Podcast: Redefining Wellness in Residential Construction

When builders hear "wellness," they think gyms and yoga studios. But Liz Miles, vice president of residential at the International WELL Building Institute, wants to redirect that conversation. Real wellness in housing isn't just about amenities; it's about the air we breathe, the water we drink, the quality of light inside a home. 

Miles has been with IWBI since 2015, back when the organization launched its first health and wellness certification for commercial buildings. Now she's leading the WELL for residential program, set to become a full standard later this year, after two years in pilot mode.

In this episode of the Women at WIRC podcast, she breaks down the 10 impact areas the program tracks and explains what you can focus on even without pursuing certification. 

Hi everyone. I'm Pauline Hammerbeck from Custom Builder. Today we're talking about what it takes to design wellness into homes. I'm here with Liz Miles. She's been with the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) since 2015, back when it launched the WELL Building Standard, the first health and wellness certification for commercial buildings. 

Now she's vice president of residential for the organization leading the WELL for residential pilot program, which is slated to become a full standard later this year. Liz, thanks for being here. So, let's start at the beginning.

Liz's Background and Journey to IWBI

Pauline Hammerbeck: Tell me, what first drew your attention to health and wellness and how it relates to the built environment?

Liz Miles: Absolutely. I love this question because I was actually on the job search after graduating from college and I had met with a contact at the Clinton Global Initiative. I was previously working in a lot of health nonprofits like Doctors Without Borders.

And, you know, I was talking about my background. My dad's a residential real estate developer in Chicago, just small scale, single family homes or two to three flats. And my mom's a nurse and as I was telling him the story. He was like, ‘I think you'd be a great fit for this company called Delos. They just launched their subsidiary, the International WELL Building Institute and the WELL Building Standard. It's the perfect mix of your interests.’

And I was like, huh, that's interesting. And I connected with the founders and the rest is history. That was 12 years ago.

How Buildings Affect Health and Wellbeing

Pauline: It seems like you were made for it. So, before we get too deep into things, tell me a little bit, I guess just for the listeners, you know, how specifically can the built environment influence our health and wellbeing over time?

Liz: There's so many different ways. When you look at what people typically think of as wellness or amenities, they're thinking of the gym or, you know, eating healthy. And all of these things have their place. They're definitely important. But these are all lifestyle-related changes or attributes of a bigger picture of health and wellbeing. There's so much around us that's passively impacting our health at all times.

We do spend 90% of our time indoors. It's the air we breathe, it's the water we drink, it's the lighting that we're getting exposed to, it's that noisy neighbor next door. It's all of these different things, constantly, passively impacting our health and wellbeing, and that's really what we look at in WELL, in addition to policies and operations as well. But really looking at that design.

The WELL Building Standard Launch

Pauline: And so you joined the organization back in 2015, and that's when they launched the first commercial-oriented standard. At that time, I think the industry was very much into energy efficiency, and very familiar with that, and sustainability had been going strong. Tell me, how did they react to a certification that was focused on wellness? What was the reception like?

Liz: It was received very well, pun intended. People were just starting to pay attention to how buildings affect health and wellbeing. Early adopters were excited to create spaces that support both physical and mental wellness. It was new territory, I think.

Indoor environmental quality was always kind of a section in LEED, for example. But it was just, you know, a couple points. It wasn't really something that was exclusive or dedicated to health and wellbeing. So what really resonated with the early adopters was the fact that WELL converges; its holistic, but it also is evidence-based.

So it's converging the building science, health science, behavioral science to offer a holistic approach. And it's, again, looking at design, operations and policies. The WELL Building Standard has over a 100 health-focused strategies, and we organize this across 10 different impact areas. So that's air, water, nourishment, movement, light, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind and community. 

Developing WELL for Residential

Pauline: And when did it become clear that you needed a different approach for residential, and why?

Liz: Yes. I also love this question. Residences are not just mini offices. They're very distinct in terms of who they're serving. It's not just working. It's raising children. It's having pets. It's…you could be working from home, it's sleeping, it's eating meals with family. It's supporting so many different aspects of daily life. It's very different from a commercial workplace or a building. So, we need to look at that.

Also, we need to look at the process. The process is very different. There are a lot of builders who are also the architects; it's not as differentiated as commercial. There's also homeowners ... if you're building your own home, what can you do to, to support health and wellbeing?

So we're working with a lot of different stakeholders. so it's very different. We did, in the early version [of WELL Building], we were seeing that it was applicable to multifamily buildings. But it was looking more at the base building and common areas and like building staff.

The way the standard is written, it doesn't apply specifically to the units themselves. And then of course, single-family homes were completely off limits. So, we are getting a lot of demand for single family homes. You know, again, for all those reasons that I mentioned before, we are also getting a lot of demand for addressing health and wellbeing in the individual dwelling units and not in the building as a whole.

So that was when we put together that advisory in 2021, with developers, designers, various stakeholders, to put together a program that was specific to the needs of a residential environment.

Pauline: You touched on the areas covered in the commercial standard. Is it the same across residential? What does that look like in residential?

Liz: WELL residential is informed by the WELL Building standard, but there's also new features that are specific to residential.

Pauline: So, you're currently in pilot mode; you launched in 2022?

Liz: We launched the advisory in 2021. We did two years of work with them, and then we officially launched January of 2024.

Pauline: Tell me, what challenges did you see come up in the residential pilot that maybe was different than when you launched the commercial side?

Liz: Great question. So one of the main challenges we saw … we actually originally designed the program to apply more to new construction. So we were looking more at ground up or major renovations. What we were surprised by in the pilot was that we got a ton of interest from existing stock.

The other interesting thing that we weren't expecting (because we were expecting large high rises, multifamily or like production home builders, like communities of single-family homes). But we got a lot of interest from existing buildings, and also different residential types …so a lot of student accommodation, military housing, hospitality, corporate housing.

So that was also a big surprise for us. So, with that, we had to kind of go back to the drawing board and introduced some additional pathways for existing buildings or different dwelling unit types.

Of course, whenever we launch a new program. we are the International WELL Building Institute, it is applied in different regions of the world. We are headquartered in New York, but we also have outposts in Europe and also in APAC and China. We get a lot of feedback from those regions.

For example, one of our minimum eligibility requirements was having hot and cold water lines. And our customers in India were like, ‘we don't provide hot water lines. You know, it's just the climate here.’ And we were like, oh, well, okay, we'll take that out. You know, maybe put a different requirement that's specific to local building code, or something like that, that's eligible for residential.

So those were some of the challenges I would say that we saw. So, just providing more flexible pathways for different residential types and different regions of the world.

Pauline: That makes good sense. And so now it looks like you're close to coming out of pilot mode and becoming a full standard. Tell me why is now a good time for that?

Moving Beyond Pilot to Full Standard

Liz: So, we did the two years. Two years is a great period of time to get all of the feedback and information that we need. So that really provided that real world insight that we needed to refine the program. All of IWBI WELL programs go through governance council, as a part of our governance process.

They vote on any new strategies, as long as they meet the tenants of the program and also of bringing it to market. So, we had that meeting in September with the entire governance council; we had a unanimous vote. The program meets the tenants of our governance process and [they] voted the program ready to come out of pilot.

One of the main things that we're working on in 2026 is what we're calling ‘One WELL.” So we are looking to elevate the overall WELL user experience by recalibrating the entire WELL ecosystem. We're bringing the ratings, the certifications, the residential program, we're bringing it all under one library, and a tech platform that will be much easier to use when you're making decisions about your project.

So WELL for Residential will be one of the newest additions to that ecosystem. So the time is right, with the overall integration that we're doing across the board.

Pauline: What about in the broader culture? You know, definitely post COVID, we're seeing people more interested in self-care and wellness. What are you hearing from the broader culture, from the building industry, maybe even municipalities, and governments who obviously have a role to play, too.

Liz: Well, I think I kind of mentioned the amenities. I think people tend to think of amenities as wellness. But there's so much more to it. You know, oftentimes when I talk about the residential program, a lot of people ask about mold or asbestos or lead, and those are definitely parts of it. But that's really just a base level that's just scratching the surface. Of course, that's super important and significant, but there's so much more.

So I do think there's more education that needs to happen on [the fact that] there's a lot more than just mold and lead and asbestos. You know, there's other materials, there's other chemicals of concern. There's, you know, daylighting, there's acoustics, there's thermal comfort.

I think when you start storytelling a little bit more. Like, when you're cold in a space, are you able to focus? Maybe not. Or the noisy neighbor; how much does that impact the enjoyment of your space? So, when you start to boil it down to those like small experiences that a lot of people have, it's kind of a collective experience. Then it starts to click.

Pauline: Yeah, that makes good sense. So, you talked about it being relevant, obviously, for new build and renovations and existing structures as well, but why don't we talk about new builds. 

Practical Implementation for Builders

Pauline: How should an architect or a builder think about things, in terms of focus? Maybe they're not pursuing certification right out of the gate. What are areas they need to think about more holistically than perhaps they've done in the past?

Liz: So, on new construction, the best time to look at WELL is as early as possible because that's when you can really make the most impact. But, you know, you're really looking at your design and purchasing decisions in new construction. So, you're looking at your heating, ventilation and air conditioning, design and purchase. You're looking at plumbing design again, moisture management, making sure that you're using moisture resistant materials are in the correct areas. Window design, you know, how are you designing the windows for optimal daylight? And glare control. Acoustic treatments; you know, don't put the laundry room next to the bedroom.

Like also basic things like that. Appliance selection; choosing a dishwasher or other products that are quieter. The vent hood over the range; making sure it's exhausting outside. Storage space; ensuring there's enough storage space. And, then, of course, healthy material selection. That's a pretty big one in terms of renovations; or say it's a new construction, but you're looking at WELL after a lot of decisions have been made, it's really doing a gap analysis and looking at what you're starting with. So, you kind of look to see, okay, I'm already doing this, I'm not doing this. What's required to bring myself into compliance with the requirements for an existing building or a light renovation? There are features that are looking at operations and policies. [We’re] also looking at the site, so is it walkable? Is there transportation, parks nearby? So that can also help.

Also, onsite testing. So if you wanted to do air quality testing, water quality testing, these are other ways that existing buildings can meet requirements and accrue points to get the certification. Common amenities, that's another one.

You know, the misconception that I've mentioned a few times (but those do help) having the gym and the yoga room or whatever it may be.

Pauline: You did sort of go through 10 factors that you guys [track]. Why don't we quickly go through those again and maybe give an example for each category; what makes sense for someone to focus on in that category?

The 10 Impact Areas Explained

Liz: Yeah, definitely.

1. AIR: So, in Air we have 10 different features. An example of a more design heavy feature would be ventilation design. That's the very first one. So that's looking at exhausting air in kitchens and bathrooms, for example. For an existing building there's a feature that's indoor air quality testing. There's even a feature that's looking at a smoke-free environment. That seems pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised at how much smoking, banning smoking, is … difficult in a lot of places. But having a smoking ban policy, having smoking signage, you know, not smoking outside nearby entrances or indoor air intakes, or operable windows, for example. Say you have somebody, a landscaper, coming to do something and they're smoking right next to the window. You know, [that’s] gonna defeat the purpose of a healthy building. So that's an example of air.
2. WATER: In water. You know, we're looking, the first one is plumbing design and sizing. So that's looking again, more at a new construction. The second one is water testing, so that would be a little more feasible for an existing building.
3. NOURISHMENT: In nourishment we're looking at supportive cooking environment, looking at how the kitchen is designed with food prep and hygiene; so the sink and then where the range is … basically the distances of how that's designed. The second one is onsite food production. So that's, is there a space where you can have edible plants? So that's, that's an example of one that could be added in.
4. LIGHT. We're looking at design for daylight as the first one. Again, that's more specific to window design. Um, the last one in light is visibility at night. So that's having nightlights. Um, again, that's more of a plug and play for an existing building.
5. MOVEMENT. In movement, movement is mostly, you know, looking at the site. Is it pedestrian friendly, transit friendly, bike friendly? That's hard to change, obviously, if you already have the site. But, you know, here we're also looking at outdoor activity space, indoor activity space. So that's an indoor gym. Even an outdoor gym or a pool or a park with a walking trail or biking trail. There are even adjustable workstations. So that's kind of an easier one.
6. THERMAL COMFORT. Here we're looking at, let's see, what's a good one here? A pretty obvious one is operable windows. This is in most code. I haven't had the experience of having a residential building without operable windows, but that's just one example. Um, we also do require screens, for insects, which doesn't always apply across the board. So that is kind of one aspect of that feature that can be challenging in certain regions. And then, thermal control. So this is one that would be probably more specific to a new construction. So having more thermal adjustability, like room by room for example. I know that mini splits are becoming a lot more popular for that reason. So that's another option.
7. SOUND. I had already mentioned, you know, the quiet products. So, a lot of dishwashers and appliances have sound readings, so that's what that one is addressing. And then there's also sound barriers. So that's looking more at like how the wall assemblies, floor and ceiling assemblies, the noise and insulation class, and those types of ratings. So that's more of a new construction.
8. MATERIALS. You can go all the way into the paints, the sealants, the insulation, all of that. That's, again, more of a new construction target. But you can also look at pest and pesticide. You know, what pesticides are you using? What cleaning products are you using? So that's, again, a more feasible pathway for existing buildings. Last two: mind and community.
9. MIND: So, in mind, we're looking at space management or household storage, easier in new construction. But we're also looking at nature in place. So how do you bring nature into the space? Is that through things like views or is it using natural materials and textures, patterns? One of my favorite reports is the Terrapin 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design. It could be the sense of a breeze. You know, it could be anything. It could be the sense of discovery. So I love that in that report. Sense of privacy. I would say that's a really important one, especially for residential.
10. COMMUNITY: Then the last section, community. So here we're looking at, if you're a developer, affordable housing. So, do you have a certain percentage of units that are designated for certain income levels? That's, you know, touching on the equity piece that we're looking at. And then we're also looking at things like disaster resilience. So, that could be according to whatever geological or … even a pandemic. What things, what types of disasters are relevant to your area and how are you addressing them? You know, I used to live in LA and, you know, fires, earthquakes. That's the problem there. In Chicago, I'm looking at below zero temperatures this week. So it just all depends on your location and doing the appropriate hazard assessment. And then looking at how to address, um, those hazards appropriately. So that's a lot,

Pauline: Yeah, it's a lot. But I love that you're … the examples that you're giving make it so tangible for someone listening. Like, of course we would do this. Why wouldn't we do this? I think people maybe sometimes hear wellness and it's sort of an abstract concept, and I love how this sort of brings it all down to earth in very tangible ways. Everybody would want to live like this. Why wouldn't you be doing this? 

Liz: Absolutely. And I think that's a common misconception. You know, a lot of people think that it's “healthy for the wealthy” thing, but it's really not true. There is such a spectrum of achieving the same health outcome. You can do an air quality test. Or you can put in the fanciest ERV, HVAC system possible. But they're both achieving a similar outcome, and that's looking at air quality.

There's also the plugin filters you can do if changing the HVAC system's not possible. So it's being open-minded and looking at all the different solutions available for a specific intent and outcome.

Cost and Flexibility

Pauline: And so does the certification have, I guess, enough flexibility to allow for that? Because that was going to be one of my questions, you know: how does this affect cost? Obviously a builder or a developer, that's gonna be the first thing they're gonna ask, ‘what's it gonna cost me?.’ Right? So is there flexibility within the certification program to allow for different solutions?

Liz: Absolutely. Yes. So in WELL for Residential specifically, it's, uh … we have those 10 impact areas that I went through. There are 40 points. So each feature within those 10 impact categories have a certain amount of points allotted to them. And the points are based on health impact. So you just need to get 40. There's 211 available across those 10 areas, you need to get 40 to get the certification. So how you get to that 40 is completely up to you and your individual project.

Research and Future Directions

Pauline: Yeah, that makes sense. That's great. Um, so obviously you mentioned this is all evidence-based, but tell me on the, on the research front, are there areas that we still don't quite understand in terms of how the built environment affects our health and wellness? What's the latest that we need to track on this front?

Liz: I'm definitely not the research lead and I highly recommend that you check out our Investing in Health Pays Back Report. We just put out a second version of it, and it compiles all of those research studies. The difficulty with research is humans are messy, so it's really difficult to control what we need to control and get the measurements that we want. Of course, there's also the issue of privacy and genetics and, you know, everybody is so different.

I would say some exciting things that IWBI and our parent company are doing … we have the WELL Living Lab in partnership with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where they specifically have people, you know, work, sleep in a controlled environment. And they focus on very specific impact areas. So they'll change just the color temperature of the lighting, for example, to get some indication of how that's affecting them. So those types of controlled studies definitely help. I would say a lot of the studies that we reference are, you know, qualitative. So it's a lot of subjective, you know, how a person's feeling.

The good news is that a lot of people know what it feels like to be in an environment that doesn't have good day lighting, they're sleepy versus being outside or in a place with great light. Um, so there's that.

I do think with the evolution of smart homes and wearable technologies and all these other things that are happening, I think we'll be able to get more data. Yeah, it's definitely taking all the pieces that we can get from all those different sources.

Getting Started with Wellness Design

Pauline: For sure. I mean, something that we'll all kind of keep watch on and see how things evolve there. So, what should residential professionals be paying attention to now, even if they don't plan to certify. Where should they start?

Liz: I would say start with your population. You know, who are you serving? I think we tend to get so focused on the building, and that is important, that is the vehicle that we're using to change or have an impact on health.

But who we're addressing are people. So say, for example, one of our partners, an enterprise community partner who works on affordable housing in the U.S. Their population has asthma and allergies. It's a huge issue. So we're going to be looking at air filtration, maybe air quality monitoring, maybe using combustion minimization, so, using electric instead of gas, you know? We're looking at that population specifically.

If we're doing corporate housing for folks that work a night shift. What's gonna be important for them is sleeping during the day. So they're gonna need blackout shades. They're gonna need, you know, it would be ideal to have dimmable and color changing lights. Those are, those are things that we would look at. So it really depends on who you're serving. So that's the base of what we're doing and that's always what I recommend starting with.

Pauline: Different needs for different groups. Yeah, that makes good sense. So, what's the risk if, if builders, architects, designers don't embrace this approach? What are they missing out on?

Liz: I think you'll be behind the curve. I think this is … one of the things that we learned from the green building movement was sick building syndrome, unintended consequences, you know. It’s something that you need to pay attention to. I also think earlier, younger generations have access to these technologies. You don't want the person you're serving to know more than you. Um, so, you know, get ahead of that.

The Future of Wellness in Building

Pauline: And, so, looking forward, where do you see things going? How this gonna play out over the next 10 years? Are we gonna be much more tech heavy? Is it gonna be … just give me your thoughts on what things are gonna look like.

Liz: Definitely. You know, I think wellness will become the baseline, not the differentiator. Kind of similar to what happened with the green building movement. You know, people always ask, ‘how does WELL compare to LEED?’ or, you know, ‘LEED isn't that important anymore’ And I'm like, well, it's still important. It's just, it's in building code now, so everyone's doing it. You don't really need the voluntary program as much.

I hope that happens to WELL, because that means we were successful. Maybe not on a business front, but you know, in terms of a market transformation like that is the goal. I think over the next decade, wellness will shift from being a nice to have to an expectation.

As I said, the people that you're serving, they're gonna expect this. So, again, you don't wanna be behind the curve.

Pauline: That's a great place to end. Liz, thank you.

Liz: Thank you so much.

Pauline: You can learn a lot more about the WELL for Residential Certification program and all things wellness at Wellcertified.com. I'm Pauline Hammerbeck. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for listening to Women at WIRC. This podcast is actually a spinoff of our annual Women in Residential Construction Conference, which we've been hosting since 2016. You can learn more about the conference and see when we'll be in your area by visiting WomensConstructionConference.com. Women at WIRC is a production of Endeavor Business Media, a division of Endeavor B2B. Until next time, keep up the good work.