All’s WELL at Carrier HQ
18th December 2021
USA: Carrier’s global headquarters, the Center for Intelligent Buildings, has become the first commercial building in Florida to earn the highest designation for health, well-being and energy performance.
The building in Palm Beach Gardens has now added the prestigious WELL Platinum certification from the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) to the LEED Platinum designation it achieved in 2019 for energy and environmental design.
Carrier’s Center for Intelligent Buildings is now just one of just six commercial buildings in the USA with both WELL and LEED Platinum designations.
Carrier moved into the 224,000ft2 facility in 2018. It was specifically designed to provide a healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent indoor environment for employees and visitors while simultaneously showcasing the company’s products and integrated systems.
“Given that we spend 90% of our time indoors, occupying buildings that balance function with occupant health are of vital importance,” said Carrier chairman and CEO David Gitlin. “By achieving WELL Platinum certification in our own global headquarters, we are demonstrating the benefits of Carrier’s Healthy Buildings offerings and showcasing how our cutting-edge digital technologies optimise indoor environments and maximise employee well-being and productivity.”
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation whose mission is to improve human health and wellbeing through the built environment. It administers the WELL Building Standard – a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind.
The WELL Platinum certification recognises that Carrier’s global headquarters has incorporated sustainable and health-centric components that are unmatched in the commercial landscape. The building leverages advanced solutions through Carrier’s Healthy Buildings Program, featuring products that optimise indoor environments to improve occupant experience, operational efficiency and inspire confidence in everything from physical safety and security to improved health, productivity and cognitive performance. The facility was specifically designed to COGfx air quality standards – indoor air quality specifications found by Harvard University researchers to improve employee productivity, reduce sick days and promote better cognitive function.
Independent testing and observation are said to have shown that the building achieved a score well above the Platinum threshold across categories ranging from air, water and material quality.
WELL representatives evaluated the building in 10 areas of health and wellness including air and water quality, noise, light and temperature levels, and other environmental parameters applicable to WELL requirements. The facility is the 109th building globally and the 24th building in the country to achieve WELL Certification at the Platinum level. Previously the Center was recognised as the first commercial building in the state to earn LEED Platinum certification in 2019.
A number of Carrier Healthy Buildings solutions are deployed in the facility. These include Carrier’s Abound, cloud-native platform which is used to monitor real time indoor air quality and thermal comfort against the WELL Building Standard and Automated Logic’s WebCTRL web-based platform that tracks air quality and thermal performance to keep occupants comfortable while managing energy consumption.
