DSE1: Health and Well-Being – Above Green

Intent

This indicator is intended to describe the entity’s strategy to design and build buildings that promote occupant health and well-being. Buildings designed with occupant health and well-being in mind lead to increased employee satisfaction and greater productivity.

Requirements

Select all applicable sub-options for (1) requirements for planning and design (2) common occupant health and well-being measures, (3) operational occupant health and well-being verification provisions.

Does the entity take measures to incorporate occupant health & well-being in its development projects?

Yes
- The entity addresses health and well-being in the design of its product through (multiple answers possible)
  - Requirements for planning and design, including (multiple answers possible)
    - Health Impact Assessment
    - Integrated planning process
    - Other planning process: ____________
  - Common occupant health and well-being measures, including (multiple answers possible)
    - Acoustic comfort
    - Active design features
    - Biophilic design
    - Commissioning
    - Daylight
    - Ergonomic workplace
    - Humidity
    - Illumination
    - Inclusive design
    - Indoor air quality
    - Natural ventilation
    - Occupant controls
    - Physical activity
    - Thermal comfort
    - Water quality
    - Other: ____________
  - Provisions to verify health and well-being performance include (multiple answers possible)
    - Occupant education
    - Post-construction health and well-being monitoring (e.g. occupant comfort and satisfaction)
      - For on average years: ____________
    - Other: ____________
No

Post-construction monitoring If the entity has requirement on post-construction performance monitoring, specify the required number of years. If the entity monitors performance for an infinite period, enter “100”.

Validation

Other:

Other: State the requirement for planning and design.
Other: State the health and well-being measure. Measures must be related to the physical building. Location-related measures (e.g., walkability, proximity to public transport or to nearby amenities) are not valid.
Other: State the method for monitoring health and well-being measure.

It is possible to add multiple other answers.

See Appendix 2a for additional information about GRESB Validation.

Scoring

2 points, S

Scoring is based on the number of selected options. It is not necessary to select all options to achieve the maximum score.

Other: The 'Other' answer is manually validated and points are contingent on the validation decision.

See the Scoring Document for additional information on scoring.

Terminology

Acoustic comfort: Minimizing sound to promote mental well-being and in some instances, physical ear health. This could include building design and materials selection to promote acoustic comfort for employees and efforts to protect the ear health of construction and industrial workers; as well as, building design and materials selection to promote acoustic comfort for tenants, mechanisms to limit noise disturbances in communities surrounding the entity’s assets during both construction and operations.

Active design features: Design features specifically aimed to positively contribute towards occupant health and well-being, e.g. centrally located staircases to get occupants to be more active.

Biophilic design: Design that draws upon the innate connection between humans and nature. This includes direct connections with nature, access to views, place-based design and interior design that includes plants, water and/or symbolic connections to nature through images, colors, and shapes.

Commissioning: Quality-orientated review and verification process during the design and construction phase, to ensure that the performance of facilities, systems and assemblies meet defined objectives during the operational phase.

Daylight: The capacity of a building to provide maximum daylight exposure to occupants, via building design (e.g. angle of orientation, number of and size of windows) and material (e.g. reflective coatings) features. Maximizing daylight exposure not only benefits occupant health and well-being, but also can reduce the need for artificial light, and therefore energy expenditure.

Ergonomic workplace: Aims to increase efficiency and productivity and reduce discomfort in the workplace.

Health Impact Assessment: A mean of assessing the health impacts of policies, plans and projects using quantitative, qualitative and participatory techniques.

Humidity: A measure of the concentration of water vapor present in the air.

Illumination: Light falling on a surface per unit area, measured in lux.

Inclusive design: Design that accommodates individuals of different religions, genders and gender identities, ages, ethnicities and ability levels. This could include the provision of multi-faith space, lactation room, age-friendly design and/or accessible design.

Indoor air quality: The physical or biological characteristics of air within buildings. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is typically the product of outdoor quality mediated by the design and operation of building systems.

Integrated planning process: A planning process that considers and involves multiple aspects, stakeholders and functions, instead of addressing each separately, to align and achieve objectives.

Natural ventilation: The process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space without using mechanical systems. There are two types of natural ventilation occurring in buildings: wind driven ventilation and buoyancy-driven ventilation.

Occupant controls: Individual controls for heating, cooling and other building systems. They support individual comfort of building occupants, while reducing energy consumption. Occupant controls also enable occupants to respond rapidly to alleviate discomfort when it is experienced.

Occupant education: Education and training of building occupants to increase knowledge on sustainability principles and the benefits to their health and well-being, including behavioral change and techniques.

Occupant well-being: Health and comfort of building occupants. Healthy indoor environments (including indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting, visual quality and acoustic performance) are an essential part of realizing the potential benefits of occupant well-being.

Post-construction health and wellbeing monitoring: A structured approach towards measuring and managing the health and well-being of occupants, such as occupant comfort and satisfaction.

Provisions for active transport: Active transport is transport via walking or bicycling. Provisions for active transport include designating safe and accessible pedestrian walkways as a building design measure, bike storage areas and shower facilities.

Thermal comfort: The thermal environment including air temperature, speed and humidity can impact employee thermal comfort. Research suggests that thermal comfort contributes to employee productivity and well-being.

Water quality: Reduction of water contamination risk and provision of clean fresh sources of water.

References

LEED BD+C: New Construction, v4, Indoor Environmental Quality

BREEAM, International New Construction, 2016: 06 Health and well-being

BREEAM, UK New Construction, 2018: Health and Wellbeing

GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, 2016: GRI 416; 416-1