In México City, workspaces are increasingly being designed to offer quality, efficiency, and safety to those who use them. With over nine million square meters of office space in the capital, a new regulation set to take effect in June 2025 aims to ensure better conditions for occupants. The Complementary Technical Standard for Architectural Design updates the city’s Building Code and defines—in a more precise way—mandatory criteria for comfort, space, and protection in the workplace environment.

While it may sound like a technical matter, the change has far-reaching implications: it forces us to rethink what it means to inhabit work. To begin with, the regulation establishes a minimum of 9.3 square meters per person, in a context where many offices currently accommodate one person per two to four square meters. That means México City’s Class A+, A, and B office space could host around one million workers—about one-sixth of all office workers nationwide, according to data from SiiLA and INEGI.

The regulation addresses not only how space is used but also the permitted noise levels. In small offices and meeting rooms, the limit is 40 decibels; in open areas, 45. Beyond those levels, conversations are lost, concentration fades, and stress increases. To prevent that, the regulation requires a minimum soundproofing of 45 decibels between offices and 50 between meeting rooms and hallways. In short, something as basic as the right to think without hearing the person next to you is finally being properly regulated.

Did you know that workers in open-plan offices lose an average of 86 minutes daily due to work environment distractions? That statistic—from a global Ipsos-Steelcase study—is telling: sound, light, and air are not accessories. They’re minimum conditions for productive work.

That’s why the regulation sets lighting levels between 200 and 500 lux depending on the space type, a minimum ventilation rate of 2.5 liters per second per person, and adjustments to operative temperature based on airspeed. If the light is too bright or too dim, one in eight people may struggle to concentrate; and if airflow—affecting thermal comfort—exceeds 0.8 meters per second, even the papers on a desk won’t stay in place, according to the regulation and the Ipsos-Steelcase study.

Other requirements are just as critical: a maximum wait time of 45 seconds for elevators; a mandatory ratio of one parking space for every 30 square meters built in offices larger than 100 square meters; and in the case of retail within office buildings, a minimum of six square meters per person plus 15% circulation space, with a ceiling height of no less than 2.3 meters. Even the number of restrooms is calculated using specific formulas based on gender and the number of users.

But the regulation goes further. It introduces a principle that extends beyond immediate comfort: energy self-sufficiency. Starting in June 2025, all new office buildings with more than 50,000 square meters of built area will be required to generate 100% of their annual electricity consumption from renewable sources. Being functional or pleasant will no longer be enough—they’ll have to be responsible. This mandate also applies to commercial and large-scale developments, and aims for buildings that don’t just house work—but sustain it, independently of the grid.

If all the large office buildings currently standing in Mexico City were required to comply with this regulation, the impact would be significant. According to SiiLA Market Analytics, roughly three out of every hundred corporate buildings exceed 50,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA). And considering that in many projects, the total construction area is typically 1.5 to 2.2 times larger than the GLA, then under this assumption, between ten and twenty out of every hundred buildings would be required to generate 100% of their annual electricity consumption from renewable sources.

This implies that, gradually, structural changes are on the horizon—not only in how buildings are designed and constructed, but in what we expect of them.

With the new regulations set to take effect, what’s at stake is not just the shape of space, but its ability to meet the demands of our time. Work has changed. And for the office to remain competitive and functional, it will have to change with it.

For more on the trends reshaping México’s commercial real estate market, visit SiiLA REsource or contact us at contacto@siila.com.mx.