We all focus a lot of attention on building offices that don’t make us sick. Seeking to mitigate a “bad outcome”. How about making a building that actually improves your health. Sound crazy? Perhaps not.

Biophilic design and access to nature in built spaces can also play a key role in mitigating stress and positively impacting cognitive and emotional health, focus, productivity and overall wellbeing.

Not only does this have an obvious benefit on society, but also numerous studies have found that enhancing workplace wellbeing has significant positive impacts on productivity.

For example, better air quality can enhance cognition by as much as 61% and drinking ample fresh water can increase productivity by 14%. Similarly, encouraging healthy nutrition can result in a 45% improvement in task performance and an office design that enhances movement can boost productivity by 12%.

Human beings have an inherent need to connect with nature and green spaces. Yet we spend about 90% of our time indoors, and a recent survey of 1,000 office workers found that 35% don’t get more than 15 minutes of outdoor time during the typical workday. More and more data have concluded that biophilia and good natural light can improve not only physical by also mental health. A UK study, for example, showed universal links between productivity and office design, concluding that those who worked in offices with natural greenery saw a 15% rise in productivity.

That’s why we’re incorporating plants throughout TBC, from the ground floor reception through the breakout areas up to the seventh-floor terrace.

In recognition of the increasing improving wellbeing in the workplace – not just making the negative impact marginally less bad –the building is being designed for WELL Building Standard certification, an international performance-based assessment methodology grounded in medical research that is exclusively focused on how buildings contribute to better human health and wellbeing.

TBC is targeting a Platinum rating under the WELL certification – the highest rating – which will make it one of the healthiest buildings in London and put it among only 25 buildings around the globe (5 in Europe) that have achieved this rating.