Expert Guide to the Fitwel Certification
Want your building to be as healthy as the people inside it? Enter Fitwel, where science-backed design meets real-world wellness. In this expert guide, we break down what Fitwel certification is, why it’s gaining serious traction in real estate and facilities management, and how to get your building certified without breaking a sweat. In addition, find out how partnering with smart building pros like Attune can fast-track your path to healthier, happier spaces.
What Is the Fitwel Certification and How to Obtain It?
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, an expert service accounting company, employers have invested $45 million towards employee wellness programs. This showcases the growing trend of companies prioritizing employee well-being. One way of promoting health in the workplace or any other enclosed setting is by ensuring that sustainable buildings meet specific safety standards. With over 120 million U.S. employees averaging 8.1 hours at work, safety inside a building has become a top concern.
Obtaining Fitwel certification is one sure approach to achieving healthier buildings and workspaces. Since its emergence in 2016, Fitwel has joined LEED and WELL in assessing and ranking the health-affecting aspects of the built environment that enhance occupant safety. Here’s a complete guide to help you become Fitwel certified.
Overview of the Fitwel Certification
Fitwel is a revolutionary building certification program focusing on healthy environments and workspaces that enhance productivity. The U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention were the pioneers of the Fitwel platform. Currently, the Centre for Active Designs remains its sole licensed operator with the CDC staying on as an evaluation partner.
While there aren’t any prerequisites to becoming a Fitwel-certified building, you must stick to specific operational strategies Fitwel has put in place. Fitwel offers certification to a range of building types, including:
Office or workplace buildings
Community centers
Multifamily residential spaces
Hospitality and retail buildings
Mixed-use building
Educational facilities
Healthcare centers
Some of the Fitwel Building standards that commercial spaces must meet to become certified include:
Location: The building must prioritize access to nearby amenities like grocery stores and transit services. It should be within a quarter mile, with the Walk Score helping to evaluate the “walkability” of the address.
Building Access: This standard focuses on direct routes of entry for pedestrians. It also emphasizes on the availability of secure carpool vehicle services and bicycle parking.
Outdoors Spaces: In this criteria, the building must offer walking trails adjacent to the property, permanent fitness gear, and a pest management plan.
Stairwells: This standard focuses on the use of stairwells over escalators and elevators in multi-level buildings. These areas must be easier to use and more visible.
Indoor Environment: A Fitwel building must promote a smoke-free policy and manage indoor air quality throughout the building. It also needs to prioritize providing healthy food services and water supply.
Entrance and Ground Floor: For this standard, your Fitwel certified space needs to provide tobacco-free spaces near buildings. Additionally, your building must have at least one entrance leading to the outdoor pedestrian routes.
How does certification by Fitwell differ from one by LEED or WELL, you may wonder? LEED prioritizes the building structure while WELL and Fitwel systems focus on facility environment and user experience. The Fitwel building certification process is also less costly, faster, more intuitive, accessible, and intensely practical. Fitwel is ideal for you if you have an extensive portfolio and may not have the budget or time for a full WELL certification process.
Benefits of the Fitwel Certification
Attaining Fitwel certification comes with the following benefits for building owners and operators
Improved property value: Fitwel-certified buildings tend to command higher market value owing to the reputation of supporting occupant safety and health
Reduced operational costs: Fitwel spaces utilize evidence-based strategies to enhance building efficiency. These operational strategies include natural lighting and optimized ventilation that lowers long-term maintenance costs.
Improved marketability: Fitwel certification is a broadly respected and recognized certification in the building industry. It improves your marketability while differentiating you from competitors.
Positive impact on sustainable design: While Fitwel doesn’t exclusively have an environmental rating, the certification complements sustainable building practices like promoting an active design that leads to better indoor air quality.
Enhanced compliance with regulations: Fitwel certification enables your building to meet local, state, and federal standards for tenant health.
In summary, Fitwel building certification is more than a wellness badge but a strategic investment. From sustainability to savings and enhanced tenant appeal, the benefits align with the evolving demands of modern real estate.
The Fitwel Certification Process
Fitwel has two certification pathways which vary depending on the occupancy status and stage of project construction. Both pathways are valid for 3 years from the date of issuing the certification. The pathways include:
Design Certification: This pathway is ideal for you if your building is a new construction or undergoing a major renovation project. The building may be recently completed but lacks occupants. It showcases how a construction project plans to implement Fitwel strategies.
Built Certification: This certification is applicable to existing buildings or recently completed projects that have tenants. It highlights how your building has implemented Fitwel strategies.
Fitwel has also provided scorecards that cater to different project types. Each scorecard has different strategies depending on your property’s main use and the group of occupants it impacts. The scorecards include these building types:
Senior housing for properties housing aging residents like
Memory care facilities
Assisted living facilities
Independent living facilities
Multi-tenant base building that applies to when you as the property owner or manager control only the base building systems (like HVAC, lighting in common areas, security, etc.) but not the tenant interior spaces.
Multi-tenant whole building referring to when you manage both the base building and all tenant spaces.
Single tenant building that addresses spaces with a lone tenant.
Multifamily residential building with multiple units.
Commercial building or interior space like a leased office.
Steps to Obtain Fitwel Certification
You can begin the process of becoming Fitwel certified by following these steps;
Registration: Set up your free account on the Fitwel Platform and enter basic information about the project to register. After registering, you gain access to the Platform’s
Benchmarking capability
Interactive scorecard
Performance data that summarizes your project’s areas of opportunity and strength
Evaluation: will then proceed to choose an appropriate Fitwel pathway and associated Scorecard. At this stage, you get to assess how your project compares to each Fitwel Strategy. You can monitor these benchmarks over time creating and archiving snapshots of your responses to the strategies. This enables you to analyze how each strategy improves in the long run.
Submission: Proceed to upload the needed documentation to showcase your compliance with the chosen Fitwel Strategies.
Review: It takes Fitwel’s group of consultants about 12 to 16 weeks to review your submission and provide feedback.
Certification: Once Fitwel’s Certification Team issues a numerical score and related Star Rating, your project becomes Fitwel certified. There are three levels of certification.
Scores of 1 to 90 receive one star.
Scores of 91 to 105 receive two stars.
Scores of 125 or more receive three stars.
This certification is valid for 3 years, after which you must reapply to maintain your rating.
Costs and Fees Associated with Fitwel
Fitwel certification costs vary depending on the project type and size. Core expenses in gaining Fitwel building certification include a $500 registration fee. You will also need to pay about $6,000 for every project you want certified. Additional costs may arise if using a Fitwel Ambassador or Fitwel Viral Response Module. Discounts may apply for government buildings
Improve Your Chances of Getting Fitwel Certified With Attune
Indoor air quality is a priority for many building certification standards, and Fitwel is no exception. Partnering with Attune significantly boosts your chances of achieving Fitwel certification. Our cutting-edge IoT and data-driven building solutions help optimize indoor air quality and other parameters like lighting and thermal comfort that impact occupant well-being.
In addition, our smart monitoring tools provide real-time insights that make it easier for you as a facility manager, building owner or sustainability expert to track and improve different wellness metrics. Contact us today, whether you're aiming for new certification or recertification. Our expertise and technology-driven approach can streamline the certification process and maximize your score across multiple Fitwel impact categories
