Project Solutions

What is the Fitwel Standard?

FITWEL CHAMPION
Alexandria Real Estate Equities
499 Illinois St, San Francisco, CA.

The Fitwel Standard provides tailored scorecards for existing and new buildings and sites to optimize the unique opportunities for every project to receive the Fitwel healthy building certification—whether it’s a single floor build-out or a large-scale development.

Fitwel Standard v3 is live!
Fitwel v3 introduces significant enhancements and updates to the Fitwel Standard, driven by an extensive analysis of new public health research and a comprehensive site-wide engineering rebuild.

Choose from a Menu of Scorecards to Meet Project Needs

Sites

  • Applicable to privately or publicly owned/managed sites that are contiguous and incorporate at least one residential building. This scorecard impacts all site outdoor areas and common areas.

  • Applicable to contiguous sites that are owned or managed by a single entity, and includes commercial buildings only. This scorecard impacts all site outdoor areas and common areas that are under the control of site owner/manager.

Buildings

  • Applicable to properties that provide housing and services for aging residents. Properties that provide an independent living experience, as well as those that provide assisted living services and/or memory care can also use this scorecard. This scorecard impacts all spaces within the building, including those occupied by residents as well as those occupied by employees.

  • Multi-Tenant Base Building Scorecard (MTBB) is applicable to commercial buildings whose floors and common areas are occupied by multiple tenants. This Scorecard impacts the spaces that are under the control of the building owner/manager, including common areas accessible to tenants and building owner/manager spaces accessible to onsite staff.

  • Applicable to commercial buildings whose floors and common areas are occupied by multiple tenants. This scorecard impacts all spaces within the building, including tenant spaces, common areas, and those under the control of building owner/manager.

  • Applicable to commercial buildings whose floors and common areas are occupied by a single tenant. This scorecard impacts all spaces within the building.

  • Applicable to contiguous spaces within a commercial building that are occupied or controlled by a single tenant. The scorecard impacts the spaces occupied by a single tenant.

  • Applicable to retail complexes whose floors and common areas are occupied by multiple tenants, or contiguous spaces within a building that are occupied or controlled by a single tenant. For retail complexes, this scorecard impacts the spaces that are under the control of the building owner/manager, and common areas accessible to visitors. For retail tenants, this scorecard impacts spaces occupied by a single tenant.

  • Applicable to residential buildings that contain multiple dwelling units. The scorecard impacts all spaces within the building.

Fitwel Star Ratings

Fitwel Certification is awarded at the following levels:

90 -104 Points

105-124 Points

125-144 Points

Fitwel Strategies

The Fitwel Scorecards include 55+ evidence-based design and operational strategies that enhance buildings by addressing a broad range of health behaviors and risks.

Each strategy is associated with unique point allocations based on the strength of associated evidence and the demonstrated impact on occupant health. This means that strategies with stronger, multi-faceted impacts receive more points, resulting in a healthy office or living environment.

Fitwel addresses health as an interconnected system – with no single dominant category or area of focus – and, as such, all strategies are voluntary, with no individual prerequisites.

Fitwel’s Seven Health Impact Categories

Impacts Surrounding Community Health

Strategies that impact surrounding community health broaden the impact of the project past the health of on-site occupants, reaching those who live, work, play, or learn in the neighboring areas

Reduces Morbidity and Absenteeism

Strategies that reduce morbidity and absenteeism promote decreased rates of chronic disease and mental health conditions, resulting in a healthy office with reductions in disease transmission and fewer missed days of work.

Supports Social Equity for Vulnerable Populations

Strategies that support social equity for vulnerable populations ensure that a range of populations, including children, elderly, disabled, or socio-economically disadvantaged persons have increased access to health-promoting opportunities whether through universal accessibility, pricing incentives for healthier food options, targeted health-promoting amenities, or increased access to public transportation.

Instills Feelings of Well-Being

Strategies that instill feelings of well-being promote inclusion, relaxation, and perceptions of safety through rejuvenating and clean spaces, an enhanced connection to nature, and opportunities for social engagement.

Enhances Access to Healthy Foods

Strategies that enhance access to healthy foods provide occupants with expanded availability to fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious food options by diversifying the outlets and sources of healthier food options, promoting healthier choices, and reducing cost of healthier options through pricing incentives.

Promotes Occupant Safety

Strategies that promote occupant safety decrease risk of crime and injury, protect bicyclists and pedestrians from vehicular traffic, and increase stair safety.

Increases Physical Activity

Strategies that increase physical activity incorporate opportunities for movement into everyday life whether through encouraging active transportation, promoting stair use, or expanding access to indoor and outdoor fitness areas and equipment.

For additional tools and resources, visit our Resource Library.

Solution FAQs

  • Ensuring your project is following health and safety standards is paramount to showing investors that you are going above and beyond to meet building standards. It also allows visitors, patients, and residents to feel safe in knowing the building or community they are in prioritizes their health and safety.

  • Healthy building standards and codes are rules, usually mandated by the state where the project is located, that must be followed in order to obtain permission to start or continue operations. With the Fitwel Standard, your project needs to be above and beyond the state mandated building standards in order to get a three-star rating.

  • There are specific scorecards depending on the type of project being certified and each scorecard has in-depth project-type requirements. Fitwel uses a three-star rating system depending on where your project falls within the scorecard requirements. There are seven main factors that go into the scorecards: surrounding community health impact, morbidity and absenteeism reduction, social equity for vulnerable populations support, sense of well-being, access to healthy foods enhancement, occupant safety promotion, and physical activity endorsement.