Three of The Ashforth Company’s owned and managed properties in Connecticut were honored by The Business Council of Fairfield County’s Healthy Employer Recognition Program for providing and encouraging healthy work environments. Greenwich Plaza was honored with the Platinum and Innovative awards, 3001 Stamford Square received a Platinum award, and 707 Summer Street received a Gold award.
Now in its 11th year, The Healthy Workplace Employer Recognition Program has become the premiere award in Connecticut recognizing the outstanding achievements of businesses and organizations in implementing employee health promotion and wellness programs. Ashforth was honored for the seventh year with the Gold recognition award for its employee wellness program. The Healthy Building category was newly added this year to recognize building owners for these efforts as well.
Ashforth has a long-standing commitment to providing health-conscious work environments and understands that a healthy building will improve employees’ health and productivity, ultimately helping reduce healthcare cost and illness-related absences. Ashforth’s overall healthy building program for its portfolio includes providing superior air quality, creating opportunities for occupants to stay active and eat healthy, and operating a sustainable building.
Having a sustainable building goes a long way toward ensuring that a building, and its occupants, are as healthy as possible. Ashforth ensures its buildings’ energy and water usage are being used as efficiently as possible, while allowing occupants to enjoy thermal comfort, proper acoustics, biophilic environments, natural light and excellent water quality which enables occupants to remain healthy and productive.
At its Greenwich Plaza complex in Greenwich, CT, Ashforth installed a state-of-the-art bipolar ionization system to improve indoor air quality which was recognized for the Innovative Award. Working in combination with the building’s existing energy management system, this system dramatically reduces airborne particles, odors and contaminants that often make their way through conventional air filtration systems. By modulating outdoor air intake, the system also helps decrease energy consumption and costs. In addition, the system enables building staff to monitor, in real time, indoor air quality throughout the entire building.
At all of its buildings Ashforth offers a variety of healthy building initiatives and programs including a smoke-free environment, park-like space with benches, eco-encouraged priority parking for hybrid vehicles, bicycle racks, green cleaning products, an annual Health Fair, seasonal Community Supported Agriculture farm shares, and a farm-to-office online produce service delivered year-round. Also, Ashforth’s tenant relations events and activities provide opportunities for social engagement.