WELL Community Standard

WELL Community Standard (TM) pilot, is a new global benchmark for healthy, inclusive, equitable, integrated and resilient communities. Through this new pilot program, 110 evidence-based features across 10 concepts promote health and wellness at the district scale: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Temperature, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community. A companion to the WELL Building Standard, the WELL Community Standard was developed through a comprehensive process involving review by subject matter experts, projects and key stakeholders in the fields of architecture, public health, urban planning and engineering..

The WELL Community Standard aims to positively impact individuals beyond the scale of buildings alone – throughout the public spaces where they spend their days. A WELL community has a strong identity that fosters social interaction and engagement. Resources in a WELL community – natural, human and technological – are used effectively, equitably and responsibly to meet the community’s current and future needs. A WELL community may include public, private and joint public-private developments, as well as both new and existing communities. With the WELL Community Standard, it is our hope that projects will be empowered to create their own definition of a “community,” and in doing so, inspire others to build and operate environments that prioritize their unique health and wellness goals.

The WELL Community Standard has three levels of certification, each with a minimum point threshold: 50 for Silver, 60 for Gold, and 80 for Platinum. Projects accumulate points through optimizations (one point each, up to 100); innovations (up to 10 points); achieving healthy building certifications (up to 30 points); and achieving green building certifications (up to 10 points, not to exceed 30 points combined from healthy and green certified buildings).