Studying for WELL exams
Our Director Helen is currently undertaking the WELL Building Studies so she can become a WELL appointed professional.
ABOUT THE WELL BUILDING STANDARD
The WELL Building Standard is an evidence-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring the performance of building features that impact health and well-being. WELL builds on LEED. It starts where LEED left off.
WELL integrates performance thresholds after the design/prescriptive green building work has been completed. Additionally, behaviour and human resource optimisation for wellness are addressed in the Standard.
WELL and LEED are complimentary building standards and do not compete with one another.
WELL is administered by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), a public benefit corporation whose mission is to improve human health and well-being through the built environment. Early adopters include financial institutions, owner-occupied real estate, and also new construction that is doing LEED Platinum and wants to add on WELL.
By integrating more wellness into the built environment, we encourage healthy lifestyles. The business case is made for lower health insurance premiums, less absenteeism, higher productivity, and more. After all, people spend around 90% of their time indoors (Source: EPA).
The WELL Building Standard is grounded in research, medical, scientific, and building system research. How can building systems improve health systems? The new WELL Accredited Professional (WELL AP) credential signifies knowledge in human health and wellness in the built environment, and specialization in the WELL Building Standard.
To become a WELL AP, all candidates must pass the 100-question multiple choice WELL AP exam. It is designed to test a candidate’s competency to perform the duties on a WELL Certification project. The exam is based on the expertise of leading practitioners in the field of design, health, and wellness in the built environment.
It is a closed-book professional credential exam that you need to study for in order to pass. If you are coming from a green building/LEED background, you will have a head start by being familiar with much of the terminology. However, you will still need to learn numerous health statistics and information about various body systems to be prepared for these questions on the WELL AP exam.
