Text below from September 23, 2021 Kelowna Now Article
ARIVA’s vision is both exquisitely simple and incredibly complex. “We’re simply building ARIVA to be the healthiest, happiest and most active community in Canada,” said Barry Johnson, who is developing the luxury, lakeview condominium estate in West Kelowna with his son, Kevin. We’re also having 700 different aspects of the community measured and have been pre-certified by the International WELL Building Institute. We’re on track for ARIVA to be the first platinum WELL-certified community in Canada,” added Kevin.
“It’s all about incorporating people’s health and wellbeing into the development.”
The elements measured fall under 10 concepts — air, water, light, mind, materials, sounds, movement, nourishment, thermal comfort and community. As such, it includes everything from how air is purified and the quality of water that comes out of the tap to how ARIVA promotes residents’ physical-and-mental health and sense of community.
With WELL certification, ARIVA will be keeping good company. Currently, 30,000 like-minded projects in 98 countries are applying for WELL certification. The four-office-tower Bentall Centre in downtown Vancouver that sits atop a mall is the only BC project with certification. And the likes of Yankee Stadium, American Savings Bank and Montage Hotels & Resorts have WELL certification in their categories. ARIVA racked up a lot of WELL pre-certification points for its under-construction Social Hub, which includes the pool, fitness centre, bistro, wine bar, lounge, pickleball courts, barbecue area, outdoor dining pavilion, co-lab work spaces, dog wash, amphitheatre, community gardens, terrace, fire pit and e-bike fleet.