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Fitwel in the News
Latest Announcements
Fitwel Sets the Standard for Healthy Communities
CfAD announces nine of the leaders who are piloting Fitwel Community, a new standard for optimizing holistic health benefits in neighborhood-scale projects. Spanning the public and private sectors, these early adopters include Fitwel Champion Kilroy Realty Corporation, and the first Fitwel Community municipal user, the City of Vancouver, Washington. The Fitwel Community Scorecard builds upon a healthy community prototype developed by CfAD for Lendlease in 2018. This prototype informed the planning, design, and operational priorities of Lendlease’s Horizon Uptown master plan, a 503-acre, mixed-use community in Aurora, CO.
By underpinning Horizon Uptown’s design with research and community input, Lendlease continues to demonstrate its ability to create communities that offer a dynamic sense of place, are people-oriented, and promote mental and physical well-being.
—Eleni Reed, Head of Sustainability, Americas at Lendlease.
Horizon Uptown joins the first group of trailblazing participants in the 2019 Fitwel Community Pilot. Their insights will contribute to a publicly-available scorecard, anticipated for release in January 2020.
Fitwel® v2.1: Introducing a New Construction Pathway, and Scorecards for Retail and Community Projects
The Center for Active Design announces the June 3rd, 2019 launch of Fitwel v2.1, which advances the Fitwel vision that every building and community is optimized for health. Fitwel v2.1 will feature a new construction pathway, newly developed Retail and Community Scorecards, as well as strengthened Workplace and Multifamily Residential Scorecards. These updates ensure that all Fitwel products reflect the latest science and research and are responsive to user demand and feedback garnered through Fitwel’s Leadership Advisory Board, Champion companies, Pilot users, Advisory Council members, and Ambassadors.
Fitwel’s first two years in the market focused on providing real estate owners with a portfolio approach for existing buildings. To date, over 90% of the 700+ total registered projects represent existing buildings. In v2.1, existing buildings will continue to be supported through Fitwel’s Existing Building pathway, achieving a Built Certification. New construction and renovation projects will have a new option of being supported through the New Construction pathway, achieving a Design Certification (pre-occupancy) and a Built Certification (post-occupancy).
Fitwel Champion Boston Properties is the first to undertake the New Construction pathway and complete Fitwel’s Design Certification for its planned office tower at Back Bay Station in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Properties continues to demonstrate its industry leadership by both pioneering Fitwel’s approach for new construction projects at this project, and committing to pursue Fitwel certification for over sixteen million square feet of its portfolio.
Fitwel® Announces an 80% increase in Certifications in One Year
The Center for Active Design announces a sharp uptick in the application of the Fitwel Certification System, with an 80% increase in projects achieving certification between 2017 and 2018. CfAD recognizes exceptional real estate, design, and consulting companies for their unique achievements in leading the industry towards building health.
Fitwel Certification System by the numbers: 650+ registered projects, impacting 570,000+ people, with 180+ projects certified or pending certification, 1,600+ global users and 1,000+ Fitwel Ambassadors, spanning 35+ countries. 42% of certified projects received a 1 Star Rating, which requires a minimum score of 90 out of 144 points; 33% received a 2 Star Rating and 11% a 3 Star Rating.