Welcome to the first building in the US to achieve the gold standard of the International Building Wellness Institute (IWBI). While many of you have not built Well buildings and/or communities in your recent work, I suspect that you will be asked to in the near future. That will become more prevalent as the Well Community movement expands in the US and around the world.
This research and development building, the first in the US to meet the Well standards, is located campus of EMD Serano, a biopharmaceutical business of Merck in Bellerica, Mass. According to a recent article in Building Design + Construction magazine, “The Sagemore Building, as it is known, is part of a three-building, 275,000-sf campus with more than 500 employees who work to accelerate R&D innovation in oncology, immune-oncology, and immunology. The campus is one of four global R&D hubs for the company. The Sagemore Building, which was completed last year, has also earned LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.”
The Well standards focus on the building’s ability to satisfy the needs of the building users in 7 categories – Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Comfort, Mind and Innovation. There are over 100 criteria that must be addressed in the design and construction of the building and those criteria vary by the typology of the building.
The process, much like the Leed process, begins in the pre-design stage and is concluded in the post occupancy review by the Well team. This rating system had its beginnings in Europe and is being adopted by global companies who have operations in the US.
You can read the criteria that must be met and rated in the IBWI in the overview of IBWI here: https://www.wellcertified.com/en/explore-standard .
