The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) announced that it has passed the 500-million-square-foot mark of buildings registered and certified under the WELL Building Standard (WELL). The milestone follows an earlier announcement that the number of WELL Accredited Professionals (APs) and registrants has exceeded 10,000, further evidence of the accelerating growth of the global movement to help people thrive through better buildings and communities and stronger organizations.

“With more than 4,000 projects in nearly 60 countries and spanning all space types – offices, schools, hotels, residences and more – it’s clear that this second wave of sustainability has gathered powerful momentum,” said IWBI chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi. “To reach a half-billion square feet of spaces applying WELL is to positively impact the health and well-being of more people in more places and to begin to truly change the narrative around how we design and operate the spaces where we spend our time.”

Over the course of 2019, nearly four times as many new projects registered to pursue WELL as throughout all of 2018.

“Halfway to a billion is one thing, but what’s truly remarkable is the pace of adoption,” said Rachel Gutter, president of IWBI. “WELL entered the market in 2014, and it took roughly four years to reach 250 million square feet, but it’s only taken a year to double that to a half-billion. While that’s a potent market signal, it really reflects an unbelievable rise of a dedicated community around the world that is committed to investing in health.”

To build upon this growth and momentum, IWBI also has leveraged new partnership opportunities to reach priority markets and scale the benefits of delivering better buildings.

In collaboration with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and Emerald Expositions (Emerald), the inaugural WELL Conference will take place this April in Scottsdale, Arizona.