Global Real Estate Industry Leaders are Prioritizing Health as a Core Business Strategy

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Mar 23, 2023, 08:53 ET

Fitwel's 2023 Best in Building Health awards showcase the leading real estate companies and individuals demonstrating outstanding achievements in building health

Harrison Street tops the list for the second time in a row, joined by Nuveen, Clarion Partners, Lendlease, and Lionstone Investments, among others

NEW YORK, March 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Fitwel unveiled the 2023 Best in Building Health awards, its annual list of the top global real estate companies and individuals who are leading the healthy building movement by example, leveraging Fitwel's data-driven, scalable certification platform to set the bar for excellence in building health.

Created in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and operated by the Center for Active Design (CfAD), Fitwel is a people-centric healthy building certification system that sets the industry standard for evidence-based strategies to promote health and wellbeing through the built environment. The Fitwel Platform integrates asset and portfolio-level benchmarking, a streamlined healthy building certification process, and "S" focused ESG reporting guidance. To date, Fitwel has 1.2 billion square feet registered on the platform, impacting more than 2.6 million people.

Best in Building Health features an increasing number of diverse projects worldwide - from Brazil to Boston to Australia to Belfast - underscoring the growing demand driven by tenants and investors for health-promoting strategies across the globe.

"The past few years have been transformational, revealing unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the world, and in particular, the real estate industry," said Joanna Frank, President and CEO of CfAD. "The demand for healthy building environments has never been higher and, as this year's Best in Building Health winners have demonstrated, by understanding this demand from the people-perspective, we can increase value in the near term and mitigate risk in the future. Prioritizing health is no longer a reactive market trend – it's an established business imperative."

Fitwel's 2023 Special Recognition awards feature those driving the charge for market transformation through social equity, health and wellbeing, and sustainability and spotlights one company in particular that has demonstrated its commitment to implementing practices that impact the "S" — Social — in ESG.

Fitwel's 2023 Best in Building Health Special Recognition Awards

Harrison Street || Fitwel Excellence: Most Certifications of All Time
- Harrison Street is leading the industry in both certifications completed in 2022, as well as most certifications of any company since Fitwel's inception in 2017, demonstrating its commitment to healthy building strategies across its portfolio.
Nuveen || Industry Leadership: ESG Impact Through Health
- Nuveen has been recognized for leading the industry in advancing ESG through healthy buildings and prioritizing occupant health, safety, and well-being.
Sara Neff, Lendlease America || Individual Leadership: Impact Through Social Value
- Sara Neff, Head of Sustainability at Lendlease America, has been recognized for her individual commitment to leading the industry in understanding and quantifying the value of health when it comes to ESG, and for being integral in driving the conversation around healthy buildings.
Clarion Partners || Industry Leadership: Portfolio Benchmarking
- Clarion Partners has been recognized for its commitment to benchmarking a fund against the Fitwel Standard and using data insights for future decision-making.
Lionstone Investments || Industry Leadership: Entity Wide Growth
- Lionstone Investments has been recognized for its commitment to implementing Fitwel at scale through the Champion program.

This year, Fitwel also launched a Top 20 Ambassadors List, a new initiative that highlights industry-leading professionals demonstrating exemplary engagement, leadership, and achievements as a Fitwel Ambassador. The honorees were selected out of nearly 4,000 professionals across 50+ countries for their success in project registrations and Fitwel certifications and the number of people impacted through those certifications.

2023 Ambassadors of the Year
- Most Registered Projects: Chip Andrews / Cousins Properties
- Most Certified: Scarlett White / Lord Green Strategies (now RE Tech Advisors)

Below is the full list of 2023 Best in Building Health winners, which can also be found here.

Fitwel Best in Building Health® 2023
Recognition Categories and Award Winners

Special Recognition for Industry and Individual Leadership

ESG Impact Through Health: Nuveen
Impact Through Social Value: Sara Neff, Lendlease America
Portfolio Benchmarking: Clarion Partners
Entity Wide Growth: Lionstone Investments

All-Time Achievements

Fitwel Excellence Award
Most Certifications of All-Time: Harrison Street

Fitwel Impact Award
Highest Scoring Built Project of All-Time: Green Matrix Consulting Company / Hon Hai Group / UL Solutions

Fitwel Impact Award
Highest Scoring Design Project of All-Time: Corgan / Peloton Headquarters, New York, NY

2022 Distinctions

Highest Scoring
Highest Scoring of 2022
Design (tie): Lehigh University / Vanderweil Engineers / HGA | Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building, Bethlehem, PA
Design (tie): Marriott International / Boston Properties / Bernstein Group / Gensler | Marriott Bethesda Headquarters, Bethesda, MD

Highest Scoring of 2022
Built (tie): Element Four | Here Building, Reading, UK
Built (tie): Green Matrix Consulting Company | Hon Hai Group Headquarters, New Taipei City, Taiwan

Greatest Number of Certifications
Consultant: UL Solutions
Owner: Harrison Street
Tenant: Oracle, Inc.

Greatest Number of Registered Projects
Building Owner: Harrison Street

Greatest Impact on Building Health
Most People Impacted Across Building Scorecards: UL Solutions
Most People Impacted Across Site Scorecards: Conservice ESG
Highest Square Footage: Boston Properties
Highest Acreage: Conservice ESG

Greatest Impact on Viral Response
Greatest Number of Viral Response Approved Assets: Cortland

Highest Scoring Module (tie):
Paladino & Company | The Meridian Group Portfolio, Meridian Group/Paladino & Company
SCG Building and Living Care Consulting | The Stock Exchange of Thailand
Salesforce / Brightworks (Consultant) | Salesforce
Cushman & Wakefield (Property Manager) / Sustainable Investment Group (Consultant) | 125 Broad Street Condominiums

2022 Highest Scoring Projects

Commercial Interior Space v2.0
Built: AMP / Arup | Quay Quarter Tower, Sydney, Australia

Commercial Interior Space v2.1
Built (tie): CBRE | Texas Instruments Shanghai NBC, Shanghai, China
Built (tie): StraubJunqueira | Layout Itau, São Paulo, Brazil
Design: Marriott International / Boston Properties / The Bernstein Companies / Gensler | Marriott Bethesda Headquarters, Bethesda, MD

Single-Tenant Building v2.1 (Built)
Built: Green Matrix Consulting Company | Hon Hai Group, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Design: Lehigh University / Vanderweil Engineers | Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building, Bethlehem, PA

Multi-Tenant Base Building v2.0
Built: Tishman Speyer | One Bush Street, San Francisco, CA

Multi-Tenant Base Building v2.1
Built: Jamestown L.P. / Verdani Partners / Lincoln Property Company | 18 Tremont, Boston, MA
Built (Recertification): Beacon Capital Partners / Cushman & Wakefield | Bank of America Tower, Houston, TX
Design: Element Four | Here Building, Reading, UK

Multi-Tenant Whole Building v2.0
Built: Oxford Properties | WaterPark Place - 88 Queens Bay, Toronto, Canada

Multi-Tenant Whole Building v2.1
Built: Beacon Capital Partners / Cushman & Wakefield | 1 N. Dearborn, Chicago, IL
Built (Recertification): Vornado Realty Trust | THE MART, Chicago, IL
Design: Corgan / Vari | VariSpace Coppell, Coppell, TX

Multifamily Residential v2.1
Built: UBS Realty Investors / Lord Green Strategies (now RE Tech Advisors) / RMK Management | 73 East Lake, Chicago, IL
Design: Harrison Street / DLC Europe / CA Ventures | Aster House Belfast (CAV), Belfast, UK

Senior Housing v2.1
Built: Harrison Street / The Springs Living | The Springs at Greer Gardens, Eugene, OR
Design: Harrison Street / The Springs Living | The Springs at Happy Valley, Happy Valley, OR

Retail v2.1
Built: Oxford Properties Group / CD Sonter / Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) & Ontario Municipal | Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto, Canada
Design: UL Solutions / Shenzhen LVDA Technology Co.,Ltd / iCity Hong Kong - Macau (Henqin) Development | iCity - T7, Zhuhai, China

Community v2.1
Design: Specialized Real Estate Group, Inc. / Entegrity Partners | South Yard, Fayetteville, AR

Commercial Site v2.1
Built: Atlanta Property Group / Sustainable Investment Group | Palisades, Atlanta, GA
Design: StraubJunqueira (tie) | GOLGI - JUNDIAI, Jundiai, Brazil | GOLGI - DUTRA, Aruja, Brazil

Ambassador Awards

Ambassador With the Highest Scoring Project
Chia Ming Huang | Hon Hai Group Headquarters, New Taipei City, Taiwan

2023 Ambassadors of the Year
Most Registered: Chip Andrews / Cousins Properties
Most Certified: Scarlett White / Lord Green Strategies (now RE Tech Advisors)

Company Recognition
Company With the Most Ambassadors: Gensler
Company With the Most New Ambassadors: Cooper Carry

The 2023 Best in Building Health celebration will continue throughout the year as Fitwel continues to amplify its winners' achievements through both digital and print mediums, including in its inaugural Building Health publication. To learn more and to reserve your copy of Building Health, visit: www.fitwel.org.

About Fitwel
Fitwel is the world's leading certification system committed to building health for all. Generated by expert analysis of 5,600+ academic research studies, Fitwel is implementing a vision for a healthier future where all buildings and communities are enhanced to strengthen health and well-being. Fitwel was originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and U.S. General Services Administration. The CDC remains the research and evaluation partner for Fitwel. The Center for Active Design (CfAD), a global not-for-profit organization, maintains the Fitwel standard and conducts objective third-party assessments that lead to certified projects. CfAD's new business unit, Adai (pronounced "a-DAY"), is charged with expanding Fitwel to the global market, administering the program while providing best-in-class customer service and technical support. To learn more about Fitwel, please visit: www.fitwel.org

Media Contact:
Kate Laursen
2036105879
[email protected]

SOURCE Fitwel