Aim: The present study aims to investigate whether office workers experienced the move into a new office building as an improvement or a worsening of their working conditions and which factors play a role here. To this end, chemical and physical parameters of the indoor air as well as personal factors were measured both before and after the move. Methods: Before relocation, the employees of the administration of the University Hospital of Ulm located in ten very diverse buildings were surveyed for health status and psychosocial determinants with the ProKlimA-questionnaire. The same survey was carried out again shortly after the move to a new building with larger office units and also half a year later. Only respondents who took part in all three surveys were taken into account (n = 84). Impaired well-being as defined by the ProKlimA-study group was used as the criterion variable and subjected to logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of impaired well-being rose from 24 % to 36 % after relocation. Furthermore, there was a distinct response pattern attributable to the former accommodation of the employees. In contrast to the general trend, the incidence of impaired well-being actually decreased among those persons who formerly worked in a building with large office units. The group of persons with impaired well-being had at all survey times a more negative overall response pattern and complained of more health problems. The persons in this group on the three survey dates differed. But the relative answer scores and the distance to the persons not suffering from impaired well-being remained constant. Chemical and physical parameters of indoor climate did not have any effects in this context. Conclusions: The process of adaptation to the new environment is influenced by the previous ‘socialization’ in the former office buildings. Impaired well-being is not limited to bodily complaints; it rather has a systemic character. For an adequate analysis of impaired well-being — and therefore of the Sick Building Syndrome — the elucidation of conceivable contributing factors is essential. Thus the search for norm values or a relational framework seems to be of limited value.