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.”