Embassy REIT awarded a WELL Portfolio Score across all its business parks pan-India

14 Mar 2022 , 04:10 PM

Embassy Office Parks REIT, India’s first listed REIT and the largest office REIT in Asia by area, and the International WELL Building Institute (‘IWBI’) has announced today that Embassy REIT has been awarded a WELL Portfolio Score across all its business parks pan-India.

This makes Embassy REIT the first organization in India to receive a WELL Portfolio Score for implementing health and wellbeing strategies through a portfolio-wide approach.

With a score of 49 in its first year of participation, Embassy REIT scored above the global average in 6 of 10 wellness-related parameters assessed. The portfolio was ranked in the top 5% globally by IWBI in terms of area and number of people impacted. Embassy REIT also achieved a 100% score in the ‘Movement’ parameter, highlighting the integration of physical activity and fitness into everyday life at its business parks.

Michael Holland, Chief Executive Officer of Embassy REIT, said, “We are proud to have received this accolade from a renowned and internationally respected institution like IWBI, recognizing us as the front-runners in advancing the sustainability concept in the Indian commercial office sector.

Our 5-year partnership with IWBI through the WELL Portfolio program reflects our desire to consistently benchmark ourselves globally and adopt best practices for all our assets; spanning multiple cities with varying climates and infrastructure, and buildings with different formats catering to diverse needs of our 200+ occupiers and their employees. Our first-year scores reflect our strength across our entire footprint; as well as underscore our commitment to provide the best workspaces and a ‘total-business-ecosystem’.”

Embassy REIT delivers workplace experiences focused on health and wellbeing for its occupiers, employees and customers while following high-quality environmentally sustainable practices. In 2021, Embassy REIT joined IWBI’s WELL Portfolio program to further augment its commitment to create healthier and safer office environments as health and wellness took center stage since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With this milestone, Embassy REIT continues to progress on its sustainability journey to create and maintain green, wellness-oriented spaces and reduce its carbon footprint; as it moves towards a net-zero ambition.

Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of International WELL Building Institute , said, “Congratulations to Embassy REIT for achieving a WELL score across its portfolio of business parks and for continuing to lead by example to prioritize health and wellbeing in workplaces. By leveraging WELL’s scalable nature, Embassy REIT and other leading global organizations are transforming portfolio-wide assets through health and wellbeing strategies that impact all employees and customers, thereby supporting their visions to evolve a culture of health.”

The WELL Portfolio program was launched to help property owners, developers and tenants streamline and scale the health and wellbeing strategies found in WELL across multiple assets in their real estate portfolios and throughout their organizations.

The score is a metric that accrues over a period of time, as health-focused WELL features are achieved across all projects within the portfolio. It serves as a metric for recording incremental progress, advancing Environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) goals, and measuring portfolio-wide health and wellbeing achievements against other peers participating in the WELL Portfolio program.

Embassy Office Parks REIT ended at Rs377.29 apiece up by Rs0.78 or 0.21% on the BSE.