New Delhi: Apart from ‘Green’ Building tag, a commercial property can now get a ‘Wellness’ certificate too. This new certification is catching and is given to a building if it meets certain criteria for promotion of health and wellness of the people working in it.
In 2014, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) introduced a well defined standard for the building to be certified as ‘well’. A building has to meet the standards of promotion of social, economic and environmental well-being of the humans working in it. (IWBI) has tied up with U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and India’s The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) to certify buildings in India for wellness.
The standards include the construction aspects like size of windows etc. They also include the aspects of interiors like paint colour, layout of the furniture, accessories of the building, type of flooring, height of desks and chairs and many other such details.
There a number of buildings that have gone in for such a certification globally. In India too, there a clutch of buildings that have been certified as ‘Well’. Some of these buildings are Prestige Falcon Tower in Bengaluru and Paharpur Business Centre in Delhi.
These buildings are able to get higher rents as compared to the other buildings. This is because the corporate as realizing that its human resource is really an asset and the employees these days want much more than just a workplace. Their aspirations from their employer are going up and a better office set up is one of the things that matter to them. Thus corporate are willing to pay a higher rent for a building which promotes wellness and health.
Even the developers are keen to construct such buildings now as they know they can get better rents for them.