Zaha Hadid Architects establishes employee benefit trust

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has converted to an employee ownership model by establishing an employee benefit trust (EBT).

According to the 42-year-old architecture business, which has 500 global members of staff and will not award shares out of the EBT to any individual employee, the new structure means it will have no external shareholders so can reinvest all profits back into the business and its staff, equipment and facilities.

The organisation, founded by double Stirling Prize winning Zaha Hadid, said the new model would allow it to prioritise its work with clients, communities and industry experts around the world.

An EBT model was chosen by the organisation as it enables shares gifted to the trust to be held in perpetuity on behalf of its existing and former employees as well as their families.

The structure will enable the practice to embrace new ideas and technologies to deliver “a repertoire of projects that become more spatially inventive, more structurally efficient, more technologically advanced and more sustainable”, according to the organisation.

A ZHA spokesperson said Hadid, who passed away in 2016, had empowered staff to nurture, develop and continue her work, with her unwavering optimism for the future and belief in the power of invention embedded in the practice.

“Excelling through a period of unprecedented global challenges and growing to a team of more than 500 dedicated professionals, ZHA is built around a deep commitment to the culture of diverse people working collaboratively," said the spokesperson. "This collective, multidisciplinary approach to problem solving has been a cornerstone of our success since the practice was founded.”

They added: "Younger generations of architects are demanding our profession become more accessible and egalitarian. Supported by independent and transparent organisational systems and structures, employee ownership of ZHA will cultivate the skills and diversity that drives our decision making and give every member of our team a voice in shaping our future."