Fitwel is one of a handful of certifications looking to assess the impact of the buildings in which we live and work on our daily lives and long-term health. It describes itself as “a data driven certification system which aims to optimise buildings to support occupant health and well-being”. Growth in Fitwel and the field of health and wellbeing is gathering pace and this has been driven at both ends of the commercial property supply chain with investors wanting to quantify and recognise the wellbeing credentials of their buildings, and occupiers wanting to do the same to attract and retain new talent.

It is with the above in mind that we at Workman have been working closely with Fitwel to provide feedback for its accreditation process adapted specifically to multi-let buildings. We hope that these efforts will help Fitwel grow and mean that the buildings which we certify are benchmarked against an even greater number of assets in a similar class, thereby increasing the value of the rating itself.

One challenge we initially faced with the multi-let version of Fitwel was around the definition of ‘Regular Occupants’ on the Fitwel scorecard as originally it was designed only for single-let buildings or occupiers’ areas only. As with most certification systems, a delicate balance also needs to be struck between the ease of application to as many assets as possible, whilst still maintaining a high level of rigor to the methodology behind the system. Evidence suggests that Fitwel does an excellent job of finding this balance with 97% of Fitwel pilot study participants describing reporting as an easy process while the standard itself is derived from over 3,000 research studies focusing on a broad array of health and wellbeing related topics in detail.

Having worked with Fitwel to adapt their certification process to multi-let buildings, we are now working with them to attain Fitwel certification at an asset under management, 80 Cheapside in The City of London, which Workman both manages and occupies. This involves looking at a range of management aspects of the building as diverse as building location and access to water supply, food services and vending machine provision.

We are excited to be involved in the development of this industry-recognised accreditation and to learn more about the standard’s implementation and the resulting benefits from our own case study. We look forward to sharing the results of this work and to helping Fitwel and health and wellbeing develop within our managed portfolio.

For further information on Fitwel, see their website: www.fitwel.org

This article was originally published on the Workman website here.