The report, Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Retail: The Impact of Green Buildings on People and Profit, says that although there is a surge in interest in health and wellbeing in the property sector, most retailers are currently missing a key opportunity to better understand how the physical retail environment can affect staff and customers – including the retail experience -ˇ and therefore the impact on overall business performance.

The report was led by the UK Green Building Council and forms one of the first major outputs of WorldGBC’s global campaign Better Places for People, designed to increase the number of green buildings which support people’s health, wellbeing and productivity.

John Alker, Policy & Campaign Director, UK Green Building Council, said:“This should be a wake up call for retailers and those with a stake in retail property. They are sitting on a potential gold-mine of data, which can help cement the business case for investing in healthy, greener stores – both new build, and refurbishment. Leaders in the sector realise this, we now need to see action across the board.”

Better Places for People is sponsored by ARUP, B+H Architects, the International WELL Building Institute, Land Securities, Lendlease, Marks and Spencer, Saint-Gobain, Skanska and Uponor.

This work follows the WorldGBC report Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Offices which presented “overwhelming evidence” on the link between the physical characteristics of offices, and the health, wellbeing and productivity of employees.

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