As the demand for housing grows, so does the need for healthy, resilient, and sustainable homes. The new WELL for Residential certification addresses much of this critical need. At The Green Engineer, we can bring extensive WELL experience and expertise to support project teams in pursuing this innovative certification.
But first – the source of my outlook on this subject: I live in a multifamily residential condo building, newly constructed in 2018. Over the past few years there have been several issues– failures in the weather barrier, plumbing leaks within units, leaks in the roof membrane, missing water drainage for exterior patios, questionable material selections - presumably to save on construction costs, and poor installation of materials to name a few. All the while, this building was in a city requiring LEED certifiable design and construction and had passed the inspections necessary to receive Certificate of Occupancy. Consider also that there are affordable units in the building. The poor quality of construction, and perhaps poor or uninformed decisions during have resulted in assessed fees that represent a failure for a building of its size and age. These challenges represent similar situations in recently constructed multi-family housing projects and they highlight the urgent need for higher standards in residential construction, which is exactly what the new WELL for Residential certification aims to address.
At the end of 2023, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) quietly launched the pilot version of a new health and wellness certification system tailored to the residential market: WELL for Residential. It is a unique, detailed, expertly crafted piece of work. It addresses an often overlooked and easily dismissed need for healthy, resilient home design and construction standards while also addressing the issues that have been encountered by multifamily residential projects trying to fit into the primary WELL Building Standard.
The WELL Building Standard initially focused on the commercial office worker (and the employers looking to increase productivity, employee retention, employee wellbeing, etc.) It then expanded scope to include different sectors, building types, ownership arrangements and multifamily residential projects.
However, many of the requirements from the WELL Building Standard (both versions 1 and 2) were not written, nor designed, with resident occupants (or the ownership arrangement of residences) in mind. In fact, although the WELL Building Standard is well-known for being a rigorous and stringent third-party certification standard, the lack of emphasis on residential settings caused a lot of common best practices and residential-specific issues and opportunities to be missed.
Fortunately, this oversight was not overlooked by IWBI. A group of advisors with over 100globally renowned subject matter experts were convened to develop the WELL for Residential standard, and IWBI tasked Kelsey Mullen, former Director of Residential for LEED programs at USGBC, to bring the standard to launch. That mission was accomplished in December of 2023 when it launched with “25 Pilot participants and nearly30,000 enrolled homes.”
You may ask “why might one care about WELL for Residential?” WELL for Residential offers a flexible roadmap for healthier and more resilient homes to “fortify our housing against future health threats and challenges.”
For anyone who might have reservations based on an experience through the rigorous WELL certification process before, WELL for Residential has removed mandatory requirements (Preconditions), compliance is based on individual dwelling units. A unit must demonstrate at least 40 points of approximately 200 total. There’s also no re-certification requirement in WELL for Residential; it’s a one-time achievement.
With the current nationwide and regional housing shortage, there’s an urgent need for more residential supply. Our current scenario is a recipe for poor quality housing that may not be up to the task of providing resilient dwellings that can shelter people as the physical and mental impacts of climate change become more urgent. We need newly constructed homes to be built to address a large and expanding range of needs, but at the core for sustainability and wellbeing, they must:
·Be designed and built to operate efficiently in current and future climate and weather conditions.
·Be built to operate all-electrically seamlessly receiving renewable energy as the electrical grid transitions away from fossil-fuels.
·Be designed with materials that have or will reduce their embodied carbon.
·Be designed and built durably to avoid undue costs on homeowners through the anticipated life of the building.
·Be designed and built to provide environments that are optimal to occupant health and wellbeing, such as:
o Provide enough clean fresh air and water
o Provide thermal and acoustical comfort including high moisture mitigation
o Introduce abundant daylight and mitigate light intrusion at night
o Avoid chemicals of concern in building products
o Design to preclude pests
o Facilitate good hygiene
o Provide safe environments
o Provide digital connectivity
o Foster community
o Educate residents / owners how to maintain the building and system themselves.
New housing stock must learn from errors like those encountered in the building in which I live; it must be built to a higher standard. They must be able to sustain themselves– particularly through the changing climate - and incorporate low-cost common-sense strategies to improve the quality of life for residents.
Sustainable, healthy home building should no longer be just a trend; it's a necessity. As we look to the future of housing, it’s time to embrace standards that prioritize health, resilience, and sustainability. Discover how WELL for Residential can elevate the standards of your next project, ensuring that homes are built not just to shelter, but to enhance well-being and embody a reduced impact on our environment.
Interested in pursuing WELL for any upcoming projects? Contact our team, and let’s explore how we can collaborate to achieve your goals.
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