When Refusal Was Predictable — and Avoidable

Context

A proposed intervention in an existing building subject to overlapping constraints:
REN, RAN, a heritage context under DRC supervision, potential archaeological sensitivity, and SCIE requirements linked to a change of use.
At the time of review, the process was already advanced, with a developed study and an expectation of feasibility.

The Risk

Although involving an existing building, the proposal concentrated high-risk factors typically associated with refusal or severe conditioning:

• Enlargement conflicting with REN and RAN regimes

• Unclear legal status of the existing building

• Change of use without demonstrating lack of viable alternatives outside the RAN

• Late identification of incompatibilities with SCIE requirements

• Construction changes undermining traditional fabric and heritage values

• Absence of prior archaeological assessment despite ground works
  
  

The issue was not the design quality, but decisions taken without an integrated technical framework.

Euritmia’s Role

Euritmia was engaged to establish the actual admissible decision framework before irreversible commitments.

The work delivered:

• Integrated assessment of REN, RAN, heritage (DRC) and SCIE constraints

• Identification of predictable grounds for refusal

• Clear separation between mitigable and non-mitigable risks

• Definition of the admissible scope before submission

Outcome

The technical framework enabled:

• Avoidance of submitting a structurally indefensible proposal

• Redefinition of strategy within heritage, construction and regulatory limits

• Early integration of necessary preliminary studies, preventing procedural deadlock

Value: not “fixing the design”, but preventing a predictable technical error.

Euritmia operates where refusals are foreseeable — providing technical clarity before decision-making.