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The WELL Health-Safety Rating: what do you need to know?

The new WELL Health-Safety Rating helps create healthier and safer buildings for all users. In this post, we explain how owners and occupiers of all building types can use it today.

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The International Well Building Institute (IWBI) has published its new WELL Health-Safety Rating. This certification is recommended by TFT as a tool to prepare workplaces and other facilities for use in a post-COVID-19 environment thanks to its specific and practical guidance, which can help build trust among building users and visitors as we transition to increased building usage and seek to mitigate future risks.

TFT is embedding these principals, published by the IWBI, for our offices and in best practice guides for our clients. Our teams are here to help occupier organisations and building owners understand the certification and provide a higher standard of well-being by applying it.

What is the WELL Health-Safety Rating?

The WELL Health-Safety Rating is an evidence based and third-party verified rating for all new and existing building and facility types. The rating focuses on operational policies, maintenance protocols, occupant engagement and emergency plans across six themes, including:

  • Cleaning and Sanitization Procedures
  • Emergency Preparedness Programs
  • Health Service Resources
  • Air and Water Quality Management
  • Stakeholder Engagement and Communication
  • Innovation

The full set of requirements are now available on wellcertified.com.

Get in touch with our team to find out how those apply to your organisation or building.

Does the WELL Health-Safety Rating deal with COVID-19 risks?

The IWBI is clear that the latest certification doesn’t make an organisation or building COVID-proof. However, it was developed in response to the pandemic and details interventions at a building and organisation scale which help reduce the risk of infectious diseases transmission. Furthermore, the strategies it contains apply to numerous health and safety issues relevant today and in the future.

What types of building can attain the WELL Health-Safety Rating?

The rating applies to any type of building, as well as any type of single-use or single-owner space within a building. Multi-use spaces such as stadiums, airports and shopping malls can also be certified by the same themes, but the application would take a different form due to differing requirements for the various uses of the space.

WELL Health-Safety rating applies to all building types, including office, restaurant, hospitality, education, retail and industrial sectors

Will it help me achieve a full WELL certification for my building?

Yes! While the Health-Safety Rating is a certification in its own right, and achieving it is a significant step for an organisation’s well-being journey, it will also support an application to become fully WELL-certified.

Given that it deals with a very immediate concern for employees and other building users, embarking on this process is timely and a good future-proofing step for your building or organisation.

Do you have other questions about the latest rating from WELL? Get in touch to learn how it could help you progress your organisation’s well-being journey.

TFT advises Grainger on £22.1m scheme

TFT has provided Technical Due Diligence (TDD) advice to Grainger for their acquisition of the 233 apartment PRS element within the Rock Shopping Centre in Bury. The interest was acquired from JV Kennedy Wilson Europe and Fairfax Financial.

The 140,800sq ft residential scheme includes a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats and sits in the heart of the 550,000sq ft retail and leisure complex.

PGF 11 SA V Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance (2010)

In 2008, the claimants, PGF, were the landlord of a six-storey office building in Lime Street in the City of London. The building was let to Royal & Sun Alliance (the first defendant) under a 35 year lease until 24 June 2008 and, in turn, sub-let to London & Edinburgh Insurance (the second defendant) on a sub-lease expiring four days before the expiry of the head lease.

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Imminent changes to the way that offices are measured

From 1st January 2016, the ‘RICS Code of Measuring Practice (6th edition) 2007’ will no longer apply to the measurement of office property. The ‘International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS): Office Buildings’ outlines the new global standards for the measurement of office buildings and following these will be mandatory for RICS members. The measurement of residential, industrial, retail and mixed use buildings is however still governed by ‘RICS Code of Measuring Practice (6th edition) 2007’.

New definitions will be adopted which equate closely (but not exactly) to former terms:

  • IPMS 1: this equates closely to GEA (gross external area)
  • IPMS 2 – Office: this equates closely to GIA (gross internal area)
  • IPMS 3 – Office: this equates closely to NIA (net internal area)

The changes from the old to the new definitions include:

  • IPMS 1: covered galleries, balconies and accessible rooftop terraces are included in measurements but stated separately
  • IPMS 2 – Office: the sum of the areas of each floor are measured from the internal dominant face* and reported on a component-by-component basis for each floor of the building (e.g. vertical penetrations, structural elements, hygiene areas, workspace etc.).
  • IPMS 3 – Office: all internal walls (both structural and non-structural) and columns (both structural and non-structural, island and engaged) within an occupiers exclusive area are included, half of the area of a wall with an adjacent tenant is included, areas occupied by the reveals of windows when they are assessed as the internal dominant face* are included, limited use areas and unusable space (between island columns and walls for example) are included

*The internal dominant face is defined by IPMS as being ‘the inside finished surface comprising 50% or more of the surface area for each Vertical Section forming an internal perimeter’.

The above is just a summary, listing some of the important changes that will be implemented in the New Year. For the full list of changes and discussion, please see the ‘RICS Property Measurement (1st edition) 2015’ document.