IWBI™ and APTA VITAE Trust Join Forces to Advance the WELL Building Standard™ in Italy
MILAN, December 19, 2017 /3BL Media/ – The International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) and APTA VITAE Trust have announced a collaboration to advance health and wellness in buildings and communities in Italy through the WELL Building Standard™ (WELL™).
The aim of the collaboration is to foster awareness among Italian and Mediterranean stakeholders of the importance of healthy buildings and to facilitate the adoption of WELL in Italy. APTA VITAE will also provide access to educational training opportunities for industry professionals through the WELL AP™ (accredited professionals) program. The WELL AP credential denotes expertise in the WELL Building Standard and a commitment to advancing human health and wellness in buildings and communities.
APTA VITAE is the not-for-profit company created to share the vision about the role of buildings and communities in health and wellness, and to promote WELL in the Italian market through education, neworking and community. In October in Milan, CEO Giovanni Fabris presented the new frontier of certification represented by WELL to Italian real estate developers, investors, funds, contractors, architects and designers. IWBI Chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi also delivered the keynote address at the wellference event.
At today’s agreement signing ceremony held in Milan, Kamyar Vaghar, IWBI President, said, "It is time to elevate human health to the forefront of building practices and reinvent buildings so that they are not only better for the environment - but also for people. Throughout history Italy has been a source of inspiration and innovation for building in a way that enhances the human experience. We are truly excited to work with Apta Vitae as they help to drive the healthy buildings movement here.”
WELL is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring features of buildings around the globe that impact the health and wellness of people. It is grounded in evidence-based research that demonstrates the connection between the buildings where people spend approximately 90 percent of their time and those buildings' health and wellness impacts on those who use them.
"Today's agreement,” said Giovanni Fabris from APTA VITAE, “opens the door to bringing this innovative human-centric rating system to Italy. By collaborating with IWBI, we will enable WELL to lead the change in the Italian real estate sector towards increasing the well-being of people while minimizing the environmental impact of buildings and enhancing the value of certified properties."
Launched in 2014, the WELL Building Standard focuses on seven categories of building performance: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Comfort and Mind. WELL combines best practices in design and construction with evidence-based medical and scientific research – harnessing the built environment as a vehicle to support human health and well-being.
A WELL Certified™ project has the potential to add measurable value to the health, well-being, productivity and happiness of the people who live, work, and learn there. Placing people at the heart of design, construction, operations and development decisions has the potential to increase the value of real estate assets, generate savings in personnel costs and improve health and wellness.
WELL is third-party certified by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the same organization that administers certification for LEED and other green building rating systems, as well as the WELL AP credentialing program.
Today, there are more than 625 projects engaged with WELL, covering an area of more than 10 million square meters in 31 countries.
APTA VITAE aims to "facilitate the study, research and divulgation in the field of personal wellness".
The emotional, mental, physical, social and spiritual state makes up the "wellbeing" of an individual, but more than a "state" it is a "dynamic condition" of balance founded on the individual’s capacity to positively interact with the environment despite the ongoing change of the surrounding reality.
About the International WELL Building Institute™
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation that is leading the movement to promote health and wellness in buildings and communities everywhere. IWBI delivers the cutting-edge WELL Building Standard™ and the WELL Community Standard, performance-based systems for measuring, certifying and monitoring features of buildings and communities that impact the health and wellness of the people who live, work, and learn in them. It also supports the growing number of professionals who seek WELL accreditation, as administered by GBCI.
