IWBI Launches Global Network Of Concept Advisories

Experts from around the world will share their insights on the impact of 10 WELL concepts on human health.

The International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) has announced the creation of a network of global concept advisories to explore, better understand and, ultimately, more accurately quantify the impact of specific factors that impact human health. The 10 WELL concepts include air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, materials, sound, mind, and community.

human health
One Carter Lane, London, UK (Photo: IWBI)

“This is a giant step forward for IWBI, broadening and deepening our understanding of how our buildings affect people across these concepts, which the evidence tells us have significant impact on how we feel, how healthy we are, and how we can thrive,” said IWBI Chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi.

“Our successful launch last month of WELL v2™, the next version of the WELL Building Standard™, was another step in the continuous evolution of WELL,” he added. “These concept advisories will propel the movement, advancing both the impact and importance of healthy building in the process.”

Each WELL concept advisory includes a collection of professionals, practitioners, and experts, each serving a one-year term. WELL concept advisors will number more than 100 individuals, span 20 countries, and represent WELL advocates not just from global market centers like New York, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Addis Ababa, and Sydney, but a number of smaller municipalities in between. They cover a broad array of technical, scientific, and medical fields.

“As an organization, IWBI continues to raise the bar for buildings designed with the health of people at the forefront,” said Fedrizzi. “The formation of these WELL concept advisories is a validation of how far we’ve traveled as an organization, but more importantly they represent an investment in the future of WELL and its ability to transform our buildings and communities to improve human health.”

The WELL v2 pilot is a recently launched version of IWBI’s popular WELL Building Standard (WELL), which will continue to be offered to the market, along with the WELL Community Standard pilot, a district scale rating system that sets a new global benchmark for healthy communities. WELL is focused exclusively on the ways that buildings and communities, and everything in them, can improve comfort, drive better choices, and generally enhance human health and wellness.