SAN FRANCISCO—Many in this business go beyond traditional roles to make the world a better place, whether through charity contributions or within the project realm. As a real estate developer, Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. takes it one step further in building healthy workplace environments for technology and life science companies.

Alexandria was recently recognized as a first-in-class Fitwel champion for five of its buildings within collaborative technology and science campuses, including 499 Illinois St. in Mission Bay for Illumina. Alexandria is the first real estate developer and REIT to earn this certification.

Fitwel addresses the growing demand for healthier buildings. It is an evidence-based building certification standard, newly developed by the CDC and the GSA, and operated by the Center for Active Design, to foster positive impacts on building health and productivity through workplace design and policy improvements. Fitwel evaluates all building and office environment features, such as proximity to public transit, access to fitness facilities, design of outdoor spaces, indoor air quality and health food options.

In addition to 499 Illinois in Mission Bay, buildings with life-science tenants that are currently Fitwel-certified include The Alexandria Center for Life Science (both towers in New York City) with tenants Eli Lilly and Roche, and 400 Technology Square in Cambridge, MA with tenant, Novartis.

Vin Ciruzzi, chief development officer with Alexandria, recently discussed Fitwel and its benefits in this GlobeSt.com exclusive.

GlobeSt.com: What is Fitwel?

Vin Ciruzzi: Fitwel is a low-cost, high-impact building certification system that promotes building occupant health and productivity in the workplace.

GlobeSt.com: Why use Fitwel?

Ciruzzi: At Alexandria, we use Fitwel to provide credibility and validation to the health and wellness offerings we provide on our collaborative life science and technology campuses, as well as a benchmark for our buildings against scientifically proven best practices for healthy workplaces. Fitwel certifications can enhance the efforts our tenants make to attract and retain the best and brightest talent from around the world.

GlobeSt.com: What does it mean to be a first-in-class Fitwel champion?

Ciruzzi: Alexandria is the first commercial real estate company and first REIT to use and receive Fitwel certifications. Being a first-in-class Fitwel champion demonstrates our commitment to creating dynamic office/laboratory environments that promote health and enable our innovative tenants to develop novel solutions to advance human health. The Center for Active Design selected Alexandria from a handful of interested companies based on our track record of incorporating many of Fitwel's recommended best practices into our collaborative life science and technology campuses for the past decade and because of our shared connections to the scientific community.

GlobeSt.com: What is behind Fitwel's early success and attention?

Ciruzzi: Three reasons stand out in thinking about Fitwel's early and continually growing success. First, in addition to providing building owners and operators with a better understanding of how our buildings support healthy behavior, Fitwel provides an efficient means to receive credit for what companies are already doing in the space. At Alexandria, we have been a pioneer in developing urban campuses with creative amenities and healthy environments–such as fitness centers, organic gardens and outdoor spaces–which provide vibrant ecosystems where innovation thrives and where tenants want to be. You can think of this as 'human sustainability,' and it's been a big part of our success and growth. But, until recently, this aspect wasn't recognized under the sustainability umbrella, which focused mostly on environmental sustainability. Now the tent is expanding, and the Alexandria team and our tenants are really excited that the industry is recognizing the importance of health and wellness with certifications that complement LEED.

The second reason is reasonable cost. At $6,500 per building, the cost is more than justifiable, especially on highly leased, in our case, existing buildings. Third, the web-based Fitwel tool is easy to use and implement. The certification system features simple and easy to understand language. It doesn't require familiarity with jargon or technical capabilities, and there are no prerequisites.

GlobeSt.com: How is the Fitwel system designed? What are some examples of best practices that it recognizes?

Ciruzzi: Fitwel's 63 strategies are divided up into 12 areas of a building or campus, and each strategy is linked by scientific evidence to at least one of Fitwel's seven health impact categories. The scientific evidence reflects 3,000 peer-reviewed studies that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses to identify the 63 strategies with the clearest evidence of impacting public health, such as showers and bicycle parking to support active commutes, exercise rooms and fitness facilities, amenities and transportation options that are within walking distance, walking trails and outdoor seating areas, stairs that are conveniently located with signage to encourage use, fruits and vegetables grown on-site, policies for indoor air quality and green cleaning, lactation/mother's rooms with refrigerators and sinks, water bottle filling stations, and accessible healthy food selections in cafeterias and break areas along with the use of pricing incentives.

Vin Ciruzzi, chief development officer with Alexandria, recently discussed Fitwel and its benefits in this GlobeSt.com exclusive.

GlobeSt.com: What is Fitwel?

Vin Ciruzzi: Fitwel is a low-cost, high-impact building certification system that promotes building occupant health and productivity in the workplace.

GlobeSt.com: Why use Fitwel?

GlobeSt.com: What does it mean to be a first-in-class Fitwel champion?

GlobeSt.com: What is behind Fitwel's early success and attention?

GlobeSt.com: How is the Fitwel system designed? What are some examples of best practices that it recognizes?

Instant Insights /

Fitwel Addresses Increasing Demand for Healthier Buildings

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