diff --git a/scripts/set-env.ts b/scripts/set-env.ts
index 5eee22a4be..5570b77218 100644
--- a/scripts/set-env.ts
+++ b/scripts/set-env.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ import(environmentFilePath)
 function generateEnvironmentFile(file: GlobalConfig): void {
   file.production = production;
   buildBaseUrls(file);
+
+  // TODO remove workaround in beta 5
+  if (file.rest.nameSpace.match("(.*)/api/?$") !== null) {
+    const newValue = getNameSpace(file.rest.nameSpace);
+    console.log(colors.white.bgMagenta.bold(`The rest.nameSpace property in your environment file or in your DSPACE_REST_NAMESPACE environment variable ends with '/api'.\nThis is deprecated. As '/api' isn't configurable on the rest side, it shouldn't be repeated in every environment file.\nPlease change the rest nameSpace to '${newValue}'`));
+  }
+
   const contents = `export const environment = ` + JSON.stringify(file);
   writeFile(targetPath, contents, (err) => {
     if (err) {
@@ -112,5 +119,16 @@ function getPort(port: number): string {
 }
 
 function getNameSpace(nameSpace: string): string {
-  return nameSpace ? nameSpace.charAt(0) === '/' ? nameSpace : '/' + nameSpace : '';
+  // TODO remove workaround in beta 5
+  const apiMatches = nameSpace.match("(.*)/api/?$");
+  if (apiMatches != null) {
+    let newValue = '/'
+    if (hasValue(apiMatches[1])) {
+      newValue = apiMatches[1];
+    }
+    return newValue;
+  }
+  else {
+    return nameSpace ? nameSpace.charAt(0) === '/' ? nameSpace : '/' + nameSpace : '';
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.spec.ts b/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.spec.ts
index 5f5c31f29d..31538e6be4 100644
--- a/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.spec.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ describe('HALEndpointService', () => {
   describe('getRootEndpointMap', () => {
     it('should configure a new EndpointMapRequest', () => {
       (service as any).getRootEndpointMap();
-      const expected = new EndpointMapRequest(requestService.generateRequestId(), environment.rest.baseUrl);
+      const expected = new EndpointMapRequest(requestService.generateRequestId(), environment.rest.baseUrl + '/api');
       expect(requestService.configure).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expected);
     });
 
diff --git a/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.ts b/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.ts
index d8b1d8931f..a74650ce5a 100644
--- a/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/shared/hal-endpoint.service.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export class HALEndpointService {
   }
 
   protected getRootHref(): string {
-    return new RESTURLCombiner('/').toString();
+    return new RESTURLCombiner('/api').toString();
   }
 
   protected getRootEndpointMap(): Observable<EndpointMap> {