From Soft to Strategic: How Social Metrics Are Reshaping Real Estate Strategy and Value

Fresh insights from the International WELL Building Institute's 2025 Social Sustainability Conference on how buildings, people, and performance are more connected than ever.

TL;DR

The WELL Social Sustainability Conference held in Amsterdam on July 10 brought center stage the growing relevance and ability to address social sustainability in the built environment. Whether for developers, investors, corporate tenants, architects, designers, planners, municipalities, or policymakers, the key message was clear: people are the foundation of performance, and the buildings we design for them matter more than ever. Here are some of the key takeaways :

• What drives the performance of any society or company is people, and investing in and supporting people is therefore smart business and smart governance.

• The "S" in ESG is not soft: It's measurable, material, and increasingly expected.

• The EU Social Taxonomy’s failure to launch has left a gap. Without harmonized definitions, it remains unclear how to evaluate or benchmark social performance. Despite the predominant narrative to the contrary, we do actually know how to address the S in ESG. As a matter of fact, the WELL Building Standard lays out over 500 evidence-based strategies for social sustainability, making it an indispensable, timely, and internationally relevant tool.

• Regulation matters: It creates clarity, consistency, and accelerates progress.

• Even as CSRD is pulled back and delayed, SFRD remains in place, and WELL is being used as an ESG KPI to get cheaper access to capital.

• Healthy buildings have added value, but valuators still struggle to price in wellbeing in a harmonized way.