Why the Future of Healthy Buildings Is About Meeting People Where They Are - Rachel Hodgdon 118

This week, we sit down with Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), to explore a question that fundamentally challenges how we think about healthy buildings: What if the single biggest barrier to transforming the built environment isn't our lack of knowledge about indoor environmental quality—but our inability to communicate complexity in ways that inspire action rather than paralysis? Key Topics Discussed: - Meeting People Where They Are: How do you communicate the holistic vision of indoor environmental quality without overwhelming stakeholders? Rachel explains why IWBI always starts with what matters most to the person across the table. If you're talking to a CEO, lead with recruitment, retention, and productivity. If you're talking to a facilities manager, talk about deferred maintenance and occupant satisfaction. - Incremental Progress Over Perfection: Unlike many certifications that reward only finished projects, WELL is designed to celebrate incremental progress. WELL at Scale has proven that clients don't move in straight lines. They might start with one landmark building, then progress toward equity ratings across portfolios, or spend a year focusing on just a few features. One point earned toward any designation now counts toward full certification. - Performance Testing Reveals the Invisible: WELL is proudly performance based. After a project is complete and occupied, third party testers measure air quality, water quality, thermal comfort, lighting, and sound. Buildings that fail must retest. Rachel shares stories of projects that discovered elevator shafts pumping unfiltered air into lobbies, printers off gassing VOCs, and contaminated soil beneath indoor plants. Without performance testing, these issues would never have been found. - Residential and Affordable Housing: WELL for Residential launched as a pilot expecting 3,000 enrollments. It received 30,000 straight out of the gate, including 22,000 military homes. Rachel highlights a groundbreaking partnership with Enterprise Community Partners, embedding WELL into the Enterprise Green Communities standard for affordable housing. This means WELL is now legislated in over 50 percent of US states for affordable housing, ensuring the people most in need benefit first, not last. GUEST: Rachel Hodgdon President and CEO, International WELL Building Institute https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelhodgdon/ IWBI https://www.wellcertified.com/ The Air Quality Matters Podcast in Partnership with Particles Plus https://particlesplus.com/ Eurovent (https://www.eurovent.eu/) - Aico (https://www.aico.co.uk/) - Lindab (https://www.lindab.ie/) The One Take Podcast in Partnership with SafeTraces (https://www.safetraces.com/) and Inbiot (https://www.inbiot.es/?utm_campaign=simon&utm_source=airqualitymatters&utm_medium=podcast) - Farmwood (https://farmwood.co.uk/) Do check them out in the links and on the Air Quality Matters Website. (https://www.airqualitymatters.net/podcast) If you haven't checked out the YouTube channel its here (https://www.youtube.com/@airqualitymatters-SimonJones). Do subscribe if you can, lots more content is coming soon. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: Meeting Rachel Hodgdon and the IWBI Mission 00:02:50 The Complexity Challenge: Communicating Holistic Indoor Environmental Quality 00:03:53 One WELL: Simplifying Entry Points and Rewarding Incremental Progress 00:07:59 The Apple Approach: Building a Unified Ecosystem for Healthy Buildings 00:09:40 Evolution from Green Buildings: The Second Wave of Sustainability 00:12:29 Authority and Accessibility: Balancing Technical Rigor with Broad Appeal 00:21:37 Meeting People Where They Are: The Art of Advocacy and Communication 00:31:47 The Power of Experience: Case Studies and Exemplar Spaces 00:36:05 Beyond Headquarters: Reaching the Long Tail of the Built Environment 00:39:27 WELL at Scale and Existing Buildings: Flexibility for Portfolios 00:40:58 Military Housing and Affordable Housing: 30,000 Homes and Counting 00:55:56 The Australian Success Story: What's Happening Down Under 00:58:54 Navigating Headwinds: DEI, Sustainability, and the Great Rebrand 01:05:05 Performance Testing and Accountability: Making the Invisible Visible 01:23:23 The ROI of Healthy Buildings: Retention, Recruitment, and Productivity 01:20:48 Neurodiversity and Universal Design: Designing for the Extremes Benefits Everyone 01:42:45 The Medical Gap: Why Doctors Don't Ask About Your Home 01:47:15 The Future: Continuous Monitoring and the Next Ten Years 01:50:33 Closing Thoughts: Data is Knowledge, Knowledge is Power