Wellness ideas of key importance in CRE

How do you bring wellness into the workplace?

Scialla expounded on the venerable standard: “The WELL Building Standard has a lot of different components to it,” he noted. “The full body of work covers air quality, water quality, lighting, thermal elements, acoustics, biophilic programming, surface and cleaning protocols, HR policies, operational guidelines.

“There are sub ratings called the health safety rating, the health equity rating, which take pieces of The WELL Standard and allow clients to enter The WELL Ecosystem, if you will. And they zoom into more specific areas of focus. For instance, the health safety rating focuses specifically on health and safety protocols, and obviously that was spawned from the onset of the pandemic.

“But the full body of work is interesting because you take a look at everything that surrounds you indoors. All of these inputs map directly to our respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, cognitive, digestive, and sleep health outcomes. So clearly, obviously, enhancing what surrounds you can be conducive to a better, not only healthier work environment, but a more productive work environment.”

Pagac described the elements his company has implemented in achieving WELL certification at the highest levels: “Things we’re thinking about: battery storage, fuel storage, a virtual power purchase agreement with solar farm, because the renewable energy, that’s very important.”

Why are bees so important?

This is sure to create buzz: Beekeeping is part of the mix, Pagac noted. “And beekeeping was one of those. Urban farming is one of those. The groundwater harvesting is one of those. All the FDEs. all LED lighting, indoor concrete walls, things like that. That’s what we’re looking at today. We have several assets [in] downtown LA with beehives producing several hundred jars of honey for the tenants. We’ve created a new groundwater harvesting system, so we’re going to be more sustainable and friendly to the environment. Our new guidelines for air conditioning, lighting, acoustics creates a more productive environment for our employees. And we’ve realized that, and it is evidence based, we’ve measured it and tracked it, and we have happier employees and tenants.”