diff --git a/src/graph/helper.cc b/src/graph/helper.cc
index dde834ae8a7ec3110aaa5fd2b151a2b44bdf5556..eb8a2ee49946b72fdecfaf91aed564f418eea6df 100644
--- a/src/graph/helper.cc
+++ b/src/graph/helper.cc
@@ -901,7 +901,7 @@ namespace hpp {
               ++it;
             }
             // Create placement
-            if (!od.shapes.empty ()) {
+            if (!envNames.empty() && !od.shapes.empty ()) {
               const std::string placeN = "place_" + od.name;
               ps->createPlacementConstraint (placeN,
                   od.shapes, envNames, margin);