A portfolio of 17 office buildings across the United States has achieved the Fitwel Viral Response Approval designation. Managed by BentallGreenOak, the office buildings are located in New York; Boston; Chicago; San Francisco; Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; Portland, Ore., Jersey City N.J., Wellesley Hills, Mass., and Greenwood Village, Colo., and Washington DC. It is the largest portfolio to date to achieve the designation, according to BentallGreenOak.
Viral Response (VR) Approval shows compliance with viral transmission mitigation strategies by providing annual third-party certification of policies and practices. Key topic areas covered in the module include enhancing indoor environments, encouraging behavior change, and building occupant trust. Concepts covered include contagious disease outbreak plan; indoor air quality policy; indoor air quality testing and monitoring protocol; cleaning, disinfecting, and maintenance protocol, and legionella water management planning, among others.
Viral Response Approval can be achieved by individual facilities once their larger corporate entity has achieved Viral Response Certification, and can be achieved independent of Fitwel Building Certification.
Naomi Millán is editor of Building Operating Management.
