黑洞社区

Zaha Hadid Architects paid 拢3.4m to use its founder鈥檚 name last year, new accounts reveal.

It brings the total bill for using the trademark over the last five years to 拢11.9m.

The latest fee is believed to be the biggest yet, up from around 拢2.8m in the previous two years, 拢780,000 in 2018 and 拢2.3m in 2017.

The practice, which pays the licensing fee to the Zaha Hadid Foundation, said the amount charged was linked to turnover and so 鈥渞eflects our significant growth in recent years鈥�. ZHA鈥檚 latest accounts show pre-tax profit almost tripled to 拢9m while turnover hit 拢60.9m in the year to April 2021.

A spokesman said there were 鈥渘o plans鈥� to drop Hadid鈥檚 name from the practice she founded in 1979, despite High Court papers in 2019 revealing that such a move was agreed by both sides following a toxic dispute that broke out after her death in 2016.

The feud ended in the High Court amid a myriad of accusations that each side was trying to control her legacy.

But documents lodged at Companies House over the past few weeks show the warring parties have now taken a series of steps to implement a new structure for the practice, as set out in the judge鈥檚 ruling in November 2020.

ZHL (the practice鈥檚 official name) was put into the control of a tax-efficient employee-benefit trust (EBT) in December. All profits will be reinvested for the benefit of the 500 staff, said the spokesman.

ZHL鈥檚 former parent company, Zaha Hadid Holdings (ZHH), injected 拢6.3m of share capital into the practice before handing over 鈥渟ignificant control鈥� to the new entity, Studio 9 Employee Benefit Trust Ltd, on December 8. Registered in 2018, this takes its name from ZHL鈥檚 historic Clerkenwell address which it quit last year because of the pandemic. There had been speculation that Studio 9 could become the practice鈥檚 new name. Its directors are practice principal Patrik Schumacher and his fellow ZHA director Jim Heverin, associate director Johannes Schafelner, senior associate Aurora Santana and associate Ken Bostock, plus Sue Lawrence, a professional independent trustee who sits on 17 other boards around the country.

At about the same time last month Schumacher stepped down as a director of ZHH, leaving it in the hands of his three High Court opponents and fellow executors of Hadid鈥檚 拢100m will: her friends the property developer Peter Palumbo and artist Brian Clarke and her niece Rana Hadid.

Schumacher remains one of five directors of ZHL, along with other senior figures at the practice. But a sixth, Charlotte Phillips, stepped down around the same time. She had already resigned from ZHH.

Her appointment in 2018 enraged Schumacher who claimed in the papers he lodged at the High Court that she was a friend of Clarke鈥檚 whose arrival undermined his authority. In allegations accepted by the other side, he said ZHH made her chair of the ZHL board in 2018, whereupon she insisted that all ZHL contracts and salaries be pre-approved by ZHH.

Phillips, who was not a party in the court case, never commented on the allegations while Palumbo, Clarke and Rana Hadid robustly disputed many of Schumacher鈥檚 claims. They made allegations of their own, including that Schumacher had affairs with junior members of staff and about 鈥渇ailings of corporate governance鈥�. The practice dismissed these as unproven and contested.

Much of the dispute was eventually agreed out of court 鈥� such as that the bulk of Hadid鈥檚 assets would go to the Zaha Hadid Foundation 鈥� but Schumacher鈥檚 demand that he be given power of veto over the board of the EBT ended up before a judge. In late 2020 chief master Matthew Marsh rejected Schumacher鈥檚 request, saying a veto would put him in a 鈥渧ery difficult position with regard to conflicts of interest鈥�. The legal costs are said to have hit 拢3.5m.

The Zaha Hadid Foundation, the beneficiary of the annual trademark licensing fee, was set up in 2013 to promote 鈥渦seful knowledge relating to architecture鈥� with particular aims of supporting young Arab women architects and establishing Zaha Hadid鈥檚 archive in the old Design Museum building at Shad Thames. The foundation鈥檚 directors are Palumbo, Clarke and Rana Hadid and it is ultimately controlled by her estate.

In a statement announcing the EBT, the practice said: 鈥淶aha鈥檚 unwavering optimism for the future and belief in the power of invention is embedded within the DNA of the architectural practice she founded and generously gifted to those who helped her create it 鈥� all our employees.鈥�

It said independent and transparent organisational systems and structures would 鈥渃ultivate the skills and diversity that drives our decision-making and give every member of our team a voice in shaping our future鈥�.

ZHA said it expected the move to generate new ideas and inspire greater use of technology, adding: 鈥淵ounger generations of architects are demanding our profession to become more accessible and egalitarian.鈥�