Chapter 3 - Certification

Question 1

What is the triple bottom line?

Answer 1

financial bottom line
environmental bottom line
social bottom line **WELLs priority

Question 2

What’s the financial bottom line?

Answer 2

• economic well-being of a company / cost savings
• how the project is financed
• return on investment (ROI)

Question 3

What’s the environmental bottom line?

Answer 3

• projects impact on land, air, water, plants + animals and on regional and global environmental concerns
• pollution prevention
• resource preservation
• recycling / reuse

Question 4

What’s the social bottom line?

Answer 4

• impacts during construction and into occupancy on health, happiness and productivity of stakeholders
• health and well being
• equal opportunities
• justice

Question 5

Certification Steps

Answer 5

1. Registration (through WELL online)
2. Documentation Review (technical review by the performance testing agency)
3. Performance Verification (certification through site visit)
4. Certification (upon accepted report and requirements)
5. Recertification + document submission (every 3 years)

Question 6

3 levels of certification

Answer 6

silver, gold, platinum

Question 7

WELL Building Levels of Achievement

Answer 7

All Preconditions

Optimizations:
Silver: None
Gold: 40%
Platinum: 80%

Question 8

WELL Pilot Levels of Achievement

Answer 8

All Preconditions

Optimizations:
Silver: 20%
Gold: 40%
Platinum: 80%

Question 9

What does the gross SF of the project include?

Answer 9

sum of floor areas within the building
measurements from exterior faces of exterior walls, include basements, mezzanines, floor tiers, and penthouses
excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, etc.

Question 10

Describe the project team make up

Answer 10

Administrator: acts as a manager to oversee the process
Owner: rep of the client with decision making authority
WELL AP: design professional
Licensed Professional: who will write letters of assurance (architects, contractors, ID, acoustical, mep/fp, etc.)

Question 11

What’s a WELL Reviewer?

Answer 11

Independent 3rd party who reviews documents and performance tests

Question 12

What’s a WELL Performance Testing Agent?

Answer 12

Conducts teh testing

Question 13

3 types of documentation submitted for certification

Answer 13

Letters of Assurance:
Annotated Documents: to prove how requirements are being met
General Documents: require no annotation; floor plans, project maps, narratives, etc.

Question 14

Describe the Review Process

Answer 14

• all docs submitted
• comments within 20-25 business days
• amend docs as required
• comments 20-25 days (etc.)

Question 15

Describe Performance Verification

Answer 15

WELL Performance Testing Agent conducts tests, inspections and spot checks as well as follows up with analyses to confirm and collects data / samples

• note! may need to have 1 month of occupancy first
• WELL report is available 40-45 days after verification

Question 16

What is an Alternative Adherence Path?

Answer 16

alternative solution for meeting the intent of a requirement

• must submit AAP and each can be applied to a single feature
• must be supported by sound medical, scientific or industry research

Question 17

What is an equivalency?

Answer 17

if a certain project location has a code, law, regulation, etc. that is more relevant to the feature than the WELL Building; they could be accepted as equivalencies

Question 18

After the report is issued, how long to accept it or initiate curative action to address unmet criteria?

Answer 18

180 calendar days

Question 19

What’s a curative action plan?

Answer 19

document outlining strategies to address unmet criteria;
it has clear, specific and feasible plan to address it
gets submitted and reviewed in 20-25 business days - once approved it can be implemented
once it’s completed, there’s a performance verification and a new WELL report

Question 20

How do appeals work?

Answer 20

Each feature must have its own letter of appeal
must contain an explanation for the basis of appeal + identify suspected errors
- must be submitted within 180 days of report; appeals for other decisions within 90 days;
GBCI responds in 20-25 days with only one subsequent appeal for each feature, within 90 days of the appeal review report

Question 21

What is Precertification

Answer 21

option review path to determine what’s likely achievable

focused on intended design / cosntruction + ops

Question 22

What’s continued Engagement?

Answer 22

time after certification and before recertification;

submit docs within 15 months of certification and every 12 months thereafter

Question 23

What’s Recertification?

Answer 23

mandatory within 3 years
undergo performance verification again
can lose or elevate certification level

Question 24

What’s WELL Community Standard Certification?

Answer 24

expands scope from one building to an entire community

• project size includes gross area of land + water areas (owned and not owned) within the project boundary
• complete doc submission within 5 years of registration
• measurements for performance verification within 10 years
• Certification is valid for 5 years; recertification within 66 months
• project boundary can change during recertification