We are delighted to announce that Hilson Moran’s new Manchester office located in Bruntwood’s Neo Building on Charlotte Street is officially WELL Certified™ Gold. This achievement means that Hilson Moran are the third project to be WELL Certified™ within the UK and the first UK project outside of London to receive a Gold level certification.
Hilson Moran completed the fit-out of their 5th floor office in July this year and as strong advocates for improved health and wellbeing within work spaces, committed early in the project to reach the Gold level certification. The project was successful in reaching this goal receiving one of the highest certification ratings in the UK.
Created through seven years of rigorous research and development working with leading scientists, healthcare and industry professionals, the WELL Building Standard™ (WELL) is a performance-based certification system that measures how a project’s design and operations can benefit occupants’ health and wellbeing. Because we spend 90% of our time indoors, and statistics show that 41% of UK employees say their work environment has a negative effect on their health, it is important to pioneer and encourage the uptake of health and wellbeing-oriented design. Hilson Moran is now amongst only a small selection of firms who have met the required standard to receive a certification in the UK and also one of the UK’s first companies to have a team of in-house, expert WELL APs (accredited professionals) working to achieve the same for their clients.
Chris Birch, Director of Sustainability at Hilson Moran, comments: “To achieve the WELL Certified™ Gold rating is testament to our belief in health and wellbeing in the workplace environment. We work with a variety of commercial clients on Wellbeing consultancy projects across the UK, but to be leading the charge in the North of England is brilliant and we hope other organisations follow suit as a result.”
Hilson Moran’s Manchester offices earned the distinction based on seven categories of building performance — air, water, light, nourishment, fitness, comfort and mind. In addition, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the look and feel of the interior design of the space to achieve this WELL Certified™ Gold rating. Working with interior architects SpaceInvader and contractors Dragonfly, the designs emulated nature and created a vibrant and stimulating workplace, with the use of green moss walls, an assortment of indoor plants, and various other elements that invoke the natural world.
