The global shift toward people-first places has fueled a twelve-fold increase in WELL since 2020—now shaping roughly $2 trillion in assets
Companies using WELL as a framework for health and performance include Cisco, Citi, Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT), GSK, Johnson Controls, Sunrise Senior Living, Tata Realty and T-Mobile
NEW YORK and AMSTERDAM, July 10, 2025 /3BL/ – Global growth and adoption of the International WELL Building Institute’s (IWBI) WELL Building Standard (WELL) has surged to more than 6 billion square feet (557.4 million square meters) of real estate, demonstrating incredible market penetration in nearly 100,000 locations across 137 countries that are realizing the positive impacts of people-first places. The world’s leading standard for healthy buildings and organizations, WELL is also used by more than 180 companies from the Fortune and Global 500, and helps support the health and well-being of an estimated 30 million people.
The rapid and widespread adoption of WELL represents a twelve-fold increase since early 2020 and a tremendous financial investment by the real estate industry and other leading sectors to put people at the center of their workplace strategy, helping drive the healthy building movement. Based on market valuations,* this vast global portfolio of spaces using WELL is estimated to represent over $2 trillion in assets managed, a conservative estimate of gross asset value.
“This milestone reflects a new paradigm: prioritizing health isn’t a cost, it’s a catalyst,” said IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon. “Because of WELL’s relentless focus on people and their well-being, WELL projects serve as engines for better health outcomes, stronger financial returns and higher-performing people. That’s why we’re seeing the market embrace WELL like never before. Six billion square feet is not only 13 times more than the office space in Los Angeles, it’s just shy of the total commercial space of the United Kingdom. The current scale of WELL—spanning nearly 100,000 locations, 137 countries and representing roughly $2 trillion in assets—is staggering, and the pace of adoption is equally extraordinary.”
Since the launch of WELL in 2014, thousands of organizations have adopted WELL as an evidence-based roadmap for applying health strategies in their locations, across their organizations and in their communities.
Major companies and brands are engaging with IWBI’s WELL at scale program, extending the benefits of WELL across their entire organizations or real estate portfolios while supporting business performance and reporting, including, among others: A&O Shearman, AON, Atenor Group SA, Barclays, Bloomberg, Brookfield (Australia), Brookfield (India), Cadillac Fairview, Capital Land, Castellum, Cbus Property, Charter Hall, Cisco, Citi, Clifford Chance, CMS, Deloitte, DPR Construction, EDGE Technologies, Embassy REIT, Empire State Realty Trust, Enel, EY, Genentech, GMP Property, GSK, HB Reavis, Investa, JLL, Johnson Controls, JPMC, Landsec, Lendlease, Lincoln Property, Majid al Futtaim, Mapletree Project, MDC General Services Holding Company LLC, MSD, NEOM, NEO Office Fund, Prestige, PwC Italy, RBC, Resorts World Sentosa, Rudin, Sanofi, SAP, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sunrise Senior Living, Swire Properties Management Limited, Tata Realty, Teknion, T-Mobile, Uber, Warner Brothers Discovery and WTW.
“The numbers are clear: WELL is transforming the state of commercial real estate worldwide and generating economic impacts that touch millions of people’s lives by supporting their physical and mental health and well-being in meaningful and measurable ways,” said IWBI COO Prateek Khanna. “By promoting health, comfort and community, by monitoring building performance through air quality, water quality and lighting, and creating spaces that enable people to thrive, WELL is driving global market transformation.”
Companies everywhere are now paying close attention to creating environments that support both physical and mental well-being, especially as a way to enhance engagement and attract top talent. By prioritizing health and well-being, WELL Certified projects show significantly stronger performance across a range of people-centered outcomes, from improved physical and mental health to a series of market-differentiating advantages, like productivity and workplace satisfaction. WELL is the only certification program backed by multiple independent, peer-reviewed studies proving it delivers measurable health benefits and outperforms conventional buildings and green certified buildings alike on the factors that matter most to people, like indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting and overall well-being and satisfaction.
- A Building and Environment study found that occupants in WELL Certified spaces reported a 28% improvement in overall workplace satisfaction, a 10-point increase in productivity scores and improvements in their health and well-being.
- Another study published in Building & Environment in 2023 found organizations that achieved WELL Certification experienced higher-performing workplaces than their non-certified peers. Respondents in WELL offices were, for example, 18% more satisfied with access to sunlight, 11% more satisfied with thermal comfort, and 10% more satisfied with both indoor air quality and air movement.
- Buildings with healthy building certifications also earn rent premiums between 4.4% and 7.7% more per square foot as well as longer lease terms, indicating that buildings that support tenant health and well-being generate greater demand and rent premiums.
“Organizations that excel on matters related to the health, well-being and performance of their workforce are poised to see a significantly positive impact on their bottom line. We know that employees who are healthy, engaged, valued and thriving miss work less often, have lower healthcare costs, are less likely to turn over and are more productive,” added Hodgdon.
IWBI, the global authority for advancing healthy buildings, organizations and communities, delivered the milestone announcement at its second annual Social Sustainability Summit in Amsterdam, which convened leaders from the corporate, real estate, policy and finance sectors to explore how social sustainability is driving corporate strategy and delivering long-term value. The summit aimed to shed light on key stakeholder groups and how businesses are prioritizing governance, innovation and collaboration to create meaningful impact. Featured topics included “Driving performance in real estate” and “Investing in health pays back.”
“From an investor perspective, organizations that take good care of their workforce and extend that care to their value chain workers, their impacted communities and their end users are not simply less risky investments, they can be winning investment opportunities,” said Hodgdon at the event. “More and more, institutional investors are leveraging critical data derived from the implementation of WELL’s health strategies to reduce risk, improve returns and increase value.”
WELL is now the third most used certification platform within the GRESB real estate assessment, representing 9% of total certified and rated floor area. Since the end of 2024, WELL has also been incorporated in 12 different types of financial instruments—including green bonds, social bonds and sustainability-linked bonds and loans—and featured in sustainable finance frameworks, regulatory guides, reports and case studies in 24 countries, spanning five continents.
Developed over 10 years and backed by the latest scientific research, WELL outlines key building-level interventions and organizational strategies across 10 categories: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community. The WELL ecosystem, which comprises WELL Certification, the WELL Health-Safety Rating, the WELL Performance Rating, the WELL Equity Rating, the WELL Coworking Rating, the WELL Community Standard and the WELL for residential pilot, has been adopted by organizations seeking to prioritize human health and well-being. WELL’s holistic, evidence-based approach has provided a roadmap for organizations to create and certify spaces that advance human health and well-being. The network of WELL champions spans more than 28,000 credentialed and registered WELL APs, over 300 WELL Faculty and more than 30 WELL Enterprise Providers (WELL EPs) – all united by the commitment to advance health across buildings, organizations and communities.
What some members of IWBI’s Governance Council are saying:
“For leading organizations aiming to retain and attract top talent, enhance employee satisfaction and boost productivity, WELL has become the go-to tool—adopted around the world, integrated across building portfolios and embedded in organizational policies,” said Yasushi Kinoshita, Representative Member, Eminence Partners G.K.; Chair, Green Building Japan; and IWBI Governance Council member. “As WELL hits this global milestone, what’s clear is that employers around the world now fully realize the link between health, performance and organizational success.”
“Through my many years of work focused on workplace well-being and performance, I’ve come to understand how profoundly people interact with their buildings—both consciously and unconsciously. Whether it’s comfort of their workspace, the temperature of the room, the quality of the air they breathe, or the lighting that supports (or hinders) their work, these factors shape daily experience in significant ways,” said Ali Khan, CEO of SHAPE Global and IWBI Governance Council member. “This is exactly where WELL shines. And the fact that WELL has hit this global adoption milestone only reinforces what we’re seeing firsthand: employees in WELL projects feel better supported and genuinely empowered because of both the design of their space and the values of the organization in advancing health and performance-focused improvements.”
“WELL’s exponential global growth is unfolding alongside a deepening interest from the investment community who increasingly want to understand how organizations are investing in health and well-being—across portfolios, policies and people,” said Dr. Tauni Lanier, Director, Sustainability and Economic Growth, BDO, and IWBI Governance Council member. “These investors are asking for this information for a reason: because investments in health and well-being serve as powerful indicators of long-term financial performance and resilience. This pattern creates a positive feedback loop, where deploying WELL not only supports organizational goals but signals to investors that a company is future-ready, resilient and committed to the creativity and culture that drives lasting value.”
*Calculation is based on a conservative per-square-foot global average, accounting for increased value of properties that implement healthy building strategies and certifications, and higher quality of locations in key urban markets.
About the International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the global authority for transforming health and well-being in buildings, organizations and communities. In pursuit of its public-health mission, IWBI mobilizes its community through the development and administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL), WELL for residential, WELL Community Standard, its WELL ratings and management of the WELL AP credential. IWBI also translates research into practice, develops educational resources and advocates for policies that promote people-first places for everyone, everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.
International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL EP, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Equity Rated, WELL Equity, WELL Coworking Rated, WELL Residence, Works with WELL, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.
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