Fitwel has launched a data insights tool that allows real estate companies to rank their properties’ and entities’ healthy building performance against their peers. A first for the industry, the Relational Data tool adds value to Fitwel certification by providing users entity-level ranking against like-companies. The move shows Fitwel’s expansion from a healthy building certification to a comprehensive data platform that drives market transformation for the industry, the organization said.
In addition to measuring performance amongst all certified projects on Fitwel, the new tool also measures performance of Walkability & Transportation and Environmental Quality — two of the top five “S” metrics most tracked by investors, as found in the New Investor Consensus: The Rising Demand for Healthy Buildings (March 2021).
The Relational Data dashboard visualizes key data insights, making it easy for a company to digest where and how to improve their healthy building performance and communicate achievements to stakeholders.
Originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), Fitwel is the healthy building certification used by top real estate companies across the globe to ensure their assets are designed and operated to positively impact the health, productivity and satisfaction of residents, employees, and tenants.
The platform’s data highlights how leading real estate industry companies stack up against each other and creates a higher standard for healthy buildings. While similar ranking systems exist for Environmental metrics, Fitwel’s relational data is the first of its kind to begin to track the “social” pillar of ESG for the real estate industry.
“The industry has long been asking for ranking data to understand good, better and best,” said Joanna Frank, CEO of Fitwel. “Not only will you be able to understand where you sit in relation to your peers, but it supports continuous improvement of assets with regard to social impact by providing a quantifiable roadmap.”
As building occupants and investors alike drive demand for quality in the industry, the relational data will clearly differentiate individual properties and portfolios in the market. The side-by-side ranking provides companies with the insight needed to communicate with stakeholders — tenants and investors — on their relative performance, allowing for differentiation against peers and accurate annual reporting metrics.
Ultimately, the Relational Data tool will help real estate companies measure the effectiveness of Fitwel implementation and better inform dialogue with key stakeholders, make more informed business decisions in implementing healthy buildings and find areas of improvement for health-centered ‘S’ initiatives.
