7 minute read
becoming well
A design ethic empathizing the health of occupants never more timely than in an urban world rocked by a pandemic BECO MING WELL
Vancouver Centre 2 office tower will feature plenty of
natural light, living green walls and a radiant heating and
becoming well
Frank O’Brien S tarted six years ago, the WELL building standard – an international effort to place the health of occupants at the centre of design – sparked an immediate response in Vancouver that is expected to widen with the onset
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WELL was developed by integrating scientific and medical research on environmental health, behavioural factors and health outcomes with leading practices in building design, construction and management, according to the New York-based WELL Building Institute.
It means making workplaces healthier, which is proving good for occupants and for the bottom line.
Just a year after WELL was introduced, CBR E, a commercial real estate agency, began to incorporate the standard into its offices. In 2017, CBR E was the first in Vancouver to obtain WELL Certification. Its four-floor office in Oxford Properties’ MNP Tower – itself a WELL office building – incorporates more than 100 wellness features such as universal access to natural light for all employees and noise-cancellation diodes to reduce stress-inducing background noise.
But it is the office’s internal systems that may be attracting the most interest in a society grappling with a pandemic.The system is designed to ensure that inside air quality is within the top 1%
the first Vancouver company to incorporate WELL into its office
almost a third.” • Chung Chow
globally. When its filtration system detects a need for fresh air, it pumps in new air from outside the building, as opposed to recycling air from inside the building.
CBR E has found payoff has been, well, healthy. “Since 2015, in offices that have undergone our workplace transformation, we have seen our total employee turnover rate fall by almost a third and, in the same period, we’ve doubled our hiring rate of new talent,” says Ashley O’Neill, vice-president of corporate strategy.
The MNP tower in Vancouver by Oxford Properties was the first entire new office building in Vancouver to achieve the WELL gold standard. Here, the emphasis is fitness, with a climbing wall and exercise and yoga studios integral to the design. There is also special lighting and artwork in the stairwells to encourage tenants to take the stairs rather than the elevator.
Vancouver Centre 2, developed by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan with GWLRealty Advisors and scheduled to complete in 2021, is designed to achieve WELL Gold certification. The 33-storey tower is at the corner of West Georgia and Seymour streets. Equipped with the WELL gold-standard in healthy environments, the tower includes an outdoor deck on the 7th floor that connects to the fitness and yoga studios. The 29th-floor rooftop deck allows employees to take a break or eat lunch, or hold a meeting in the open air.
Vancouver Centre 2 also features a ceiling-based radiant heating and cooling system. Heated or chilled water is circulated through metal ceiling panels, enabling more efficient control over the interior temperature. The system is said to be superior in a key issue: it avoids the spread of particulate, which is common with forced air systems.
The newest healthy giants in Vancouver are being built to Well v2, the second iteration of the WELL building standard. It incorporates recommended changes drawn from monitoring the first six years of WELL buildings.
BentallGreenOak’s first Vancouver flagship is a 32-storey, 540,000-square-foot office tower at 1090 West Pender, known as B6. It is being built to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standard. It will also feature a green roof and the WELL v2 registration.
The tower is scheduled for completion by February 2023. “B6 is wrapped with sustainable features like triple-glazed windows and efficient mechanical systems for a more healthy and energy-efficient experience for our tenants,” said Tony Astles, managing partner and head of Canadian real estate services for BentallGreenOak.
WELL amenities at B2 include advanced air filtration, a private three-storey fitness facility for tenants and extensive shower and storage facilities for bikers and runners, all of which emphasize that health, happiness and work can be mutually beneficial in a modern office environment. ç
WELL v2 registration and to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Health y air concept
The WELL Air concept aims to ensure high levels of indoor air quality across a building’s lifetime through source elimination or reduction, active and passive building design, operation strategies and human behaviour interventions. People spend approximately 90% of their time in enclosed spaces. During this time, inhalation exposure to indoor air pollutants can lead to a variety of poor health and well-being outcomes. Health effects associated with exposure to indoor air pollutants can be short- and long-term and can range in severity. WELL seeks to implement holistic design strategies to promote clean air and minimize human exposure to harmful contaminants.
BOMA ’s Guide to Pandemic Planning proves vital today COV ID-19 surprised many but BO MA members have had access to the Guide to Pandemic Planning since the SAR S outbreak in 2003
Muneesh Sharma
The arrival of COVID-19 has upended the global economy and has and will affect the commercial real estate community across British Columbia and the world.
While we were all shocked and surprised at the arrival and the impact of this new coronavirus, members of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) were more prepared with the BOMA Canada Guide to Pandemic Planning, a predictive publication first envisioned by BOMA following the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto. The pandemic guide was soon published, along with a continually updated web page http://bomacanada.ca/pandemic-2019.
BOMA developed the original pandemic guide with DCS Global in cooperation with a number of experts, including Susan Bazak, emergency management specialist with Bazak Consulting; Dr. Bunmi Fatoye, medical officer of health with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority; and Bruce Gamage, network director with the BC Provincial Infection Control Network.
The guide was quickly and widely endorsed by the commercial real estate industry across Canada.
Since the first guide was published, the world has seen the A(H1N1) 2009 influenza pandemic and the Ebola virus outbreak (2013-2016). Now we are all dealing with COVID-19. Like SARS this new coronavirus causes acute respiratory distress, but experts consider it more dangerous.
According to the World Health Organization, “pandemics are unpredictable, but recurring events that can cause severe social, economic, and political stress. Advanced planning and preparedness are critical in helping to mitigate their impact.”
As COVID-19 has shown, pandemics can spread more quickly than in the past and our society is ever more at risk. The number of people working and visiting commercial properties is expanding, the population is aging and the world is globalizing. It was just a matter of weeks from the identification of the first outbreak of the latest coronavirus in China before it was infecting people from Europe to North America, Africa to South America.
The latest version of BOMA’s Guide to Pandemic Planning has been released with the most up to date knowledge of preparedness and we encourage all members of the real estate community to review it.
Content is based upon public health expertise and planning guidance, lessons observed from the 2009 pandemic, best-practice emergency management approaches, and the collective wisdom and advice from a team of expert BOMA members from across Canada.
Building owners and managers can take steps to both prepare for and address pandemics. While nothing can replace the need to get proper, expert medical advice, consulting the guide will assist our members in doing the right thing for their tenants, visitors and staff.
The updated guide is divided into eight sections: your property’s pandemic plan; employee health and safety; the physical environment; communicating in a pandemic; supplies and suppliers; information technology considerations; security; and legal considerations for property managers and owners.
These categories are not an exhaustive list of every pandemic-related business deliberation. However, we hope that this guide will provide helpful ideas and suggestions to assist in your pandemic planning efforts.
Copies of the BOMA Canada Guide to Pandemic Planning are available through BOMA BC free of charge to members and non-members alike.
We are all in this together and we hope you’ll find this guide helpful in your own preparations and reaction to the latest pandemic threatening our loved ones and our livelihoods.
Stay safe, partners.ç
Muneesh Sharma is director of government affairs and communications with BOMA British Columbia. He can be contacted through boma.bc.ca.
