By: Eva Diego, CEO at Hyphen
Across Europe, retrofit has become the default starting point for development, not the exception. Yet too many projects still rush into concept design without fully understanding the existing building. That is where risk enters the system – through untested assumptions, inherited defects and briefs built on optimism rather than evidence. As a sector, we need to improve on de‑risking projects before what the UK defines as RIBA Stage 1. One solution is bringing architects in at Stage 0, when options are open, assumptions can be challenged, and decisions can be tailored to client objectives.
Official RIBA guidance doesn’t explicitly require a design team between Stage 0 and Stage 1. And while RIBA shapes UK practice, many of the countries we operate in follow different frameworks – reinforcing a simple principle: architects should be involved earlier. At Hyphen, we aim to make Stage 0 our speciality.
Early decisions carry the greatest impact on time and cost, which is why we start not with a design ambition but with the client’s commercial constraint. We deliver a holistic, data‑driven process that shifts teams from “what do we want to design?” to “what can we design?”And working across multiple sectors, geographies and asset types, gives us comparative experience that exposes risks and opportunities others may miss.
We then test strategic pathways – do little, do something, or do a lot. Each is assessed for cost, carbon, disruption, lifespan and resilience. When multiple end uses are possible, Stage 0 is where they rise or fall. We test structural capacity, servicing potential and environmental performance before design momentum builds or clients become attached to an unfeasible end use. This is where architectural advisory, and technical mindset, helps extend asset life and unlock value.
Commercial logic matters. Comprehensive Stage 0 work aligns anticipated yield, asset appeal and ESG obligations with architectural intent. If the building reality and business case conflict, long‑term risk to viability increases. The sector needs greater candour earlier in the process – helping developers, investors and asset managers understand what is viable, financeable and operationally realistic. Early clarity prevents the rework that emerges when constraints surface too late. It also avoids the false economy of ‘travelling light’ and limiting early consultants, which often embeds avoidable gaps. We help developers move faster later by thinking harder earlier.
This reflects a broader cultural shift we advocate for. Too often, architects are appointed only once the end use is locked in and the vision has been sold. Teams are then forced to retrofit viability into a predetermined brief – an approach that rarely leads to high quality outcomes.
Stage 0 works best when architects, engineers, cost consultants and developers collaborate from the outset. Early alignment prevents issues that would otherwise surface mid‑design or mid‑construction. It is also where lifecycle thinking belongs – assessing how an asset works today and how it might adapt in year one, year five and year 10, without unnecessary reinvestment.
In some cases, Stage 0 leads to unexpected but suitable uses – such as data centres. New‑build facilities have their place, of course, but adapting underperforming buildings can deliver critical infrastructure while preserving urban character, avoiding unnecessary land take, extending the life of existing assets and saving embodied carbon by up to 40%.
Data centres are just one example of how early clarity reshapes outcomes. Across our global portfolio – from dense cities to remote rural sites – Stage 0 allows us to test fundamentals such as power, access, utilities, market demand and lifecycle potential before design begins.
This is when we determine whether a proposed use is viable today and adaptable tomorrow, rather than locking in assumptions that become expensive to unwind. We are candid when an idea is technically or commercially unfeasible, and we use Stage 0 to sense‑check ambitions, challenge briefs and recommend resilient alternatives.
So, if retrofit is now the default, then Stage 0 is where every responsible project should begin. It replaces guesswork with intelligence, aligns ambition with reality, and ensures the most consequential decisions are made when the cost of getting them wrong is low.
This article was first published in BE News, 30 March 2026
