What We Can Learn From The WELL Building Standard

22 June 2026

Administered by the International WELL Building Institute and launched globally in 2014, WELL is the leading framework for built environments designed around occupant health.

Approximately 600 million square metres of real estate across more than 100,000 locations in 138 countries now participate in the WELL programme.

In Australia, uptake has accelerated as organisations connect the quality of their built environment to the performance of their people.

What the Frameworks Measure

WELL, Green Star, NABERS, and other equivalents were built to measure environmental performance, including energy consumption, water efficiency, materials, and emissions. They are essential frameworks, and they have meaningfully lifted the baseline of sustainable construction in Australia. Taking it that step further, they also help to provide insight into occupant health.

Fitouts directly influence air quality, acoustics, lighting, and thermal comfort. Poor interior decisions can weaken wellbeing and tenant experience, affecting retention, satisfaction, and leasing performance.

People spend approximately 90 per cent of their lives indoors, according to the National Human Activity Pattern Survey. That single figure reframes the indoor environment from a facilities consideration to one of the most significant health exposures in any working adult’s life. The WELL Building Standard was developed with that reality at its centre.

What Does the WELL Building Standard Framework Cover?

The standard is organised across ten concept areas: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind, and community. Each concept is supported by preconditions required for certification and optimisations that contribute to a higher certification level, from Silver through Gold to Platinum.

Air and light are where the most visible performance gaps lie in existing commercial buildings. WELL sets specific thresholds for ventilation rates, particulate matter, CO₂ concentration, circadian-supportive lighting, and glare control. Harvard’s COGfx Study found that cognitive function scores doubled in environments with enhanced ventilation compared to conventional building conditions.

The mind and community concepts address dimensions of occupant health that no physical specification can fully capture: access to mental health resources, design that supports psychological safety, and spaces that enable social connection and belonging. This is where WELL moves beyond building performance into the organisational and cultural conditions that shape how people experience their environment every day.

Using WELL as a Strategic Workplace Design Tool

Pursuing the WELL certification can be a great initiative for many organisations, however it can also be a useful lens for evaluating current environments and planning future investment. Certification carries a cost: registration fees, documentation, third-party testing, and the capital investment required to meet preconditions. Maintaining this status also requires an ongoing financial commitment, as businesses must complete testing every year to recertify. For some occupiers full certification may not be feasible.

But these principles remain valuable as a diagnostic framework regardless of whether formal certification is pursued. An organisation can use the air, light, thermal comfort, and sound benchmarks to audit its current environment, identify the specific conditions that are affecting occupant performance, and build a prioritised investment case.

This is where workplace strategy and WELL align. A workplace strategy process builds the evidence base that connects how an organisation’s people work to the environments they need to perform. WELL provides the standardised benchmarks against which that evidence can be evaluated. CRE and FM professionals who understand both are governing the environmental conditions that determine cognitive output across every person in the building, with the data to defend every investment decision made in response.

Applying the 10 WELL Concepts as a Workplace Strategy Framework

Air

Clean air reduces the spread of airborne illnesses, lowers absent days, and improves mental focus.

Key Focus Areas: Ventilation rates, particle filtration, and control of indoor pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Office Assessment Questions: Are meeting rooms stuffy? Is there regular maintenance on ventilation systems? Are cleaning products low-chemical?
Low-Cost Action: Add air-purifying plants, use green cleaning products, and open windows where possible to increase fresh air.

Water

Staying hydrated supports energy levels and brain function throughout the workday.

Key Focus Areas: Water quality testing (for heavy metals and bacteria) and availability of drinking water.
Office Assessment Questions: Is filtered water easily accessible from all desks? Are water dispensers cleaned regularly?
Low-Cost Action: Install basic water filters on taps and provide reusable water bottles to staff.

Nourishment

Eating healthy food improves long-term health and prevents energy crashes in the afternoon.

Key Focus Areas: Availability of fresh food, clear labelling of ingredients, and limiting highly processed snacks.
Office Assessment Questions: Does the office kitchen stock fruit or just biscuits? Are there spaces to store and prepare fresh meals?
Low-Cost Action: Replace vending machine crisps with nuts and fruit, and ensure the communal fridge is clean and spacious.

Light

Correct lighting keeps our natural sleep-wake cycles on track, which improves sleep quality and daily alertness.

Key Focus Areas: Daylight access, glare control, and artificial light quality.
Office Assessment Questions: Do employees have views of the outside? Is there glare on computer screens? Is the lighting too dim or too harsh?
Low-Cost Action: Rearrange desks to maximise natural light and add adjustable blinds to control glare.

Movement

Sitting for long periods harms health. Designing movement into the day keeps employees active and reduces physical strain.

Key Focus Areas: Active design, ergonomic furniture, and encouraging physical activity.
Office Assessment Questions: Are stairs visible and appealing to use? Do people have sit-stand desks?
Low-Cost Action: Prompt regular stretching breaks during long meetings and place printers or bins further away to encourage short walks.

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Thermal comfort

When people are too hot or too cold, productivity drops and frustration rises.

Key Focus Areas: Temperature control, humidity levels, and individual choice.
Office Assessment Questions: Do employees frequently complain about the temperature? Are there draughts?
Low-Cost Action: Provide desk fans or blankets, and create different temperature zones in the office if possible.

Sound

Noise distraction is a major cause of workplace stress and reduced focus.

Key Focus Areas: Noise insulation, sound absorption, and background noise levels.
Office Assessment Questions: Can you hear conversations from the next desk clearly? Are there quiet zones for focused work?
Low-Cost Action: Use soft furnishings like rugs or acoustic panels to absorb sound, and set clear etiquette rules for quiet areas.

Materials

Many building materials contain chemicals that release gases over time, affecting long-term health.

Key Focus Areas: Safe material sourcing, waste management, and reducing hazardous chemicals.
Office Assessment Questions: Do new furniture pieces or carpets have a strong chemical smell?
Low-Cost Action: Choose furniture and paints with low-VOC labels during any office updates.

Mind

A workplace should support mental health through design, access to nature, and stress reduction.

Key Focus Areas: Nature-inspired design (biophilia), relaxation spaces, and mental health support.
Office Assessment Questions: Is the office grey and sterile? Is there a quiet space to take a break from work?
Low-Cost Action: Introduce natural materials like wood, maximise views of greenery, and designate a tech-free rest room.

Community

A strong sense of community fosters belonging, equity, and organisational trust.

Key Focus Areas: Inclusive design, health benefits, and civic engagement.
Office Assessment Questions: Is the office accessible for everyone? Do policies support parental leave and diverse needs?
Low-Cost Action: Celebrate cultural events, offer flexible working structures, and create inclusive communal spaces for socialising.

What is the difference between WELL and Green Star?

The two frameworks address different questions. Green Star measures the broader environmental sustainability of a building. WELL zeroes in exclusively on human health and occupant wellbeing. A high-performing building in 2026 takes both seriously, and the documentation required for one frequently contributes to the other.

In practice, organisations pursuing WELL find meaningful overlap with Green Star requirements in ventilation, materials, and access to daylight. The certifications can be pursued in parallel without duplicating the underlying work. For organisations earlier in the process, applying WELL-informed design decisions during a workplace transformation, without pursuing formal certification, still delivers a measurable return in the environments people experience.

The question worth asking before the next lease decision

WELL is growing in visibility but remains poorly understood by many of the organisations that would benefit most from it. For tenants evaluating new premises, the WELL status of a building, or a landlord’s willingness to support its pursuit, is becoming a meaningful differentiator in the decision.

For organisations already in their premises, the WELL framework offers a structured way to move from a stated commitment to health toward a set of specific, measurable conditions that can be invested in and tracked over time. Understanding how WELL connects to broader organisational health strategy is explored in depth in PMG’s Culture of Health whitepaper, which maps the five pillars of workplace health and the organisational conditions required to sustain them. The organisations using it most effectively are treating it as a decision-making input before the lease is signed, building the case for environments that support their people from the moment they commit to a space.