Varso Place accredited with WELL’s new Health-Safety Rating
HB Reavis, the international workspace provider, has seen its recently-completed Varso Place buildings achieve the new WELL Health-Safety Rating. Amongst other factors, the rating tests a building’s ability to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases. The business has long prioritised wellbeing in its designs – which includes the health and safety of users.
The WELL Building Institute created the Health-Safety Rating in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to help companies prepare their workspaces for the return of their employees, and to give employees the confidence to go back to their offices. The rating also provides a benchmark that guides, validates, recognises, and scales the efforts of owners and operators on critical health and safety issues.
The rating’s focus on infectious disease mitigation is based on analysis of operational policies and sanitisation maintenance protocols. However, it also assesses a building’s approach to wider health and safety needs, from mitigating mould and ensuring air and water quality, to emergency planning strategies, with a focus on mental health during crises, and community immunity.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating is valid for one year from the date of issue. To maintain the rating, project teams must meet requirements for annual renewal for a given project.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating is based on guidance by the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and leading academic and research institutions. The assessment is drawn from insights from nearly 600 public health experts, virologists, government officials, academics, business leaders, architects, designers, scientists, and professionals.
HB Reavis intends to invite WELL to verify all its other projects as proof of its commitment to wellbeing.
Designed and constructed according to the highest green building standards, Varso Place is a mixed-use development by HB Reavis in central Warsaw, consisting of offices, a hotel, innovation hub, and retail. Construction continues on Varso Tower, which will also be certified WELL Health-Safety upon completion.