Driven by Demand for People-first Places, WELL Uptake Soars Across Asia-Pacific

NEW YORK, December 14, 2021 /3BLMedia/ – The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) announced exponential growth of the adoption of WELL programs across Asia-Pacific as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to elevate the importance of health, safety and well-being in buildings, communities and organizations in the region. The rapid uptake in Asia-Pacific is a major highlight in IWBI’s milestone celebration for crossing the 300 million square meter mark of spaces applying WELL offerings worldwide.

To date, nearly 80 million square meters of real estate are applying WELL programs across Asia-Pacific – representing a twofold increase in adoption of all WELL offerings in the past year.

China, with 22 million square meters to date enrolled under WELL Certification, ranks No. 1 for the cumulative total of enrolled space in this category worldwide. Driven in part by a demand for healthy homes, China also has the highest percentage of residential projects – 43% of WELL projects in the country are residential buildings. Australia is a leading country for WELL building’s market saturation in commercial real estate. Approximately 25% of all commercial office space in Australia is engaged in a WELL pathway, due largely to an increase in organizations pursuing the WELL Health-Safety Rating and WELL Building Standard strategies to support the return of people to their workplaces.

India, Thailand and Hong Kong, which have experienced rapid growth in WELL Certification in the past two years, are now among the top-10 performing markets across the globe. India’s enrollment in WELL Certification increased from four million square meters to nearly nine million square meters in the past year. India also rose to the top 10 markets for the WELL Health-Safety Rating.

“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 impact,” said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI. “It is incredibly encouraging to see these regional leading customers and projects deliver far-reaching influence that enables other organizations to follow.”

“To put it simply, WELL has exploded across the region over the past two years,” said Jack Noonan, vice president, Commercial, APAC. “Driven by demand for people-first places as our region fights our way out of the pandemic, organizations are engaging in new and inaugural ways to incorporate WELL strategies and offerings at scale, highlighting the increasing prioritization of well-being for office workers, residents, tenants and everyone in between.”

The WELL Building Standard (WELL) ecosystem, which comprises 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 over 2,000 organizations ranging from 20% of Fortune 500 companies, regional public sector and governmental entities, to real estate developers, sustainability consultancies and others. Globally, in the past 12 months, the building area applying WELL offerings has tripled to three billion square feet, so that today WELL supports the health and well-being of 13.6 million people in nearly 35,000 locations in almost 100 countries.

The Asia-Pacific regional growth can be linked to elevated awareness to scale health and well-being at portfolio or community levels, increasing interest in leveraging the WELL framework into organizational ESG strategies, strong influence by market leaders as well as enhanced market support through extended teams of WELL professionals. Highlights include the following:

• Over a dozen WELL Portfolio submissions and WELL Community projects from the region lead the global trend to scale health and well-being impact. Leading brands include Lendlease, JLL, Charter Hall, Investa, Shanghai Expo UBPA, Xintiandi, Cbus Property, National University of Singapore, Forestias, NEO Properties, Beijing Winter Olympic Village Talent, Ting Ho, Aoyuan, Embassy REIT and Guangzhou Yuexiu.
• Market leaders blazing the trail of WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management in the region include Carrier, Brookfield, Netflix, Eden Park Stadium, Standard Chartered, Menarco, Hub Australia, Dexus, and Built.
• The IWBI team of nearly 30 individuals across the region demonstrates continuous growth and long-term commitment to facilitating market uptake.
• The community of WELL Accredited Professionals (WELL APs) went up by 1,540 in the past year to reach nearly 7,000.
• Oceania continuously leads the charge in reporting on Global Real Estate Benchmark (GRESB) with the highest regional score in recent years, closely followed by Asia. Australia has been the top-ranking country for the past 11 years of ESG scoring by GRESB. Participating organizations in this region leverage WELL achievements on GRESB reporting and other ESG rating platforms. Approximately 80% of the GRESB Sector Leaders from Oceania use the WELL Building Standard.
• Lendlease Australian Prime Property Fund (APPF) Commercial Core received the 2021 IWBI Chairman’s Award for its market transforming efforts that scales the impact on the health and well-being of nearly 60,000 employees and customers through the achievements of the WELL Health-Safety Rating across 15 properties and earning WELL Certification across six of those properties.

About the International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people-first places to advance a global culture of health. IWBI mobilizes its community through the administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and the WELL Health-Safety Rating, management of the WELL AP credential, the pursuit of applicable research, the development of educational resources, and advocacy for policies that promote health and well-being everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.

International WELL Building Institute pbc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delos Living LLC. International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL Portfolio, WELL Portfolio Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rating, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Health-Equity, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Enterprise Provider, WELL EP, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute in the United States and other countries.

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