Well
Living Lab to evaluate methods and establish guidelines to reduce air
and surface viral transmission, strengthen physical-distancing measures
and enhance employee performance as organizations contemplate their
return to offices
Contacts
Well Living Lab: Laura Kjarland, kjarland.laura@mayo.edu
Delos: Jamie Matos, Jamie.Matos@delos.com
Cushman & Wakefield: Grace Wilk, Grace.Wilk@cushwake.com
Hines: George Lancaster, George.Lancaster@hines.com
ROCHESTER, Minn-Wednesday 29 April 2020 [ AETOS Wire ]
(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Well Living Lab, a Delos and Mayo Clinic collaboration dedicated to
researching the indoor environment’s impact on human health, today
announced a comprehensive plan to study the design and operation of
workspaces to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses. This will
include research conducted in the lab, along with applications and
interventions into corporate offices in the U.S. and internationally.
The Well
Living Lab, adjacent to the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, Minnesota,
will use its configurable “living lab” office space to generate insights
and evaluate technologies for reducing the risk of respiratory virus
transmission in work environments. Rich in sensor technology and highly
configurable, the lab is designed to simulate a number of indoor
environmental settings. Cushman & Wakefield will contribute their
expertise in workplace strategy and design practices, including
protocols for maintaining physical distancing policies and other
concepts for returning to offices. Delos will contribute expertise in
air filtration strategies for reducing particulate matter concentration,
surface hygiene protocols, algorithms designed to remediate indoor
environmental concerns, and software to promote occupant adoption of
behavioral changes necessary to support healthy environments. Hines will
contribute lessons learned from their six-decade history of creating
innovative, sustainable real estate with thought leadership and
management expertise from many of the firm’s key leaders in development,
engineering, innovation and property management across product sectors.
“We know that
buildings have a tremendous impact on our health and well-being, and
the role of indoor spaces has now become more important than ever,” said
Paul Scialla, Delos Founder and CEO. “As we contemplate reopening our
offices in the wake of COVID-19, it is critical that we take an
evidence-based approach to make our workspaces safer when we return. We
are excited about the opportunity to extend the Well Living Lab’s
pioneering research at the intersection of health, building and
behavioral sciences into the field with leading organizations such as
Cushman & Wakefield and Hines.”
To advance
return-to-work guidelines, the Well Living Lab will leverage its field
study capabilities for interventions in Cushman & Wakefield’s and
Hines’ offices, along with Delos’ global headquarters in New York. Hines
has a global management portfolio of more than 500 properties and is
identifying locations, buildings and workspaces that will complement and
fuel this research. Collectively, the information gathered from all
participant sites will be aggregated to inform the continued advancement
of guidelines. The study is also designed to include participation in
other field locations from additional corporate tenants and landlords.
“We look
forward to this continued collaboration with Delos and the Well Living
Lab as we work together to promote a safe workplace as offices reopen,”
said Brett White, Cushman & Wakefield Executive Chairman & CEO.
“We’re planning to demonstrate scientific, evidence-based studies to our
ongoing product innovation as we help our clients prepare for the
coming recovery.”
Hines CEO
Jeff Hines commented, “Our people have been pioneers in creating
progressive real estate that advances the built environment, so joining
this effort is a natural way for us to give back, while continuing to
anticipate and meet the needs of tenants, clients and investors.”
Well Living
Lab researchers will evaluate ways to optimize the effectiveness of
reducing air particulate matter concentration, surface decontamination,
behavioral patterns of physical distancing, building entry protocols
such as thermal screening, as well as the performance, emotional
resiliency, and satisfaction of employees. Delos’ health, building and
behavioral scientists will provide advisory support throughout the
study. The Well Living Lab’s framework of discovery, translation and
application, adapted from Mayo Clinic’s research approach, will move
findings into the field to impact lives.
“Our clients
are very interested in new workplace strategies that align with the
science at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19,” said Despina
Katsikakis, Head of Workplace Business Performance, Cushman &
Wakefield. “We’re pleased to expand on our 6 Feet Office prototype with
further testing in areas like advanced air filtration and surface
hygiene technologies.”
Since 2016,
the Well Living Lab has assembled leading alliance organizations to
study the convergence of building sciences and health sciences. This
includes the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), a public
benefit corporation and Well Living Lab alliance member. IWBI
established a COVID-19 task force in March 2020 to advance the role of
buildings in protecting and enhancing health. Over 450 public health
experts, virologists, government officials, academics and business
leaders, as well as architects, designers, building scientists and real
estate professionals have been collaborating on principles of prevention
and preparedness, resiliency and recovery as it pertains to creating
safer and healthier workplaces, both in terms of the physical spaces as
well as the policies and protocols that support employee health overall.
Members of the task force include 17th Surgeon General of the United
States Richard Carmona; Well Living Lab Scientific Advisory Council
member and distinguished professor at UCLA in the Fielding School of
Public Health and the Geffen School of Medicine Dr. Jonathan Fielding;
assistant professor of exposure and assessment science and Director of
the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public
Health’s Joseph Allen; former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President
and CEO and distinguished professor of population health and health
equity at the University of Pennsylvania Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey;
Cushman & Wakefield’s Head of Workplace Business Performance Despina
Katsikakis; Hines Global Sustainability Manager Adam Slakman; former
Director-General of Chinese Center for Disease Control & Prevention
and distinguished professor at Center for Healthy Cities, Institute for
China Sustainable Urbanization, Tsinghua University Wang Yu, M.D., PhD.
Insights and conclusions from this task force will inform the ongoing
research conducted by the Well Living Lab, and the IWBI will assess the
findings of the research platform to continue to advance the WELL
Building Standard.
“The Well
Living Lab is uniquely positioned to bring together building and health
sciences expertise and technologies to generate and disseminate
discoveries,” said Dr. Veronique Roger, Well Living Lab Director of
Research and Mayo Clinic cardiologist. “This knowledge will help prepare
the world for post COVID-19 safe environments in office and other
settings.”
About the Well Living Lab
The Well
Living Lab, a collaboration of Delos and Mayo Clinic, is dedicated to
identifying how indoor environments impact human health and well-being.
It conducts scientific research with human subjects in a simulated
real-world environment and shares practical findings that can be applied
to improving indoor spaces where people spent approximately 90 percent
of their time. The lab has 5,500 square-feet of sensor rich,
reconfigurable space in downtown Rochester, Minnesota. Learn more at welllivinglab.com
About Delos
Delos is a
wellness real estate and technology company with a mission to be the
world’s leading catalyst for improving the health and well-being of
people by improving the indoor environments where they live, work, sleep
and play. Informed by more than seven years of research and rigorous
analysis of environmental health impacts on people, Delos and its
subsidiaries offer an array of evidence-based technology and solutions
for the built environment. Delos is the founder of the International
WELL Building Institute and the WELL Building Standard, the premier
standard for buildings, interior spaces and communities seeking to
implement, validate and measure features that support and advance human
health and wellness. The International WELL Building Institute
administers and continues WELL’s development and drives market adoption.
Registrations under the WELL Building Standard have surpassed 4,100
projects in 59 countries, encompassing more than 530 million square
feet. Delos collaborated with the Mayo Clinic to create the Well Living
Lab, a scientific research center that uses exclusively human-centered
research to understand the interaction between health and well-being and
indoor environments. The company’s advisory board is comprised of
leading professionals across real estate, healthcare, government policy
and sustainability, including the 17th Surgeon General of the United
States Richard Carmona, UCLA’s Dr. Jonathan Fielding, renowned wellness
luminary Deepak Chopra, and sustainability advocate Leonardo DiCaprio.
For more information about Delos, please visit www.delos.com.
About Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman &
Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a leading global real estate services firm
that delivers exceptional value for real estate occupiers and owners.
Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest real estate services firms
with approximately 53,000 employees in 400 offices and 60 countries. In
2019, the firm had revenue of $8.8 billion across core services of
property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets,
valuation and other services. To learn more, visit www.cushmanwakefield.com or follow @CushWake on Twitter.
About Hines
Hines is a
privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a
presence in 205 cities in 24 countries. Hines has approximately $133.3
billion* of assets under management, including $71 billion for which
Hines serves as an investment manager, including non-real estate assets,
and $62.3 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level
services. The firm has 165 developments currently underway around the
world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,393
properties, totaling over 459 million square feet. The firm’s current
property and asset management portfolio includes 539 properties,
representing over 232 million square feet. With extensive experience in
investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a
pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and
most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information. *AUM includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200427005702/en/
Contacts
Well Living Lab: Laura Kjarland, kjarland.laura@mayo.edu
Delos: Jamie Matos, Jamie.Matos@delos.com
Cushman & Wakefield: Grace Wilk, Grace.Wilk@cushwake.com
Hines: George Lancaster, George.Lancaster@hines.com
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