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Estimating and minimising risk is a normal and understandable position for clients to take. On the surface, choosing to commission and risk trusting your capital to a young practice with less building experience is not an obvious thing to do. The case needs to be made strongly by the voices of the profession why choosing a young gun over and old hand could make sense. Compared to many other european countries, the UK profession is miserable at this, constantly feting large practices with mediocre output over small, determined outfits. Needless to say, procurement in the UK exacerbates this. The UK architectural press is often little better - why BD continues to copy and paste the press releases of the huge new shopping centres by huge practice Pounds, Pence and Partner etc. doesn't help matters. There needs to be a simple recognition that all young practices are the successful offices of the future, and need positive advocacy to make it. The RIBA needs to step up to the mark here and doesn't. The problem is not confined to the UK obviously, but for example in Germany and Holland it is perfectly normal for competitions to have a compulsory proportion of young offices. This has nothing to do with enlightened clients at all - it is because the architect's registration bodies in those countries understand the importance of this and insist upon it to commissioning bodies. In Germany there's a name for it - Nachwuchsförderung - left to their own devices, clients there would opt for established firms too.