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CERTIFICATION

WELL Core

A distinct pathway for core and shell buildings (also known as base buildings) seeking to implement fundamental features to benefit tenants.

WELL Core is a distinct pathway for core and shell buildings (also known as base buildings) seeking to implement fundamental features to benefit tenants. In these projects, the majority of regular occupants are not affiliated with the project owner. Any building type can register for WELL Core, provided that at least 75% of the project area is occupied by one or more tenants and/or serves as common space in the building accessible to all tenants. Note that offices affiliated with the project owner but unrelated to the management of the project property may be considered a tenant, as long as additional tenants unaffiliated with the project owner occupy at least 60% of the net leased area. WELL Core projects are awarded WELL Core Certification at the Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum level (see Scoring and Certification Levels, below).

Mixed-use buildings where WELL Core is appropriate for at least 60% of the project area may register the entire building for WELL Core.

  • Areas operated/occupied by the project owner are considered "non-leased space" (see Scope and Applicability below).
  • Non-leased spaces include the common areas of the building and private spaces directly under the control of the building management team.
  • Mixed-use buildings where WELL Core is appropriate for less than 60% of the project area should register one or more portions of the building as individual projects for WELL Certification or WELL Core Certification, as appropriate.

Feature applicability and scoring

Features have varying scopes of applicability for WELL Core projects, depending on the relevant population and project area. For example, some features, such as daylighting (L05) or bicycle storage (V04), must be met across the entire building. Other features apply only to spaces or personnel under the purview of the project owner, such as offering healthcare (C06) or childcare (C10) benefits.


Applicability designations are defined as follows:

  • Whole Building: Includes all areas within the project boundary. Some features indicate that projects can achieve a feature by providing a tenant budget. To use this pathway, project teams need to submit as part of documentation review, design assumptions and sample cut-sheets (as applicable) that justify the budget and can be used by the tenant during their design and construction process.

  • Extent of Developer Buildout: Includes all non-leased space and all construction within the leased space for which the project team is responsible.

  • Leased Spaces: All areas within the project boundary that are leased to or owned by tenants, including areas for lease or for sale that are not currently occupied.

  • Non-leased Spaces: All areas within the project boundary that are not considered leased space.

  • Building Management Staff: Individuals responsible for maintaining and operating the building, including contractors and sub-contractors. Workers who spend less than 30 hours per month in the building (i.e., who are not regular occupants) are not considered building management staff.

  • Direct Staff: Building staff under direct employment by the project owner. Note: If a project has no direct staff on-site (i.e., the building is entirely operated by contracted building management staff), the project is allowed to earn points by meeting feature requirements for all or a defined subset of building management staff. Projects must use a single consistent population across all features, including preconditions (e.g., a project with no direct staff may only earn a point for meeting an optimization for its building management staff, if it also meets all preconditions for that same group of people).

WELL Core projects have different point-values for parts and features than owner-occupied projects, based on the extent to which the requirements benefit all occupants within the project. Features that must be met for the whole building are generally worth more for WELL Core, while features with no or limited effect on tenants are generally reduced in value.

Some features allow WELL Core projects to earn points for applying the feature outside of the leased space and earn an additional point for achieving the requirements for their tenants. Further guidance on applicability and additional point-earning potential for WELL Core is provided in the digital standard. To view this guidance, be sure to select the “WELL Core” view in the digital standard.

Download the WELL Core Guidance table

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Performance testing scope

For WELL Core projects, at least 2.5% of the total building floor area must be available for performance testing. The available testing area must include all common areas and spaces directly under the control of the building management team. If common areas and spaces under owner control comprise less than 2.5% of the total building floor area, the project must supplement with tenant spaces to reach this threshold. Testing in leased spaces in these cases can take place before or after tenant occupancy.

Some performance-based optimizations explicitly state that they require testing in tenant spaces to be awarded. The project is responsible for identifying and communicating to Green Business Certification, Inc. (GBCI) and the WELL Performance Testing Agent the particular spaces which are available for testing.

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International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL EP, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Equity Rated, WELL Equity, WELL Residence, Works with WELL, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.