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BOMA to offer

Fitwel® certification

in Canada

Under the partnership, representatives
from BOMA Canada and the Center for
Active Design will sit on the equivalent
Danny Kucharsky | Sustainable Biz Canada committees for each organization to
help chart out strategic and technical
direction. “We will look at strategically
finding ways to align the programs a
ommercial buildings in Canada will likely soon have healthier
workforces, thanks to a strategic partnership between BOMA little better so that if you’ve already done
Canada’s BOMA BEST certification program and the new Fitwel health- something for BOMA BEST, then you get
promoting building certification. the credit for Fitwel, or the opposite, in a
seamless fashion.”
Launched in February by the U.S.-based Center for Active Design, the
Fitwel certification measures a number of evidence-based criteria in BOMA Canada is also looking at
buildings to rate their effectiveness in promoting health. providing the Center for Active Design
support to review, audit and verify
The Fitwel certification “should lead to healthier buildings and better health applications for Fitwel certification.
for the occupants,” says John Smiciklas, Director, Energy and Environment
at BOMA Canada. “Eventually there will be a discount
for people who are BOMA BEST and
The partnership with Fitwel came as a result of demand from BOMA want to do Fitwel and people that are
members. “It’s the BOMA members who have BOMA-certified properties Fitwel and want to do BOMA BEST,”
that came to us and said ‘you should do this,’ ” he says. Smiciklas says. “So we’re just providing
“Literally it’s brand new. So it was a little bit surprising to hear some people an additional benefit to our BOMA
call us and say ‘you have to get onboard.’ “ membership.”

Fitwel, BOMA BEST have ‘no overlap’ Help BOMA BEST
Smiciklas, who oversees BOMA BEST program management, notes there is expand in U.S.
“little or no overlap” between the two certification programs, both of which The partnership will also help facilitate
are cost-effective, have high impacts and are run by non-profits. BOMA BEST’s expansion in the United
“We have two organizations that think alike, have gone to market in the States, he says. BOMA BEST had its first
same way and everything that we’re trying to do is so alike, so it just made U.S. certifications late last year involving
so much sense.” 16 properties in California and New
Jersey. Applications have since been
BOMA BEST was launched in 2005 by Building Owners and Managers
Association (BOMA) Canada to address an industry need for realistic filed from Missouri and Texas.
standards for energy and environmental performance of buildings. Fitwel aims to help prevent chronic
The program is Canada’s largest environmental assessment and disease by increasing physical activity,
certification program for existing buildings, with more than 2,500 providing healthy food options, reducing
buildings certified in Canada. morbidity and absenteeism.

14 BOMA MANITOBA INSIDER | ISSUE 8 | WINTER 2017/18