Plans for WELL Building Standard include linkage with other green building standards

New CEO and Chairman of the International WELL Building Institute, Rick Fedrizzi, plans to continue global expansion of the WELL Building Standard with four new initiatives this year:

• The development of “crosswalks” between WELL and other green building rating systems, including Green Star, BREEAM, LEED, and the Living Building Challenge

• An updated version of WELL customizable to each individual project, reflecting an ‘All Projects In’ philosophy allowing any building type to pursue WELL Certification

• A new strategy for supporting WELL APs and IWBI’s global markets that includes a streamlined pathway to certification that reduces costs for documentation and verification, especially for portfolios

• A new website launched on February 13th

WELL is the world’s first building standard focused on the health and well-being of building occupants. The standard is based on evidence-based medical research that demonstrates the connection between the buildings and health and wellness impacts on occupants.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.