Fitwel this month announced the launch of what it calls a groundbreaking data insights tool that allows real estate companies to rank their properties’ and entities’ healthy building performance against their peers. Billed as a first for the industry, the Relational Data tool adds value to the Fitwel Certification by providing users entity-level ranking against similar companies.
In addition to measuring performance amongst all certified projects on Fitwel, the new tool also measures performance of metrics Walkability & Transportation and Environmental Quality - two of the top five “S” metrics most tracked by investors, as found in the March 2021`New Investor Consensus: The Rising Demand for Healthy Buildings report by Fitwel.
According to Fitwel, 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 among the leading healthy building certifications 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 new 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 contends its relational data platform is the first of its kind to begin to track the social pillar of ESG for the real estate industry.
The new announcement marks Fitwel’s growing product offering, expanding from a healthy building certification to a comprehensive data platform that can drive market transformation for the industry.
As building occupants and investors alike drive demand for quality in the industry, Fitwel contends its relational data will clearly differentiate individual properties and portfolios in the market.
The tool's side-by-side ranking provides companies with the insight needed to communicate with stakeholders - i.e. tenants and investors - on their relative performance, allowing for differentiation against peers and accurate annual reporting metrics.
As reckoned by a Fitwel press release:
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.
Fitwel CEO Joanna Frank first revealed the tool live on stage during a keynote speech at the PERE Asia Summit in Singapore on February 21. Her talk, entitled “The Future of Buildings Already Exist - How Do You Stack Up?”, discussed why the impact of healthy buildings and the “S” in ESG are the untapped value creation opportunities, and how Fitwel is defining excellence in building health.
“The industry has long been asking for ranking data to understand good, better, and best,” said Frank. “[With the Relational Data tool], 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."
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