The Crown Estate has been awarded WELL Certification at the Platinum Level for its head office at No 1 St James’s Market, by the International WELL Building Institute™. The Platinum certification, the first in Europe, was awarded through the Well Building Institute’s WELL Building Standard™.
WELL is the global building standard designed to enhance people’s health and wellness through the built environment. Created through seven years of research and development working with leading physicians, scientists, and industry professionals, the WELL Building Standard™ marries best practices in design and construction with evidence-based scientific research.
There are only ten platinum projects globally, including in the U.S., Australia and China. There are currently four WELL Certified projects in the UK, three of which are gold and one of which is silver.
EDGE Architecture and Design worked closely with The Crown Estate to deliver its ambition of delivering an environment for today and tomorrow by designing around and empowering their three principles of progression & professional standing, maximization of collaboration and agility and by placing people at the heart of the business. The result is a WELL workplace environment of the highest performance and certification.
Other key members of the design team were sustainability consultants, Cundall; project managers, Buro Four and building services consultants, Watkins Payne, and cost consultants, Alinea.
Rachael Cadey, EDGE Founder and Project Principal said, “EDGE was commissioned to deliver the client’s vision and objectives and enable their headquarters to become a strategic tool that could help transform and futureproof the business. Achieving the highest certifications for health, wellbeing and sustainability were important ambitions in the brief and these required absolute focus, new learnings, rigorous specifications and an innovative use of materials from the whole project team. We are also thrilled that the post-occupancy data is highlighting really positive statistics of how the people love their new space and recognise the positive impact of their new environment on working practices, wellbeing, and productivity.”
The Crown Estate earned the distinction based on seven categories of building performance—air, water, light, nourishment, fitness, comfort and mind across two floors of No 1 St James’s Market. These link into a design strategy of ‘Active landscapes’ which encourages mobility and wellbeing over both floors. The work spaces have been tailored to employee needs and tasks: some social and collaborative, others quiet and private, all flexible and connected to technology.
With a central philosophy of ‘no offices’ the office layout maximises access to natural daylight for everyone and for primary desk spaces to support circadian rhythms, and ergonomic choices to sit or stand. Biophilia is also part of the core design strategy and is visible wherever you sit with key innovative features such as acoustically performing moss creating visually stunning backdrops.
Project features that helped The Crown Estate achieve its Platinum WELL Certification include:
• Procurement of catering to ensure we are delivering a healthy variety of meals for staff;
• Internal green walls and planting to promote biophilia, as well as moss on the walls to control acoustics;
• Filtered water available at various locations to ensure hydration;
• Selection and procurement of furniture, fixture and finishes (eg paints, chairs, etc) with low VOC content to maintain healthy indoor air quality levels;
• Provision of different types of workplaces and spaces including a library, contemplation rooms, and provision of a number ergonomic desks to meet the different needs of people;
• High-quality base build features including fresh air rates, visible stair case, acoustic performance, and the location of the building to local amenities, local parks and public transport.