WELL at Scale

1. Assess Portfolio Readiness: Conduct an internal gap analysis of your building portfolio against the WELL Building Standard (v2). Identify which features are already in place and which require policy, operational, or physical improvements across your properties.

1. Engage IWBI and Register: Contact the International WELL Building Institute to discuss your portfolio scope, select the appropriate WELL at Scale pathway (Portfolio or Community), and complete the registration process. Pay the applicable registration fee based on portfolio size.

1. Assemble Your Team: Designate a project lead — ideally a WELL Accredited Professional (WELL AP) — and engage a GBCI-approved verification body. Coordinate with facility managers, HR, and operations teams across all enrolled buildings.

1. Implement WELL Features: Roll out required health and wellness policies, operational procedures, and physical improvements across your portfolio. This may include air quality protocols, water quality programs, lighting standards, nourishment policies, and mental health initiatives.

1. Compile Documentation: Prepare a portfolio-wide documentation package for each enrolled building, including policies, procedures, maintenance records, and performance data demonstrating compliance with selected WELL features.

1. Submit for Verification: Submit your documentation to GBCI for review. GBCI will conduct document review and schedule on-site performance testing and spot-check audits for a representative sample of buildings in your portfolio.

1. Respond to Reviewer Feedback: Address any clarification requests or corrective actions identified during GBCI's review. Resubmit updated documentation as needed.

1. Earn Certification and Maintain: Upon successful verification, receive your WELL at Scale certification and associated seals. Maintain compliance through annual performance reporting and prepare for recertification every three years.

WELL at Scale evaluates portfolios against the WELL Building Standard v2, which is organized into ten concept categories. Each concept contains features that can be Preconditions (mandatory) or Optimizations (optional, point-earning). Portfolio applicants must demonstrate compliance across all enrolled buildings, though a representative sample undergoes direct on-site verification.

The ten WELL concepts are: Air (ventilation rates, filtration, pollutant limits, smoking bans), Water (quality standards, filtration, access to drinking water), Nourishment (food environment policies, nutrition labeling, healthy food access), Light (circadian lighting design, glare control, daylight access), Movement (active design features, ergonomics, physical activity programs), Thermal Comfort (temperature and humidity control, occupant control), Sound (acoustic performance, noise reduction), Materials (hazardous material restrictions, chemical management), Mind (mental health programs, stress management, restorative spaces), and Community (inclusive design, civic engagement, emergency preparedness).

For portfolio-level certification, applicants must meet all Preconditions across enrolled buildings and earn sufficient Optimization points to achieve a target certification level (Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum). Documentation must demonstrate that policies and procedures are applied consistently across the portfolio, not just in individual showcase buildings. Performance testing — including air quality measurements, water sampling, and lighting assessments — is conducted on-site at a statistically representative subset of buildings.

WELL at Scale also allows for a phased enrollment approach, where organizations can add buildings to their portfolio over time, provided they meet milestones and maintain overall compliance standards across the growing portfolio.

WELL at Scale occupies a distinctive niche in the green and healthy building certification landscape, targeting large real estate portfolios rather than individual buildings. Since its launch around 2020, IWBI has positioned it as the enterprise-level complement to single-building WELL Certification, responding to demand from REITs, institutional investors, and large corporate occupiers who found building-by-building certification administratively burdensome and cost-prohibitive at scale. The program has gained traction particularly among global real estate services firms and asset managers with ESG mandates, as health and wellness metrics have become increasingly material to institutional investors and tenant attraction strategies.

The broader WELL ecosystem — including over 40,000 WELL Certified and registered projects across 100+ countries — provides a strong foundation of market credibility for WELL at Scale. However, the portfolio program remains a relatively specialized offering compared to LEED's Volume Program, which has a longer track record and broader market penetration. BREEAM In-Use Portfolio and Fitwel Portfolio are the most direct competitors, with Fitwel often cited as a lower-cost, lower-complexity alternative for organizations primarily focused on occupant wellness metrics rather than the full breadth of WELL's ten concepts.

Demand for WELL at Scale is being driven by several converging trends: post-pandemic emphasis on indoor environmental quality, growing ESG reporting requirements (including GRESB, TCFD, and EU SFDR), and tenant demand for health-certified spaces as a differentiator in competitive leasing markets. The program is particularly strong in North America and Western Europe, with growing adoption in Asia-Pacific markets. As mandatory ESG disclosure frameworks tighten globally, portfolio-level health certifications like WELL at Scale are expected to see continued growth, though cost and complexity remain barriers for mid-sized portfolio owners.

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) launched the WELL Building Standard in 2014, establishing the first building certification focused exclusively on human health and wellness rather than environmental performance. The original WELL v1 standard was developed in partnership with Delos, a wellness real estate company, and was verified by GBCI (Green Business Certification Inc.), which also administers LEED. The standard drew on medical research, public health data, and building science to define evidence-based features across seven initial concept categories.

WELL v2 — a more flexible, points-based version of the standard — was released in 2018 after an extensive public comment period, expanding to ten concept categories and introducing a tiered certification structure. WELL at Scale was introduced around 2020 as a portfolio-level pathway, directly responding to feedback from large real estate owners and corporate occupiers who wanted to apply WELL principles systematically across their entire holdings. The program consolidated earlier portfolio pilot efforts and introduced streamlined documentation, representative sampling for audits, and phased enrollment options. By the mid-2020s, IWBI had registered projects in over 100 countries, and WELL at Scale had become a key offering for institutional real estate clients seeking to embed occupant health into their ESG strategies at an enterprise level.