Welcome, my flourishing friends! In today’s episode, we are going to talk about wellness and buildings, including different green and sustainable building standards that are out there (such as the WELL Building Standard) and how that evolved into thinking about wellness in our built environment. So, why does sustainability matter when it comes to buildings? From an environmental perspective, we know that a third of our greenhouses gas emissions are associated with buildings and the heating and cooling of those structures. Moreover, plenty of materials need to be produced to build them. When these buildings have served their time, they are dumped in a landfill without being properly deconstructed, which causes large volumes of waste. 

In places like Canada, where I live, we spend more than 90% of our time indoors. Therefore, a better indoor environment becomes increasingly important. Green building standards have been around for a long time. The first one, Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), was established in 1990 in the UK. Today’s discussion is all about the built environment and how we can think about human health, wellbeing, and restoring the planet through the built environment. Listen along as I give you an explanation of the various features that the WELL Building Standards consider when evaluating the environmental impact and sustainability of a building, with particular focus on office spaces. 

Key Points from This Episode:

•    Several reasons why sustainability is relevant in how we construct our buildings. 

•    Learn about BREEAM, the world’s first and leading sustainability assessment method.  

•    The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard.  

•    The Green Globes standard: a practical and easy-to-implement framework. 

•    Examples of the kind of infrastructural components evaluated by these standards. 

•    The origin of the WELL Building Standard, what the programme entails, and its accreditation.  

•    The prevalent concerns around the sick building syndrome that emerged in the 1980s. 

•    Shifting thoughts about building energy-efficient buildings while still protecting the wellbeing of their occupants. 

•    Unpacking the condition of “nature deficit disorder” and its plethora of repercussions. 

•    The levels of certification and the preconditions for projects to be certified. 

•    Why green buildings and sustainability are also in the best interest of employers. 

Quotables: 

“I do believe that how we build our infrastructure plays an enormous role in how we live our lives and how we interact with the world that sustains us.” — Kristina Hunter [0:38:47]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: 

Kristina Hunter

International WELL Building Institute

BREEAM

The U.S. Green Building Council

Green Globes 

BOMA BEST

World Health Organization

Last Child in the Woods 

Richard Louv

Fitwel

Living Building Challenge