New Itoki headquarters office to acquire WELL certification
Preliminary certification (gold level) demonstrates usefulness and effectiveness of office design, which maintains physical and mental health of employees
Itoki Corporation (headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; president: Yoshiro Hirai; hereinafter “Itoki”) has announced that it has obtained preliminary certification from third party WELL certification body Green Business Certification Inc. (hereinafter “GBCI”) as of September 14, 2018 in preparation for acquiring WELL Building Standard certification (hereinafter “WELL certification”) at the new headquarters office, ITOKI TOKYO XORK.
In October 2018, Itoki officially launched the new XORK Style of work based on the theme of freedom, maximizing worker discretion and allowing the workers to design their own work styles in the aim of creating new value by improving organizational productivity and creativity and achieving well-being by improving employee work engagement. Itoki also opened ITOKI TOKYO XORK, the new headquarters office offering spatial function and spatial quality in support of these new work styles, in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. With this preliminary certification, the usefulness and effectiveness of the ITOKI TOKYO XORK office design, which maintains the physical and mental health of employees putting dynamic and free work styles into practice, were demonstrated through an international evaluation system.
Work will continue for acquiring final certification, and the knowledge and know-how obtained through the implementation of the new XORK Style of work will be utilized in office proposals for customers.
About WELL certification
WELL certification is the world's first building and indoor environmental evaluation system focused on the health and comfort of those living and working in buildings and was created based on seven years of intense research and development by the International WELL Building Institute. One of the major characteristics is that verification not only from the perspective of environmental engineering but also from a medical standpoint has been added as a standard for objectively evaluating how comfortable, safe and healthy buildings are for people.
The evaluation was in the seven areas of (1) air, (2) water, (3) nourishment, (4) light, (5) fitness, (6) comfort and (7) mind. There were 36 preconditions and 62 optimizations for measuring the level of consideration given to comfort, safety and health for a total of 98 items looked at in the evaluation. Third party certification body GBCI conducts a strict evaluation, and based on the score, platinum, gold or silver certification is given (from highest to lowest). Itoki attained the gold level, which is given when the requirements for at least 40% of the 36 preconditions and 62 optimizations are achieved.
As of October 31, 2018, the number of projects registered for WELL certification worldwide was 1,020, and out of these 131 have obtained certification. In Japan, currently only one out of 10 projects has obtained certification, but due to the increase in attention paid to work culture reform and health management, these numbers are expected to grow.
Corporate profile of Itoki Corporation
Itoki Corporation relocated and consolidated its Tokyo offices in Nihonbashi, Tokyo in the fall of 2018. We will embody its mission statement of “We Design Tomorrow. We Design WORK-Style.” through the improvements in productivity, efficiency, and creativity, and realize work-style reform in an office environment. Meanwhile, ITOKI Tokyo Innovation Center SYNQA (Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo) is continuing to engage in lively exchanges both inside and outside of our company, and is being used as a space for spurring the creation of new knowledge.
Workstation systems, desks, low partitions, office and conference room chairs, tables, maintenance services, etc.
[Facility-related businesses]
Office building internal facilities, movable partitions such as sliding walls and high partitions, security facilities, factories and logistics facilities, commercial facilities, research facilities, etc.
[Other]
Studying desks and chairs, office furniture for study or SOHO, etc.
