diff --git a/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/provision.py b/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/provision.py
index efa9d20283c18d2b34090d84185744170edb361e..1eb6614792e4c51edd483f94ff09fba05a8c1262 100644
--- a/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/provision.py
+++ b/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/provision.py
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ def provision_folder(token_request, folder_name, dash, services,
     is_nren = folder_name == "NREN Access"
     is_re_peer = folder_name == "RE Peer"
     is_service = 'service_type' in dash
+    # todo: figure out a neater way to do this?
+    is_complex = is_nren or is_nren_beta or is_re_peer or is_service
 
     if is_nren:
         data = get_nren_interface_data_old(interfaces)
@@ -257,7 +259,7 @@ def provision_folder(token_request, folder_name, dash, services,
 
     with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=MAX_WORKERS) as executor:
         for dashboard in dash_data:
-            if is_nren or is_nren_beta or is_re_peer or is_service:
+            if is_complex:
                 rendered = render_complex_dashboard(**dashboard)
             else:
                 rendered = render_simple_dashboard(**dashboard)
diff --git a/brian_dashboard_manager/templating/render.py b/brian_dashboard_manager/templating/render.py
index 65dc9e41dd321714528e8d42985c02f72a216ca6..19b4cdfab4d7ac3d84fb0de47ad6d1d135f598ea 100644
--- a/brian_dashboard_manager/templating/render.py
+++ b/brian_dashboard_manager/templating/render.py
@@ -276,8 +276,7 @@ def render_complex_dashboard(
 ):
     assert tag or tags
     panels = [create_infobox()]
-    if len(aggregate_panels) > 0:
-        panels.extend(aggregate_panels)
+    panels.extend(aggregate_panels)
     for group in dropdown_groups:
         panels.append(group["dropdown"])
         panels.extend(group["panels"])