Chris Ward from BREEAM looks at the recent alignment between BREEAM and the WELL Building Standard at the Constructing Excellence Sustainabilty Theme Group on 31 January 2017.

1. Part of the BRE Trust
Alignment between BREEAM and The WELL Building
StandardTM
Dr Chris Ward, Principal Consultant, BRE
CE Sustainability Theme Group – Healthy Buildings & Wellness
31 January 2017

2. BREEAM overview
– World’s first sustainability rating scheme for the built
environment
– Over 2.25 million registered buildings
– Over 550,000 certified buildings
– Applied in 78 countries
– Pushes performance beyond regulatory minima/ standard
practice
– Based on robust science and evidence
– Holistic assessment of sustainability issues

3. BREEAM assessment categories
innovation
transport land use &
ecology
materials management
water
energy
waste
health &
wellbeing
pollution

4. BREEAM life cycle stages & buildings schemes
– BREEAM UK New Construction 2014
– BREEAM International New Construction 2016
– BREEAM UK Refurbishment & Fit-out 2014
– BREEAM International Refurbishment & Fit-out 2015
– BREEAM In-Use International 2015

5. WELL Building StandardTM (WELL)
– Launched in late 2014 by Delos
– Operated by International WELL
Building InstituteTM (IWBITM)
– Certification through Green Business
Certification Inc (GBCI)
– “WELL is the first building standard to
focus exclusively on the health and
wellness of the people in buildings.
WELL is a performance-based system
for measuring and certifying features of
buildings that impact human health and
well-being, through air, water,
nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and
mind.”
– Certification after post-occupancy
‘Performance Verification’

6. Health & Wellbeing in BREEAM
– Integral part of BREEAM schemes since 1990
– 2 recent BREEAM Briefing Papers on the subject
1. Health and Wellbeing in BREEAM
– Indoor environment
– Ecology and outdoor space
– Active/healthy lifestyle
– Safety and security
– H&W of users in surrounding areas (Pollution)
– Management/Consultation/Handover
2. Health and Wellbeing Strategy
– Health and safety in the construction process
– Occupant health and wellbeing
– Neighbour health and wellbeing
– Free downloads: http://www.breeam.com/resources

7. BRE collaboration with IWBI
– Announcement of collaboration on
28 November 2016
– BREEAM and WELL alignment
– Technical mapping/ ‘crosswalk’
– H&W research
– BRE office building to become
'living lab' for occupant health
and wellbeing

8. BREEAM and WELL alignment
– BRE and IWBI have agreed
specific technical issues where
documentation/evidence will be
recognised by both organisations
– BREEAM Briefing Paper published
30 January 2017
http://www.breeam.com/resources
– Alignment classification
– Equivalent
– Partially equivalent
– Aligned
– Not covered
– Includes issues covered by UK and
EU regulations

9. BREEAM credit alignment with WELL features

10. WELL feature alignment with BREEAM credits

11. Overall BREEAM alignment against WELL feature parts
16%
1%
14%
69%
BREEAM UK NC & RFO
Equivalent Partial equivalence
Aligned Not covered
16%
1%
12%
71%
BREEAM International NC & RFO
Equivalent Partial equivalence
Aligned Not covered

12. Overall BREEAM alignment against WELL feature parts
11%
1%
18%
70%
BREEAM In-Use
Equivalent Partial equivalence
Aligned Not covered

13. WELL feature parts addressed in BREEAM UK New
Construction
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Air Water Nourishment Light Fitness Comfort Mind
Equivalent Partially equivalent Aligned Not covered

14. WELL feature parts addressed in BREEAM International
New Construction
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Air Water Nourishment Light Fitness Comfort Mind
Equivalent Partially equivalent Aligned Not covered

15. WELL feature parts addressed in BREEAM In-Use
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Air Water Nourishment Light Fitness Comfort Mind
Equivalent Partially equivalent Aligned Not covered

16. Future work
– BRE and IWBI will update Briefing Paper as BREEAM
and WELL standards are updated/modified
– Gather information from projects applying both standards
– Review possibility of closer alignment during BREEAM
scheme updates (e.g. UK New Construction 2018)
– Collaborate on H&W research and integrate findings into
standards

17. Questions?
BREEAM Briefing Papers:
www.breeam.com/resources
Email: Christopher.Ward@bre.co.uk