Fighting fit: all you need to know about Fitwel

Izzy Connolly, Sustainability Consultant

As statistics around chronic diseases and the impacts of physical inactivity become unavoidable, it is essential that buildings are designed to combat these growing challenges. Izzy Connolly, one of our sustainability consultants, is an ambassador for Fitwel, a building certification for projects that can improve health, happiness, and productivity.

What is Fitwel?

Simply put, Fitwel is one of the world’s leading healthy building certifications. While its 2017 launch was in the US, the UK is one of the fastest-growing markets for the certification and is currently ranked third globally in projects that are Fitwel certified.

Fitwel was created to meet the rising demand for practical approaches to improving health within the built environment, supporting a vision of a healthier future where every building is enhanced to support wellbeing.

As an accreditation, it takes an integrated approach to how design and operations of a building or project site can improve health, happiness, and productivity, bringing practical solutions that positively impact occupants’ and residents’ daily routines to promote physical, mental, and social health.

Why is it important?

Buildings that encourage healthy living aren’t a new concept, and the damage that can be done by ones that aren’t up to scratch is far reaching. People are increasingly aware of the many ways design can impact health, and are therefore looking toward more health-promoting environments in both their homes and places of work.

For example, recent research from CBRE shows that the millennials, who now make up the majority of our workforce, are likely to take into account their quality of life (including design and feel of a workplace) when selecting an employer.

Meanwhile, a report from Harvard University’s Joint Centre for Housing Studies indicates that factors such as indoor air quality and environmental factors, such as noise and light pollution, are major concerns when it comes to residential settings.

With those key considerations in mind, it is unsurprising that those behind the design of buildings are looking for ways to ensure that their projects are reflective of the needs of their occupants, and have an objective metric by which to illustrate this.

How does a project become certified?

Fitwel was designed to be as accessible as possible, meaning the vast majority of buildings and development sites can apply its principles regardless of budget, size, or when it was built.

Collectively, these categories address chronic disease at a population level, one benefit of which is an impact on occupant health and productivity at the building level. The key tenets that make up Fitwel certification are related to at least one ‘health impact category’ such as impacting the health of surrounding communities, increasing physical activity and instilling feelings of wellbeing.

Projects are scored against each of these criteria in a points system, leading to a one-, two- or three-star certification. Because of the variety of typologies that can be included, there are different scoring systems for each, from single tenant buildings to senior living, as well as retail and commercial premises. Certification can also be achieved through two pathways, covering buildings that are in design or construction phase, and those that are completed and occupied

Why choose Fitwel for your project?

Izzy Connolly, Sustainability Consultant at CPW, said: “As humans, we spend around 90% of our time indoors, so it is imperative that we make these spaces work well for us. Fitwel is worth pursuing for your development as it can help retain workforce and reduce absenteeism while making the indoor environment a more enjoyable place to be.

“Even if you decide to not go for a full certification or even a rating, applying the principles and some of the credits, such as light, air quality and physical activity, will help to improve physical and mental wellbeing. Buildings can be used to help protect us from what can make us sick but also improve our lives.

“I think it is great that certification systems like this exist to help encourage looking at wellbeing in the construction industry and promoting this for not only clients but end users as well.”

If you’d like to know more about your project becoming Fitwel certified, please get in touch with the team.