Insights

Working out a "healthy" workplace - What does it mean?

Without hesitation, would you ever walk into a crowded elevator again? Without consideration, reach for a doorknob (or gloves)?

Easing social distance constrictions might reopen businesses, but as long as memories of COVID-19 lockdowns are still fresh in the minds of people, the experience of being inside an office building is most probably not going to return to "normal."

The pandemic has pushed us all to reconsider our lives' numerous realities, including the buildings we spend our days living in. The criteria for social distancing and attempts to minimize the spread of viruses in indoor environments entail that "healthy buildings" be a primary concern for the real estate industry.

But what makes a safe building and what are the alterations between various building types? Also, what is the ideal route of quantifying, monitoring and comparing buildings' relative health?

Offices, hotels and even residential units will need to figure out a way to identify themselves and efficiently present their health and safety characteristics to their respective tenants and consumers.

Healthy Building

According to Harvard Professors Joseph Allen and John Macomber, healthy buildings can ultimately accelerate residents' efficiency and productivity while promoting their health and well-being. As the indoor atmosphere's quality can be related to occupants' productivity, the pandemic may generate a new quantifiable economic gain for companies living in healthy buildings.

Safe Building Certifications

Since the research and nuances of how buildings can relate to various elements of our health are relatively new, it may be difficult to convey it as value-added costs. The industry does not, however, start from ground zero.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) of the U.S. Green Building Council is a third-party rating system to evaluate and share information about buildings' energy and environmental footprint and their impact on inhabitants and local communities. Now, similar building "wellness" certifications have been developed to assess and collect data about the building system's impact on people's health.

WELL (A performance-based system)

For instance, WELL is a performance-based system for assessing, certifying and tracking the built environment's characteristics that affect human health and well-being.

WELL is managed and supervised by IWBI (The International WELL Building Institute), a public benefit organization whose aim is to help communities prosper in the built environment. WELL is based on medical and scientific studies and evaluates how design, practices and behavioral patterns can be optimized in the places where we live and work. Using seven factors: air, water, light, nourishment, health, comfort and mind, it tests how buildings relate to and can help support their inhabitants.

Scorecards include Over 55 evidence-based design and operational procedures that transform buildings by addressing various health factors and risks.

Such health certificates will better express long-term benefits that restore inhabitants' confidence.

Office space

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the COVID-19 Employer Information Guide for office buildings Its message: "Check to build health to see if it is ready for occupancy "by checking building operating systems. However, this is only half the problem.

What about how best to get the inhabitants back to the building?

In response, several businesses are growing their per employee baseline square footage to help ensure social distancing. Perhaps this need for additional employee space would counterbalance the decreased urban office demand.

Although companies were at the top of the list of allowing workers to serve remotely, We at RMZ Office ensured that we make our buildings healthy for the safe return of the workforce. We proactively took all the relevant measures to make our spaces safer from an operational and maintenance part and were declared the “Heathiest Buildings” by IWBI, globally.

We ensured better air quality and filtration, outside airflow, touchless systems and other "smart features” across our properties. Our WELL health safety rating for RMZ group's facility operations demonstrates RMZs commitment to supporting the health and well-being of its occupants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsleAP-N9co

In certain cases, organizations can implement internal strategies to enforce a change to facilitate stable re-occupancy. Examples of such strategies include promoting utilization of stairs (if possible), instituting one-way routes in hallways to enable social distancing, ensuring occupancy in elevators with adequate social distance, separating open areas with partitions, installing HEPA filters and closing common areas.

Due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions have forced individuals to postpone, change and reprioritize the perfect holiday. People are avoiding air travel and preferring closer-to-home destinations. In addition, hotels and resorts that allow outdoor access to have been working on sorting out things carefully. In order to minimize non-essential face-to-face contact between visitors and workers, we have had to implement new health standards and legislation. Not surprisingly, are hotels with restaurants already offering outdoor terraces are refurbishing terraces to become even more expansive and accommodating. Meeting places are also shifting outdoors.The pandemic is pushing developers to fix health issues and reconsider how they market their projects and demonstrate the health of an asset. There is a nationwide home study survey in April 2020. In light of COVID-19, the survey classifies design preferences. Top goals include:

Design components will create a lasting mark on our design aesthetic, architecture and built environment as a whole. There will be substantially more awareness and concern on the part of the public, in terms of the quality of the spaces they're living in, and they'll be cautious about their health and travel. And eventually, they'll be careful about their workplaces as well.