Ashby company Blueprint Interiors has become the first company in the East Midlands region to achieve The WELL Health-Safety Rating.

The workplace design consultants and interior fit-out specialists has been given the rating which is a new building health and safety accreditation - informed by the WELL Building Standard and more than 600 experts from the Task Force on COVID-19.

The Ivanhoe Business Park company is also the first in its sector across the UK to achieve the rating.

Designed to empower owners and operators across large and small businesses alike to take the necessary steps in order to prioritise the health and safety of their staff, visitors and stakeholders, the WELL Health-Safety Rating can help guide users in preparing their spaces for re-entry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It instils confidence in those who come through the building as well as the broader community.

Being able to display this seal helps employers ensure their offices have a recognised safety seal in time for the anticipated return of employees and visitors to their offices.

Blueprint Interiors' Designer, Rebecca Beadle qualified to help businesses attain the new accreditation in 2020, and since then the company has been undergoing assessments to ensure their own office - called WorkLife Central - meets the requirements of The WELL Health-Safety Rating.

Rob Day, Blueprint's Founder, said: "We are delighted to have become the first business in our sector to achieve this standard because not only can we display a recognised seal that demonstrates we are practicing what we preach, and investing in our most valuable asset – our people, anyone entering our building will also now feel confident knowing the space they're entering is putting their health first."

The WELL Building Standard® is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.

WELL is administered by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), a public benefit corporation whose mission is to improve human health and wellbeing through the built environment. The standard is based on seven years of research in partnership with scientists, doctors and architects exploring the connection between the buildings where people spend their time, and the health and wellbeing impacts those buildings have on their occupants.