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When the team at De Rijke Marsh Morgan architects won their first competition 12 years ago, they were ecstatic. 黑洞社区 an educational visitor centre for schoolchildren in east London鈥檚 Newham seemed like a perfect breakthrough project. Unfortunately, it never saw the light of day 鈥� nor it seems was it ever likely to. Alex de Rijke says: 鈥淭he organisation running the competition ran out of money and they failed to identify an end-user client. It鈥檚 one of the risks you take as a young architect. In England, many of the competitions are exploitative.鈥�

De Rijke is in good company. Last month, David Chipperfield, this year鈥檚 Stirling prize winner, complained of the lack of design competitions in the UK. But although, like e Rijke, every architect has a cautionary tale, most believe that competitions are still the best way for start-ups to get attention 鈥� they just need to be careful about which ones they enter.

The pros and cons of competitions are fiercely debated among young architects, says Julian Hakes, a director of Hakes Associates. As a relative newcomer himself, he is all too aware of the dangers of choosing badly. His practice entered a British competition to build a 拢60,000 project; to win would have been a real coup for a young company. The Hakes design was placed second. But although the pitch cost them seven months鈥� work and 鈥渟ubstantially more鈥� than 拢10,000, they were awarded a mere 拢2,000 as their runner-up prize. 鈥淭his barely covered the price of the 3D graphic,鈥� Hakes remembers. 鈥淓ven though small companies have lower costs and therefore take lower risks, they don鈥檛 have any back-up if their project fails. We definitely learned our lesson.鈥�

Richard Conner, a partner at Piercy Conner Architects, was left disappointed after being invited to enter a competition to build a business centre at the Greenwich meridian. The practice won the contract, but later found out that the project was not going ahead. 鈥淲e found ourselves in a shit situation,鈥� says Conner, 鈥渂ut haven鈥檛 given up. Our take on competitions has always been 鈥榶ou鈥檝e got to be in it to win it鈥�.鈥�

When things go right, the importance of a win to a young practice cannot be overestimated. Jeremy Till, director of architectural studies at Sheffield University, encourages his students to enter competitions, both national and international: 鈥淎nonymous and open competitions especially are great for new-starters,鈥� he says.

Fourth-year student Alastair Parvin recently won the Everest base camp section of the Line of Site competition. This involved designing an environment-sensitive expedition and visitor centre. Parvin chose the competition because 鈥淚 was really interested in the brief, which allowed me to just have fun with a quick idea, rather than invest a lot of physical effort鈥�.

But he has realised there are contests worth steering clear of. 鈥淪ome have preconceived expectations and others don鈥檛 leave much room for creativity, but you can sort of tell which ones they are. Usually the briefs give away a lot. You just need to pick a competition that suits your work and promotes open-mindedness and lateral thinking.鈥�

People made us promises that never turned into projects, but were perfectly happy to steal our ideas. You wouldn鈥檛 walk into a doctor鈥檚 office on Harley Street requesting a consultation for free

Julian Hakes

De Rijke recommends avoiding contests that fail to supply the exact requirements and details of the project. And check whether there is any money in it: 鈥淐ontestants should always be paid for their efforts; otherwise they are giving ideas away for free,鈥� he says.

Protecting your intellectual property is definitely a concern, agrees Hakes, who points out that in other countries the monetary value of ideas is central to competitions. 鈥淚n Italy, for example, architectural practices live off the money they gain from competitions. The UK should offer this as well.鈥�

He says that young professionals can easily find their enthusiasm and keenness exploited when first starting out, and warns against giving too much away for nothing when entering large competitions. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not only the time and resources put into the projects, but also the value of the entrants鈥� ideas, that go to waste. We鈥檝e been there, when people made us promises that never turned into projects, but were perfectly happy to steal our ideas.

鈥淵ou have to pay for expertise; you wouldn鈥檛 walk into a doctor鈥檚 office on Harley Street requesting a consultation for free.鈥�

Hakes recommends concentrating on 鈥渃ompetitions you think you can add value to鈥�. 鈥淚t鈥檚 worth more to win one good competition than doing alright in 10 others,鈥� he says.

But Conner disagrees. For him, persistence is more important. Even if a competition seems useless, it presents an opportunity to learn and gain more experience. 鈥淭he more you do, the better you get. It鈥檚 never just one thing that gets you there.鈥�