There is an increasing momentum behind the WELL accreditaition nationally and internatianlly including a celebrity backed campaign in the U.S. to have buildings ‘WELL Health Safety Rated’.
Here Rocky Wall, Mink MD explains the growth of the WELL Building Standard.
How would you describe the Web Accreditation?
WELL Health-Safety Rating by the International WELL Building Institute is an accreditation to verify that a building or space prioritise the health and safety of its staff, visitors and other stakeholders.
It makes economic sense too particularly in relation to commercial offices. As shown in the graph below too much emphasis previously has been on reducing the energy costs of a building which is less than 1 percent instead of looking at the employee part which are by the far the largest portion of costs.
Industry has spent so much time and energy in increasing efficiencies of this building to make saving of a fraction of 1 percent whereas the WELL standard is about the occcupant’s wellbeing and increasing employee productivity where most of an office costs lie.
Could you explain the WELL accreditation building standard in terms of light?
Current lighting codes and guidelines provide illuminance recommendations for different room types and for typical activities per room. These standards ensure good visual acuity in a variety of tasks to avoid eyestrain and to minimise productivity losses and headaches.
Why has the building standard grown in importance?
There has been huge momentum in promoting and growing the uptake of this building standard since COVID with the message that all buildings should be safe for visitors in terms of hygiene, emergency preparedness and other factors including air purity and lighting.
It’s been backed in an awareness campaign by a number of very high profile celebrities as well as the former Surgeon General of the U.S., Dr Richard Carmona who promote the WELL Health Safety Rating for all public buildings
In a highly publicised campaign in the U.S,. celebrities like Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Robert De Niro have appeared in a commercial promoting the Healthy Safety Rating. Paul Scialla, founder of the International WELL Building Institute said: “This is more than an awareness campaign; it’s meant to ignite a movement.”
The WELL Health-Safety Rating requires a minimum of 15 criteria be met in order to achieve the rating and be awarded the WELL Health-Safety seal.
To date, the Yankee Stadium in New York and the AT&T Stadium in Texas have achieved the WELL Health-Safety Rating.
What is Wink’s role in the implementation of WELL Accreditation and can you give an example of a project?
Wink has worked on a number of projects which will conform to this building standard including the LIDL headquarters in Dublin.
One of our recent projects with Wetchert Architects was on St Stephen’s Green (left) in the city centre where the project had to conform to the WELL certification. This building is the first building where even the demolition had to conform to the WELL certification in terms of how to manage the dust and extractions and with a plan to reuse some of the rubble and conserve materials.
How do you approach visual lighting design in terms of the WELL Building Standard,
Adequate light levels are needed for a broad variety of activities, including reading various qualities and types of print, and working on detail-oriented tasks. Targeted task lighting can provide the necessary amount of light at workspaces without over-illuminating ancillary spaces; ambient light levels of 300 lux are sufficient for most tasks.
Why is glare control important and how do we achieve this?
Non-diffuse, bright indoor lights create uneven levels of brightness in the visual field. The resulting glare, defined as “excessive brightness of the light-source, excessive brightness-contrasts and excessive quantity of light”, can cause visual discomfort (discomfort glare), fatigue, visual impairment and even injury (disability glare), and can be attributed to either direct or reflected glare. In the case of glare caused by electric light sources, lamps should be shielded based on their luminance. Light fixtures of greater luminous intensity require a greater shielding angle to reduce the likelihood of creating direct glare for occupants.
In Well accreditation – there is a principle regarding ‘the right to light’, what does this mean?
Exposure to adequate levels of sunlight is critical for health and well-being, for effects ranging from visual comfort to potential psychological and neurological gains
As such, buildings should utilise daylight as a primary source of lighting to the greatest extent possible.
Proximity to windows, outdoor views and daylight in indoor spaces are some of the most sought-after elements of design.
For more information contact rocky@wink.ie
