake, with around 25 per cent of all commercial office spaces engaged in a WELL pathway. The majority are applying for the WELL Health-Safety Rating and WELL Building Standard strategies to support the return of people to their workplaces.

The WELL Building Standard (WELL) ecosystem (comprising WELL Certification, the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management, WELL Portfolio and certification under the WELL Community Standard) has been adopted by more than 2,000 organisations worldwide.

Jack Noonan, vice president (Asia Pacific) for IWBI, says WELL has exploded across the region over the past two years.

He notes that organisations are engaging in new and original ways to incorporate WELL strategies and offerings at scale, “highlighting the increasing prioritisation of wellbeing for office workers, residents, tenants and everyone in between”.

Image courtesy of 500 Collins.