CBRE's Pacific managing director of asset services, Amanda Steele, one of the players driving the rollout of the new well building standard, says the value of the property lies in its users, not the bricks and mortar.

"The traditional relationship between owner and tenant is over," she says. "It was feudal for a long time, with landlords dictating what you could do."

"It's insanity. We've been looking at property as if the money is tied up in the bricks and mortar, rather than the people who are work, live and shop there," Ms Steele says.

The wellness program, driven by the US-based Delos group through its International WELL Building Institute, shifts some of the focus of a building from its bricks and mortar to the inhabitants – its workers, shoppers and dwellers.

The key parameters of the well building – air, light, water, nourishment, fitness, comfort and mind – are underpinned by green-star sustainability ratings.

Delos founder Paul Scialla, who has a background in investment on Wall Street, said medical and architectural research had formed the basis for judging the well buildings.

"This has been a process that has taken six to seven years. Since we spend 90 per cent of our time indoors, I wanted to know how is the built environment affecting the human condition," he said.

So far, Delos is working with Lendlease and CBRE on the Australian rollout, but other building owners, including GPT, are looking closely at the program.

Mr Scialla said the relationship with Lendlease and CBRE was not exclusive and WELL ratings were performed by an independent third party, the Green Building Certification Institute. The assessments are made after tenants move into a building.

Mr Scialla said 200 projects in 14 countries were in the process of being certified for WELL ratings and seven Australian buildings were on that list, including Lendlease's three towers at Barangaroo in Sydney, Macquarie Group's headquarters in Martin Place, the Grocon-DEXUS office tower at 480 Queen Street in Brisbane and Mirvac's Sydney's headquarters.

Ms Steele said there had been more interest in the WELL ratings in Sydney than in Melbourne.

"It's a bigger market and they go after new shiny things, whereas Melbourne is more traditional and requires more evidence to be persuaded," she said.

"This is about doing more research, asking what the people in your building want.

"But research is something people are often scared of, because they like to know what's going to be in it."

Innovations such as holiday childcare programs that could enable parents to take their children to work could make a big difference to tenants.

"A school holiday program is a great example. The users pay for it," Ms Steele said.

All the proponents of the WELL building movement maintain the building's value is in the "stickiness" of tenants, because happy tenants stay in a building longer.

"There's always pushback on price," Ms Steele said. "The question is where is the value? You can demonstrate the value long-term from small investments."