Maintaining The Right Light In WELL-Certified Buildings

By Michael Jouaneh, LEED AP
From the August 2024 Issue

As well-being and sustainability become increasingly important in commercial construction, more building owners and managers are targeting performance-based certifications, such as the WELL Building Standard, to help evaluate and demonstrate their commitment to buildings that prioritize employee well-being.

With these five tips in mind, you’ll be on the path to maintaining WELL certification and providing functional, comfortable, sustainable spaces that improve the well-being of building occupants.

The WELL Building Standard emphasizes natural light integration, appropriate lighting levels, and the quality of electric lighting. Maintaining WELL certification is an ongoing process of monitoring and making adjustments to ensure the building environment supports occupant health and well-being. Every three years, projects must undergo a performance verification process—involving on-site testing and documentation review—to ensure the building continues to meet the WELL Building Standard criteria.

Properly functioning lighting and lighting controls are critical to achieving WELL certification and play an equally important role in recertification. Regular audits and performance tests verify that lighting systems are performing as intended, and the results can determine recertification.

5 Tips For Maintaining WELL Certification In Your Properties

There are five tips we recommend for achieving and maintaining WELL certification in a facility:

1. Ensure light quality with tunable white lighting and in-fixture control. The WELL Lighting concept is designed to ensure a high quality of lighting in any given space, determined by several factors, including the light’s ability to:

• Change color
• Adjust correlated color temperature
• Group light sources into preset scenes
• Choose light sources with low flicker
• Choose light sources with high color-rendering capability

Tunable white lighting, which can produce a wide array of color temperatures in a single fixture, is often chosen to provide these features and help meet additional circadian lighting requirements. New technology makes installing and programming tunable white solutions more straightforward and less costly and facilitates adaptable, individual fixture-level control for highly specialized programming in atriums, public areas, conference rooms, and other multi-use spaces.

To maintain the quality of light, choose a tunable white lighting system that automatically adjusts color temperature and intensity throughout the day and is designed to deliver the same quality of light over years of use. Periodically review the lighting schedule and sequence of operations to accommodate seasonal changes, new space layouts, and new employees. Keep in mind that changes to the exterior environment —such as new buildings and mature trees — may significantly impact the interior lighting footprint.  

A system manufacturer may offer a service and support contract that includes annual performance verification or programming packages for yearly light-level tune-ups. Annual or biennial system checks can help simplify WELL recertification and maintain the human-centric qualities of the original lighting design.

2. Embrace daylight and mitigate glare with automated shading systems

Access to natural light is a key tenet of the WELL Building Standard and a coveted amenity for employees. However, the same windows that provide natural daylight and views can also cause uncomfortable glare and heat gain. Daylight must be managed, and WELL recognizes the need for manual or automated shading to protect building occupants from overexposure.

For achieving WELL certification, L05 Daylight Design Strategies calls for either manual shading, for the potential to earn one point, or automated shading, earning two points, on the windows in all regularly occupied areas. To earn maximum points with a sustainable and cost-effective solution, most projects opt for an integrated, low-voltage shading system that can help automatically manage glare and heat gain, with no intervention from building occupants. Shades adjust in response to a defined sequence of operations, exterior daylight conditions, or pre-programmed settings to enhance occupant comfort and help control energy expenses by reducing solar heat gain.

With recertification in mind, inspect shade operations frequently to ensure they are clean and working correctly. If nearby buildings have been erected or razed, verify how these changes affect daylight penetration and adjust shade settings and programming accordingly.

3. Use smaller lighting zones to enhance controllability and energy efficiency

When lighting is designed with smaller control zones, occupants typically have greater control of their lighting environment. Instead of one large zone of fixtures turned on to a uniform lighting level, this design strategy better supports individual user preferences or lighting levels aligned with different tasks. Smaller areas of light can be turned on, off, or dimmed throughout the day. The WELL Building Standard awards points for giving people greater control over the lighting in their immediate area.

As mentioned earlier, individual fixture control creates the opportunity for lighting zones as small as a single fixture. This strategy supports putting personal control in the hands of each employee.

Smaller lighting control zones can often contribute to greater efficiency and reduced energy costs. While WELL certification is more focused on the well-being of building occupants than energy efficiency, energy-efficient lighting systems can also contribute to corporate sustainability, lower environmental impact, and potentially other green building certifications like LEED.

To maintain the value and impact of smaller lighting zones, monitor and track energy use; update light sources as more efficient LEDs are available; and look into system updates such as advanced controls, updated software, and automated shading to reduce energy use while improving the work environment.

4. Use manual controls and occupancy sensors in more spaces

Another WELL concept focuses on installing physical touch points for lighting and shading systems. Wireless solutions can simplify this process and offer long-term advantages for WELL recertification. To gain the most WELL points, occupants should be able to control these lighting zones from a manual control center located in the lighting zone or through a digital interface available on a computer or phone. Wireless keypads make it easy to give control to occupants at any time during or after initial system installation. When it’s time to change system programming, rezone, add points of control, or move sensors based on lighting-use data or user feedback, having a wireless system makes these processes much more accessible.

Set a schedule for measuring and evaluating light levels to ensure they continue to support the original design intent and maintain consistency over time. Replace or repair faulty fixtures and consider a cloud-connected lighting control solution with advanced analytics that alerts you to problems with the system before they impact productivity and occupant well-being. 

5. Conduct regular check-ins with building occupants about the lighting environment

It’s easy to overlook this simple yet critical step in maintaining lighting quality: Take the time to check in with employees, visitors, and contractors to understand their experience with their respective work environment. Are they comfortable? Do they feel connected to the outdoors? Are lighting levels sufficient, too dim, or too bright? Would they like more control over the electric lighting in their main workspace? Are they experiencing eyestrain or temperature shifts that impact comfort and concentration?

People react differently to ambient light levels and daylight glare. Periodic changes to these levels in a facility are fundamental to occupant satisfaction.

Finally, be aware of the condition of interior surfaces and finishings. Your WELL-certified space likely incorporates materials and finishes with high light-reflectance values to enhance efficiency and visual comfort, maximize daylight impact, and reduce electric light use when possible. Keep surfaces well-maintained to preserve their reflective properties. Take stock of furnishing every year, clean fixtures and controls, and refresh them occasionally to maintain the quality and comfort of your space.

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If your project has already achieved WELL certification, the lighting was designed to provide adequate lighting levels for various tasks and activities, accent areas of interest, and meet the needs of the people in the space.

With these five tips in mind, you’ll be on the path to maintaining WELL certification and providing functional, comfortable, sustainable spaces that improve the well-being of building occupants.

This article references the newest version of the WELL Standard—WELL v2, Q1-Q2 2024. For more information on the WELL Building Standard, visit WELL v2 Overview.

Jouaneh, LEED AP, WELL Faculty, is the Sustainability and Energy Standards Manager for Lutron Electronics Co. Inc.

Do you have a comment? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, or send an e-mail to the Editor at jen@groupc.com.

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