“Prolojik is delighted to be a collaborator to the IMMUNE^TM standard as well as achieving IMMUNE^TM-Strong certification for our headquarters. The principles embodied in the IMMUNE Building Standard ^TM align with our own operational and strategic aims to support the safe and measured return to the built environment, for our own business as well as the clients we support”

The office building owned by Prolojik Limited, a contributor for the IMMUNE™ standard, achieved the IMMUNETM-Strong label, following the company’s commitment to create a healthier workplace environment for its employees through the implementation of health & safety measures.

This is a clear success indicator of the first open-source standard designed for office buildings and is adaptable to any built environment, with the aim of increasing the resilience of indoor spaces against current and future health threats.

"The principles embodied in the IMMUNE Standard align with our own operational and strategic aims to support the safe and measured return to the built environment, for our own business as well as the clients we support”, said Asela Rodriguez, Prolojik.

No matter how we will work after the pandemic, the office where we will spend at least a few days a week must be prepared to mitigate health risks. To feel safer in the office, employees want high-performance systems to improve the air and water quality in the building, sanitary materials to be distributed immediately when needed, sanitizing systems and well-established procedures in case of illness in the company.

David Clements, Chief Executive at FUTURE Designs, says: "Proof of our success is that to date have had zero Covid cases within our factory and assembly facilities. Finally, we want to thank and applaud IMMUNE Building Standard for implementing this most important innovation and scrutinizing us.”

Gavin Bonner, VP Genesis Property and contributor to the development of the IMMUNE Building Standard™ is invited on the business show "Economy XXI" to discuss the importance ofIMMUNE™ and to explore how it works and its benefits for landlords, tenants and communities at large.

Host is Mr. Alexandru Răducanu, Canal 33.

Tudor said: “In the current economy, still facing the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are companies like FUTURE Designs that are laying out a coherent path to recovery."

David Clements, Chief Executive at FUTURE Designs, said: “Our sole goal was to make our place of work the safest possible for all team members and to give them confidence and peace of mind during these extraordinary times."

"From the outset of the U.K. lockdown one year ago, our sole goal as exemplar employers was to make our place of work the safest possible for all team members, to give them confidence and peace of mind during this most extraordinary of times and no expense has been spared in our quest."

The certification marks the Healthy by Design Building Institute’s first major milestone in expanding The IMMUNE Building Standard beyond office buildings, in other real estate sectors that have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"Our sole goal was to make our place of work the safest possible for all team members and to give them confidence and peace of mind during these extraordinary times”, says David Clements, Chief Executive at FUTURE Designs.

"Although 2020 has been challenging in many ways, today people are feeling a little more optimistic than they were in the first few months of the pandemic. Health protection measures implemented in office buildings, many of them recommended by IMMUNE™, have made an important contribution to regaining confidence, albeit partial, along with progress of vaccinating the population."

Discussing the IMMUNE Building Standard with Retrofit, a trade publication for architects, facility managers, building owners, contractors and others.

Interview is featured in January - February 2021 edition, pages 30 & 31.

While proximity of the office to their home remains an important factor for most employees (65%), the pandemic year increased the importance of health measures taken in the building (for 51% of respondents) and of the workspace structure, with greater emphasis on delimited offices that facilitate distancing (for 49.3% of respondents).

Among the most important measures that would support employees to return and feel safer in the office are more efficient air and water filtration systems in the building (58.3%), better hygiene systems in restrooms (41.6%) and more efficient solutions to ensure social distancing (40.4%). These are part of the complex set of measures recommended by IMMUNE™.

With the coronavirus rapidly transforming the way workplaces operate, Mace has taken extensive action in the past months to implement safety measures across its global offices and construction sites to ensure a safer and healthier workplace environment for its 5,000 employees.

The Facilities Management team at Mace has worked in partnership with colleagues from across the business to allow operations to continue from all our offices, implementing control measures that focus on the wellbeing of all our staff.

The certification demonstrates Mace’s diligence and commitment to implement a Healthy by Design approach, considering a coherent collection of 100+ measures and best practices recommended by IMMUNE™. 

In the past months, Mace has applied extensive measures from the collection of 120+ IMMUNE™ criteria recommended for safer and healthier workplace environments, building on its “safety first” culture, and has now achieved the Powerful label for its headquarters, equivalent to 4 stars out of 5

The office building at 155 Moorgate, in London’s historic centre and primary central business district, has achieved the IMMUNE – Powerful certification (equivalent to 4 stars), recognising the successful measures implemented to keep employees safe during a global pandemic.

Maud Santamaria, head of workplace experience at Mace said: “The Immune Building Standard demonstrably recognises the health and wellbeing measures we have implemented at Mace’s HQ in London, keeping our employees safe during the pandemic."

Giving employees the confidence to return to the workplace hinges on assuring them that they are returning to a safe and productive environment. Following implementation of lockdown measures and the closure of commercial buildings worldwide, it was clear the property sector was neither prepared nor equipped to manage a situation of this nature.

Liviu Tudor, EPF President presents IMMUNE™ at Global Real Estate Summit 2020

European Valuer interviews Liviu Tudor, Chairman of Genesis Property, on the IMMUNE building standard and valuation of buildings’ immunity to pandemic threat. Page 15, Nov 2020 issue

Liviu Tudor, President of the European Property Federation, has studied infection control measures in hospitals and created an open source platform for assessing and improving a building’s operations in response to Covid-19.

Just as we have fire safety regulations in place when designing and operating a building, an IMMUNE™ standard would be mandated as part of the wider health and safety. This is not just a marketing label; it is a safety standard that will need compulsory investment.

"Just as we take care of our own immune system and constantly seek to boost it, there is a need for solutions to improve the immunity of the buildings in which we spend most of our time in and to prepare them for the new normality."

For owners and building managers, this is a manual for effectively integrating health precautions into building operations and facility oversight. By assigning an “IMMUNE Steward,” building owners ensure there is a dedicated  professional to implement and monitor activities.

As an inaugural version, the IMMUNE standard will remain under frequent review and constant evolution as the medical, scientific, architectural, and engineering bodies arrive at new conclusions to combat the pandemic. 

The world is currently facing a pandemic that has reshaped how people, businesses, and communities operate and interact. Leading organizations are boldly questioning long-held assumptions about the way we work and the role of the workplace as we reimagine the future of a post-COVID-19 era.

Liviu Tudor, a European property developer and President of lobby group European Property Federation, has invested more than Eur 1 million through his firm in creating a standard to certify buildings for their level of resilience to the pandemic.

In the future, Mr. Tudor says it should be up to building owners to invest to make offices safer. He estimates such upgrades would add 2% to the current cost of a building -- an investment, he says, that would increase the value of the property.

Rarely has a crisis caused multi-sectored, cross-continental turmoil to the magnitude of Covid-19. Socio-economic infrastructure has faced up to devastation beyond anyone’s wildest prediction prior to the emergence of the virus, and you must cast your mind back over a decade to the 2008 financial crash.

It’s intended to withstand other health emergencies, Tudor says, but because it’s in response to coronavirus in particular, among the most important components of the design will be preventing the airborne spread of the disease.

Liviu Tudor, Founder of Genesis Property and President of the European Property Federation, speaks on the importance of making buildings resilient to present and future pandemics and on the benefits of the IMMUNE Building Standard™.

“For us the total cost is similar to going green: 1 to 2 per cent of total initial investment. But it's about making the workplace trustable,” Liviu Tudor said. They estimate that for a building which cost €20m to build, landlords could expect to pay €400,000 to implement the full range of measures.

European Property Federation President Liviu Tudor discusses what post-coronavirus offices will look like and how they can safely reopen.

Working from home may have become the norm during the pandemic, but it is doubtful companies will drastically cut back on their property portfolios, though a focus on sustainability and employee wellness is likely to increase.

For example, the workplace of the future could include a quarantine room, a specially designed and equipped room where people can go if they feel ill. An emergency IMMUNE ‘warehouse’ manned by an IMMUNE ‘steward’ could be stocked with suitable PPE to distribute if necessary.

Quarantine rooms, antimicrobial paint on the walls, and rounded corners in toilet cubicles are among the recommendations in a proposed building standard for reshaping offices in order to beat the threat of coronavirus.

"With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, there's an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property, who is advising banks including Societe Generale on "immunising" their offices.

Implementing IMMUNE in offices could cost up to 2 per cent of a building's total construction cost, Tudor estimated. This could include installing quarantine rooms, disinfectant UV lighting, upgraded air filtering systems, thermal scanners and even repainting walls with anti-microbial paint.

"With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, there's an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property.

Implementing the standard in offices could cost up to 2% of a building’s total construction cost, Tudor estimated. This could include installing quarantine rooms, disinfectant UV lighting, upgraded air filtering systems, thermal scanners and even repainting walls with anti-microbial paint.

Mass remote-working has been largely successful for many financial firms, improving communications and sparing staff from long commutes during a near-global coronavirus lockdown. But some firms are keen to reunite teams after the hiatus.