Zaha Hadid Architects posted its highest ever turnover in 2019 underpinned by trebling income from Asia, but the practice’s profits also took a hefty knock, according to its just-published accounts.

The company’s main Zaha Hadid Limited accounts show a turnover of £56.6m for the 12-month period to April 30 last year, up 30% on the previous year. However profit before tax was down from £4.3m to £1.9m.

Pointing to a different measure, a strategic report written on behalf of the company’s directors and signed by practice principal Patrik Schumacher on March 13, gave profit after tax as £4.1m for the year, down from £4.7m in 2018. It said “exceptional costs of £2.2m” in 2019 against none the previous year had contributed to the drop in profit, and that the figure also reflected “substantial research and development tax credits”. The exceptional costs were described as “non-project legal and consulting fees” expected to be non-recurring.

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