The world’s leading standard for healthy buildings and organizations, WELL now reaches 105 million square meters, more than 7,500 locations and 76 countries across the EMEA market
NEW YORK, NY AND LONDON, ENG / ACCESS Newswire / October 14, 2025 / The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) today announced at its WELL Flagship Summit in London significant momentum of its WELL Building Standard (WELL) across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, with adoption reaching an impressive 105 million square meters (1.14 billion square feet) across more than 7,500 locations pursuing or having achieved WELL milestones. Representing nearly 20% of global WELL project area, this surge in growth underscores an established and growing commitment to people-first places and health-focused design within the vast EMEA market.
WELL projects are now active in 76 countries across the EMEA region, demonstrating widespread recognition of WELL as the leading framework for healthy buildings, organizations and communities. The United Kingdom leads the region in overall WELL adoption, with more than 1,100 locations pursuing or having achieved WELL milestones across more than 12 million square meters (130 million square feet). Poland has distinguished itself as a hub for WELL-driven healthy building innovation within Central and Eastern Europe, with France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany surging forward as leading centers of excellence across Western Europe. In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has demonstrated strong uptake of WELL, including the WELL Health-Safety Rating in both square meters and number of locations.
“The remarkable growth of WELL across EMEA shows that people everywhere want spaces that truly support their health and well-being,” said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of IWBI. “Organizations are realizing that investing in healthy environments isn’t just good for people-it’s good for business and for communities. This momentum reflects a shared belief that healthier buildings can help shape a healthier world.”
The Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Design (AECD) and Real Estate sectors continue to represent the largest footprints within the EMEA WELL portfolio, reflecting a deep integration of health and well-being principles into the built environment from the earliest stages of development. Financial Services and Insurance, Energy and Utility, and Professional Services and Business Support also figure prominently among regional WELL projects.
Since its launch in 2014, WELL has provided an evidence-based roadmap for thousands of organizations globally to implement health-focused strategies. The WELL ecosystem, which includes WELL Certification, the WELL Health-Safety Rating, the WELL Performance Rating, the WELL Equity Rating, the WELL Coworking Rating, the WELL Community Standard and the WELL for residential pilot, has been embraced by organizations seeking to prioritize human health and well-being, driving market transformation by creating spaces that advance physical and mental health. IWBI’s WELL at scale program, which has attracted participation from 36 organizations based in the region, extends the benefits of WELL across entire organizations or real estate portfolios while supporting business performance and reporting.
The expansion in EMEA contributes to WELL’s global reach, which is estimated to support the health and well-being of approximately 30 million people and represent over $2 trillion USD in assets managed. This emphasizes that prioritizing health is an investment toward better health outcomes, stronger financial returns and higher-performing people.
The WELL Flagship Summit in London focused on the powerful business case for healthy buildings, with a dedicated session highlighting the recently-launched second edition of IWBI’s Investing in Health Pays Back special report. The new report more than doubles the research and citations from the original, integrating numerous academic studies, industry data and real-world case studies from across Europe.
“From the Nordics to South Africa, the takeaway is clear: investing in health isn’t just good for people-it’s a smart business decision that delivers real returns,” said Ann Marie Aguilar, Senior Vice President, EMEA, IWBI. “We’re pleased to put this latest edition of our special report in the hands of the EMEA market, featuring global research which links healthy building strategies to measurable improvements in employee productivity and performance.”
To learn more about WELL projects across EMEA, visit IWBI’s public project directory. The Investing in Health Pays Back: The Business Case for Healthy Buildings and Healthy Organizations special report is available at https://www.wellcertified.com/health-pays-back.
About the International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the global authority for transforming health and well-being in buildings, organizations and communities. In pursuit of its public-health mission, IWBI mobilizes its community through the development and administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL), WELL for residential, WELL Community Standard, its WELL ratings and management of the WELL AP credential. IWBI also translates research into practice, develops educational resources and advocates for policies that promote people-first places for everyone, everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.
International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL EP, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Equity Rated, WELL Equity, WELL Coworking Rated, WELL Residence, Works with WELL, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.
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SOURCE: International WELL Building Institute (IWBI)
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