One WELL: A first look at the next version
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is streamlining the pursuit of healthy spaces with “One WELL,” a comprehensive overhaul of its global WELL certification system. This next-generation framework merges disparate ratings into a single, “evergreen” library featuring simplified terminology and a revamped scoring system, where every strategy—including preconditions—now earns points. As the IWBI moves toward a more intuitive, digital-first journey for practitioners, building professionals and stakeholders are invited to preview the draft and submit feedback during the public comment period, open through 01 May 2026.
The WELL Building Standard is a performance-based certification system managed by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) that focuses exclusively on enhancing human health and well-being through the built environment. It measures, certifies, and monitors features of buildings—such as air, water, nourishment, light, and comfort—that impact occupant productivity, health, and happiness.
Following a year of in-depth conversations with its community, IWBI has launched an updated draft of the WELL Building Standard. The updates have been shaped by feedback from its global network of project teams and reviewers. It is now inviting building services engineers, real estate portfolio managers, and broader industry stakeholders to preview the changes and share their feedback through public comment until 01 May 2026.
Participate in public comment
Community feedback is at the heart of what informs the evolution of WELL, and during the public comment period, stakeholders have the opportunity to review and provide feedback on:
– Clarified WELL strategy language and structure
– The standard’s new design, layout and functionality
– The program changes are summarised in this article
The public comment period is an opportunity to provide feedback on the new version of the WELL Standard in its current draft form. As part of the finalisation process, IWBI will address feedback and polish everything before opening it for enrolment.
IWBI reimagined the public comment experience from the ground up — with side-by-side comparisons of WELL v2, a digital changelog that highlights what’s evolved, and an interactive feedback widget that makes it easier than ever to share feedback.
The WELL Standard at a glance
The new version of the WELL Standard incorporates a refreshed layout, updated hierarchy and new terminology. Here are the layers of hierarchy that can be expected to be navigated when exploring the next version of WELL:
– The same 10 WELL Concepts, plus Innovation.
– 54 Themes (previously WELL features): Groupings of WELL strategies that provide an intuitive, executive-level view of the categories of interventions within each concept, making it easy to pinpoint relevant strategies.
– 212 Strategies (previously WELL feature parts): Evidence-based health and well-being interventions that, when validated, contribute to WELL achievements. All strategies result in points, even the required preconditions for certification
IWBI vision for “One WELL”
The power of WELL comes from our comprehensive library of evidence-based interventions. Today, there are more ways than ever for organisations to implement WELL strategies, deliver on business goals and earn recognition through certification and rating achievements.
That’s why our first release in a series of enhancements that are part of One WELL is a preview of the next version of the WELL Standard. Through clearer language, elevated design and unified program rules, IWBI is delivering on its commitment to make the WELL journey more efficient and impactful.
But this is just the beginning.
As it works towards opening enrolment, imagine an experience that is more intuitive to navigate, more connected and more rewarding at every step of the journey. That’s what it has been building, and this preview offers a first look. All of the changes summarised below will be reflected in an updated version of the WELL Program Guidebook, which will be published when IWBI opens enrolment.
Harmonised
Single unified library of strategies with filtering to see how strategies contribute to specific WELL achievements.
– Strategies from WELL Ratings, WELL v2 and select strategies from WELL for residential have been harmonised and compiled in one unified standard.
– The remaining WELL for residential strategies will be incorporated prior to enrolment, and IWBI plans to integrate strategies from the WELL Community Standard over time.
– IWBI also plans to expand filtering options to include additional business goals and priorities, providing a more advanced experience to help clients pinpoint the strategies that matter most.
A new theming and consolidated structure that organises WELL strategies into intuitive groupings, providing a more scannable experience.
First and foremost, “Theming” allows related strategies to be easily assessed and compared, rather than being listed in different positions throughout the concept. For example, within the Community Concept, strategies related to emergency preparedness were previously designated as C03, C14 and C15. In the new version of WELL, they are all grouped under one theme.
Additionally, consolidating strategies related to the same health intent allows the basic and enhanced pathways to be considered together, rather than listed separately, spanning a “precondition” and an “optimisation.” For example, within the ‘Air’ concept, the thresholds for particulate matter were previously listed in A01.1 and A05.1. In the new WELL version, they are grouped together in strategy A6.1 as three tiers.
Consistent strategy names, requirements, point values and scoring to streamline how projects can make progress towards various WELL achievements.
All strategy names and requirement language are exactly the same across all WELL achievements and benchmarks, including WELL Ratings, WELL Certification and the WELL Score.
To align scoring methodology, all strategies have been assigned points based on the strength of the evidence supporting them. Points are the same across all WELL achievements. Preconditions, which are required for WELL Certification, now qualify for points across the board. These scoring improvements help ensure that every point earned toward a rating is now a point earned toward certification.
Enrolment
Certification requirements for each concept will be explained with a list of ‘preconditions’ for WELL Certification and the concept point minimums.
The minimum number of points required for WELL Certification levels will be adjusted to reflect that preconditions now have points.
The minimum number of points required for WELL Ratings will be adjusted to reflect changes made to strategy points and the combination of certain requirements (eg, WELL v2 Feature Parts A01.1 and A01.2, which cover indoor and outdoor smoking bans, were combined into a single strategy).
The WELL Score calculation will be updated to reflect that preconditions now have points. Additionally, the 49-point cap for locations that have not achieved preconditions will be removed, enabling better recognition of the incremental achievement of foundational health and well-being strategies.
Increased recognition of achievement within each concept to accelerate impact
Caps that previously limited concept achievements to a maximum of 12 points per concept will be removed, affording more ways to earn the points needed for each level of WELL Certification.
Clarified
Informed by extensive feedback from WELL clients and reviewers, IWBI has restructured and simplified how all WELL strategies are written, making them clearer, more scanable, and easier to implement. These are the same WELL strategies known and trusted – underscored by a rigorous body of research.
As part of IWBI’s clarity edits, it also reviewed feedback from project teams and reviewers about feasibility and impact. This resulted in additional changes that expand the ways to comply, removing criteria to emphasise what’s most important to the health intent and to improve specificity to address instances of misinterpretation.
The next version of WELL includes more instances where strategies have been updated to be more stringent than a typical addenda. These changes reflect an elevated standard for health leadership, a trend that is not expected to be as frequent in future updates.
Key changes
The changes include:
Simplified language and structure: All strategies
– Utilised more direct and precise strategy language to make it clearer what needs to be done to achieve each strategy.
– Elevated minimum scope and applicability of each strategy, to emphasise critical information about eligibility and implementation.
– Introduced bulleted lists to increase scannability and to clearly distinguish separate requirements.
Expanded pathways to offer more flexibility
For example, WELL v2 Feature Part V08.1 [new code V3.2] includes a new tier inspired by the WELL for Residential program that rewards projects for implementing accessible fitness spaces.
Reduced scopes to address market feasibility
For example, WELL v2 Feature Part M09.2 [new code M4.2] no longer includes a policy-based requirement for nature access to reduce complexity and emphasise the criteria that are most critical to the health intent.
Clarified language to avoid misinterpretation
For example, WELL v2 Feature Part N02.1 [new code N2.1] confirms that projects must actively prepare food on-site to be eligible to earn this strategy.
Increased stringency to reflect updated evidence on what constitutes health leadership
Primarily, the types of changes that can be expected to be seen in this category include:
– A revised threshold that is more stringent
– The addition of new requirements
– An adjusted scope that is more expansive
In cases where a strategy reflects additional stringency, clients will have access to an “existing legacy pathway,” allowing them to utilise legacy feature language for a period of three years starting from the date IWBI opens enrolment. After the legacy pathway expires, clients would need to submit updated documentation demonstrating compliance with the updated requirements or remove the feature from their scorecard.
For example, WELL v2 Feature Part A05.1 Tier 2 [new code A6.1 Tier 3] includes lower thresholds for PM2.5 (5 ug/m3 compared to 10) and PM10 (15 ug/m3 compared to 20), based on updated air quality guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The evergreen addenda
Just like an evergreen tree, the WELL Standard has always gone through surges of new growth every year as science and best practice evolve.
The evergreen addenda approach prioritises gradual enhancement over restructuring, allowing practitioners to manage all of their projects within a single WELL version that reflects the latest improvements as they are published over time.
For enrolment
– All enrolled locations utilise the same version of the WELL Standard.
– The scorecard automatically updates when IWBI make updates to WELL.
– An updated user experience and digital changelog provide a clear summary of what changed and why.
– For the majority of changes that make WELL more flexible, feasible and easier to understand, application of older iterations of the standard still comply. It is acceptable to submit documentation based on an earlier iteration.
Then, while IWBI rarely makes WELL more difficult to achieve, when it does, there is a choice whether to incorporate that change. The legacy strategy language can be used for three years after a more stringent requirement is published.
A smarter One WELL
Each of the changes described above – the harmonisation, the clarifications, and the evergreen model – solves a real problem on its own. But together, they create something larger: the foundation for a fundamentally different kind of WELL experience.
When every location shares “one standard”, “one scoring system” and “one living version”, IWBI can deliver what was previously impossible:
– Dynamic scorecards that adapt to workflows and stage of development
– Built-in intelligence that shows how progress on one achievement advances others
– Personalised guidance toward the next milestone, informed by where one is today
– Granular permissions so team members see only what’s relevant to their role
– Streamlined file sharing and documentation management across a portfolio
– And so much more.
This same unified infrastructure opens the door to expanding how WELL recognises achievement. With streamlined naming, consistent point values, and a coherent architecture, IWBI can more easily create targeted pathways with different goals and audiences over time — meeting more organisations where they are on their health journey.
These platform and program enhancements are coming in future phases, but the standard changes being previewed now are what make them possible.
Areas under development
One WELL is being developed in phases, starting with a preview of the new version of the WELL Standard and public comment and moving toward open enrolment with continuous enhancements along the way. For the preview and public comment period, the following aspects of WELL are not finalised:
– Enrolment options, processes and pricing
– Verification methods, documentation templates, forms and calculators
– FAQs and Alternative pathways, including AAPs and Crosswalks
– Metric conversion between Imperial and Metric (International System of Units)
– Criteria citations and background information for WELL Strategies and Concepts
– Migration from older versions of WELL to the new version
– Support resources, articles and technical tools.
Have your say and be part of the One WELL conversation
Explore the One WELL vision: visit https://standard.wearewell.com/
Join the WELL Forum: visit https://forum.wearewell.com/sign_up