If you think a healthy environment is defined in
this age of COVID-19 as plexiglass dividers and
hand sanitizers, your assumptions fall short of the
mark. An overarching health and safety protocol transcends
the accumulation of product to encompass a holistic
approach to both mind and body—and not just before a
vaccine is widely available, but well beyond.
Building wellness has morphed in the past few pandemic-
drenched months from an important option into
a necessity. “Wellness and sustainability are not only a
mark of good stewardship, but they’re also a commitment
to the health and well-being of building occupants and
the larger community,” says Bharati Bhosale, LEED AP
BD+C/ID+C, WELL AP, BREEAM In-Use Licensed Assessor,
Fitwel Ambassador, national operations manager for
Environment and Sustainability at UL EHS Sustainability.
“Tenant and employee wellness was already becoming
more of a focus for building owners in the past few years,
and the COVID-19 pandemic has put the issues of indoor
environmental quality into hyper-focus, both for building
reoccupancy and ongoing management.”
What does this mean in terms of practical application,
beyond the obvious, low-hanging fruit of hand sanitizers
and masks? Part of the answer is technological (see “Technology Can Build Tenant Confidence"). But, more
than this or that gee-whiz technology, there must be a solid
and productive connection between manager and tenant.
In the simple, pre-pandemic days, “everyone expected
and assumed air quality and humidity were being
addressed in their buildings,” says Ilan Zachar, senior vice
president and chief technology officer for Carr Properties.
“Now, people are going to require more information.
They’ll want to understand more, and they’ll be a little
more demanding.” That demand will necessitate greater
transparency and clear communications, be it in the form
of signage, emails or face-to-face interaction.
Twin Needs: Transparency, Resilience
Whitney Austin Gray, PhD, LEED AP, WELL AP, encourages
companies to be transparent and clearly communicate
their risk avoidance and risk management strategies.
“I highly recommend that companies designate someone
on your senior staff who can speak to the issues around
employee health, both in the prevention of the spread of
COVID-19 and in the long-term recovery, both physical
and mental,” says the International WELL Building Institute
head of research.
She explains that, in the United Kingdom, the National
Health Service this past May tracked almost three times
more cases of people out of work for mental health issues
than before COVID. “Even after a large-scale roll out of
the vaccine, I predict there will be long-felt mental health
problems that companies will need to address in their
workforces,” Gray states.
So, if you don’t have that senior staffer on board, she
urges, “you need to get someone real fast.” The virus
clearly isn’t waiting, but, in a business sense as well, neither
is your competition. She reports seeing a surge in
companies communicating to their employees the “investment
in health and human capital” through such mechanisms
as corporate sustainability reports and environmental,
social and corporate governance (ESG) messaging.
“l see a strategic business advantage here, and it’s not
optional.”
Wellness Initiatives at Work
The property professionals at Carr put the ideas of transparency
and resilience into practical application. Outfits
like Carr have been practicing some form of environmental
health strategy for years now. COVID (to oversimplify
the concept) is the newest wrinkle in that plan.
“We haven’t stopped in terms of our efforts to ensure
our customers are safe,” says Linda Cogburn, LEED Green
Associate, RPA, who is Carr’s vice president of Operations.
The firm’s touchless environment is expanding, she
says, and access to stairwells also helps all stakeholders
opt for a little exercise while avoiding the close quarters
of overcrowded elevators. “The next phase of this will be
our response to the vaccine, however that shapes up.” (Of
course, much of that will be determined by the availability
of the injections.) One way or the other, states Cogburn,
“Components of these initiatives will always live on.”
And, live on they will in an initiative christened “The
Carr Experience,” billed as “an immersive, integrated and
interactive” tool to bring tenants, their buildings and the
buildings’ management teams closer together. There’s a
raft of concierge-type services available through its app,
but there’s also access to a variety of such building-specific
wellness options as lunch-and-learn sessions and health
and wellness workshops. Down the road, part of that offering
will focus on air quality information as well.
“We’re piloting many different technologies and adding
them to our analytics platform,” explains Zachar. “This
information will allow us to react much quicker.” Comparisons
of indoor and outdoor air quality and automated
adjustments to bring one in line with the other are just a
sample of the analytics Carr is shooting for. “Given specific
criteria, conditions and occupants, we can see how the
building is behaving, or how it has to adjust itself.” In just
one building, the app has been downloaded by more than
50 percent of the occupants. “We consider that a very high
success rate,” he adds.
Carr’s commitment to environmental well-being is
evidenced in The Wilson, a 362,643-square-foot Class A
office property in Bethesda, Maryland, that delivered in
Q4. Boasting “an advanced HVAC system that circulates 75
percent outside air throughout the building,” The Wilson
maintains a focus on sustainability, health and well-being
that was instrumental in drawing Walker & Dunlop into a
59,000-foot relocation of its headquarters.
Of course, not all firms are at the same level of preparedness
and, therefore, resilience, as Carr. “Are companies
scrambling?” asks (then answers) Gray. “Sure. But,
this is the time to do it right and bring strong leadership
on board. Some companies have struggled to have their
leadership invest in programs, such as WELL. Now, we see
those same companies quickly coming on board to assure
that they have a third party that can verify their approach
to healthy places for all. It’s an investment in human capital,
and it shows when companies haven’t done it.”
A Breath of Fresh Air
While so much of environmental well-being today goes
beyond the mechanics of a building’s infrastructure, indoor
air quality still remains at the center of the storm or, in
this case, the virus. In fact, in the recent national survey of
building occupants conducted jointly by BOMA International,
Yardi and Brightline Strategies, maximized fresh air
ranked first in respondents’ perceived notion of protocols
that bring building value (see "Survey Says: The Office Remains a Driver of Business Success”).
With that in mind, air and environmental quality assessments
are key offerings from UL, as Bhosale explains, adding
that the organization recently launched the “UL Verified
Healthy Building Program, a third-party verification
for buildings that have achieved or are measured below set
contaminant thresholds for air and water quality, lighting
and acoustics and building hygiene.”
She notes that such third-party verifications are key to
comfort, confidence and transparency: “The combination
of the verification mark, on-site field testing biannually
and decades of experience in this field provide the kind of
assurance that the building industry is looking for as part
of their approach to reoccupy, and that can work in tandem
with dedicated health and wellness rating systems.”
The WELL Building Institute is a provider of third-party
verification through its Health-Safety Rating and offers a
variety of other programs for property stakeholders in the
pursuit of healthier indoor environments. These include
free online training for students and professionals switching
careers, as well as protocol and performance guidelines.
And, of course, the BOMA 360 Performance Program
helps buildings benchmark to best practices related to
wellness, sustainability and other areas as part of its holistic
approach to evaluating operations and management.
Ultimately, it’s a holistic strategy that will rule the day
and win the COVID fight. “People think that, if you just get
rid of the pathogen, that will solve everything,” says Gray.
“We’ve learned that you need a multifaceted approach
that focuses on the pathogen and the host. In other words,
if your people are healthy, they’re more resilient to the
pathogen to begin with. Ventilation, filtration and cleaning
are vital, and, indeed, testing and tracking technologies are
needed. But, don’t lose sight of host immunity, organization
resilience and strong risk-management strategies. These
are all part of a multifaceted approach.”
These, she says, are all emerging issues, and they’ll
clearly remain deciding factors for your prime constituents:
your tenants.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Salustri is editor-in-chief of
Salustri Content Solutions, a national editorial advisory firm
based in East Northport, New York. He is best known as the
founding editor of GlobeSt.com. Prior to launching
GlobeSt.com, Salustri was editor of Real Estate Forum.