If the mere utterance of the word wellness makes you involuntarily roll your eyes to the ceiling, worry not. You aren’t alone. Not by a long way.
As a buzzword, wellness is not exactly one that has integrated seamlessly, or even that comfortably, into the real estate sector. Particularly here in the UK where apathetic, even scornful, reactions to the concept are still commonplace.
Which is ironic really. Not because the built environment is perfectly placed to play a transformative role in the future of wellbeing (and it is, by the way: Sir Stuart Lipton certainly thinks so and has put wellness at the heart of 22 Bishopsgate, EC2, set to be one of London’s most significant new developments). But because the sector is a veritable goldmine.
Wellness is now worth $3.4tn (£2.4tn) worldwide, according to the Global Wellness Institute. That is three times bigger than the worldwide pharmaceutical sector.
So how does the value of the industry itself translate into returns for the UK property sector? Are there any real benefits beyond the fact that it is designed to make people feel happier and healthier? Or should that be benefit enough?
In this special issue of Estates Gazette, which falls on Global Wellness Day, we look to answer some of those questions: to investigate what wellness actually is, to talk to those championing it both here in the UK and overseas, and to delve into just how seriously the real estate world should be taking it.
Given that the estimated cost to business of work-related stress around the world is more than $960bn, the answer is arguably quite seriously indeed. Add to that the fact that productivity losses due to poor health and presenteeism are even higher than the direct costs of medical treatment – $2.30 in lost productivity for every $1 in medical costs – the commercial incentives for the property sector to help occupiers keep staff happier and healthier suddenly become far more pronounced.
And as for the biggest names behind the wellness movement: none of them are in this purely for the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with the pursuit of happiness for others. Of course that’s part of it. But you don’t get an ex-Goldman Sachs partner – a New Yorker no less – and one of the biggest property companies in the UK working up major corporate strategies based on altruism alone.
Paul Scialla – now the founder of the world’s first health-centric real estate development company, Delos, which boasts an advisory board including Leonardo DiCaprio and Deepak Chopra – couldn’t put much finer a point on that.
“I very much had my Wall Street hat on when I came up with the idea to see what sort of economic opportunity there would be if we brought together the largest asset class in the world with the fastest growing industry in the world.”
Then we look at three buildings that have been or are aspiring to be awarded the Well certificate – Scialla’s standard for the built environment – including CBRE’s LA HQ, the world’s first Well building, and 22 Bishopsgate, which is set to become the UK’s first Well-certified building.
And the well agenda does not just stop at offices. A “right, not a privilege”, according to Scialla it should extend to retail, residential and ultimately the built environment in its entirety. But this special issue of the magazine has not been put together to bang the drum for what many are describing as sustainability 2.0.
Whether individuals, companies or governments choose to buy into the concepts of wellness and wellbeing is up to them. It is here to lift the lid on a concept that is taking some of the real estate sector by storm and leaving others confused, unconvinced and generally nonplussed.
And if, after flipping through the pages of this week’s magazine, you feel only mildly more swayed by the concept of wellbeing, let tackling the lighting levels and air quality in your building be the only thing you do. At least then your eyes will be less strained the next time they involuntarily roll to the ceiling.
• To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@estatesgazette.com or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @estatesgazette
- Features editor’s comment: what is wellness?
- Briefing: Swapping the lift for the stairs
- All well and good: making the workplace more healthy
- Workplace wellness: the main players
- Healthy profit: the value of wellbeing in the office
- Buildings on the cutting edge
RELATED LINKS:
- Roundtable: building connectivity
- Shard leasing director James Goldsmith is leaving to take on the same role at 22 Bishopsgate, EC2
- Boris approves 22 Bishopsgate
- Sir Stuart Lipton talks to Damian Wild about the new thinking behind 22 Bishopsgate, government failures, and a rethink on Silvertown Quays
- Lipton’s City comeback puts people first
