"WELL" Done

Recertifying Perkins Eastman's WELL Platinum Chicago Studio

In November 2020, our Chicago studio, located in the historic Rookery building, became WELL v2 Platinum Certified— a significant milestone for the firm and an exploration for how we could positively impact well-being in our own workplace. At a moment when global attention was centered on health, wellness, and the safety of interior environments, the distinction as the first WELL v2 Platinum project in Illinois, the fourth in the US, and one of the first 25 worldwide to reach this target made our achievement even more meaningful.

Perkins Eastman Chicago Studio

This year, we received our first recertification through the WELL system following a period of reviewing and retesting criteria. We are pleased to share some of our findings:

Air, water quality, and thermal performance testing results all passed with flying colors. A few of the highlights show that our filtration and cleaning practices are paying off:  

• PM2.5 - 0 ug/m3 compared to allowable 15 ug/m3 

• PM10 – 1.0 ug/m3 compared to allowable 50 ug/m3

Across three years of surveys, we have seen increasing attendance in our office, an indicator that our design strategy is working. In fact, none of our staff members reported dissatisfaction with the impact of the office’s design on their health or well-being over the past year; more than 85% of respondents were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” concerning how the office supports individual health and well-being.

WELL Occupant Survey Graph

Alignment of our corporate sustainability priorities and our WELL efforts in Chicago speaks to our mission: making a positive impact on people and the planet. We have inventoried our firmwide, third-party-verified greenhouse gas (GHG) expenditures covering our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions—efforts that accounted for two of the four additional points we gained over our original Chicago studio’s WELL certification, increasing our score from 80 to 84 points (out of a possible 110).