The average median pay gap across 17 of the biggest practices sits at 13.1 per cent, a slight fall from the 14.9 per cent reported to government by the same companies in the previous year.
The AJ has added Gensler and tp bennett to the roster of architects it now monitors each year. Excluding these two companies, the pay gap decreased to 13.5 per cent from 15.5 per cent in 2024, marking a further drop from the 16.2 per cent recorded by the 15 practices a year earlier.
The median pay gap records the difference, as a snapshot of data from 5 April 2025, between how much is paid per hour to the median-earning female employee and the median-earning male employee.
The data is published by the government, which requires large companies with 250 or more employees to submit their gender pay statistics.
Newly published data shows that the pay gap actually grew at four of the practices that reported their pay gap.
The largest increase, of 8.2 per cent, was at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), which now has a median gap of 14.5 per cent. This is a surprise turnaround from last year’s figures, which showed the median gender pay gap falling by 9.5 per cent to 6.3 per cent, making it, then, comfortably the lowest of any practice.
The company with the smallest disparity is now tp bennett, whose gap is 6.5 per cent.
A spokesperson for ZHA explained that ‘women and men in equivalent roles are paid equally’. They said: ‘Our employment policies and criteria are wholly factored on merit, accounting for the skillset, knowledge, and relevant experience of each candidate.
‘Significantly more women than men began joined our lower and lower-middle pay quartiles’
‘Over the period, the proportion of new staff beginning their careers in architecture comprised significantly more women than men joining our lower and lower-middle pay quartiles.
‘The increase in the percentage of young women architects choosing to start their professional journeys at ZHA is evident in our gender pay gap this year.Is the gender pay gap closing at the UK’s biggest architecture practices?
They added: ‘We continue to enhance programmes to ensure the ongoing progression of our younger generation of women architects [so that they] enter ZHA’s upper pay quartiles this year.
The architecture practice with the largest median pay gap is Corstophine + Wright, at 25.4 per cent. However, the practice recorded a 7.5 per cent decrease in the gap from 2025 and more women (90.1 per cent) than men (82.9 per cent) received a bonus.
Average pay gap
13.1%
14.9%
-1.8%
Practice name
Gender pay gap (hourly pay) – Median 2025/6
Gender pay gap (hourly pay) – Median 2024/5
Increase in pay gap (percentage points)
Aecom
14.5%
13.9%
+0.6%
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
12.1%
17%
-4.9%
Allies and Morrison
11.2%
16.6%
-5.4%
AtkinsRealis
13.1%
14.1%
-1.0%
BDP
17.6%
16.4%
+1.2%
Corstorphine + Wright
25.4%
32.9%
-7.5%
Foster + Partners
10%
12.3%
–2.3%
Grimshaw
9.6%
9.9%
-0.3%
HawkinsBrown
9.4%
11.7%
-2.3%
PRP
9.4%
18%
-8.6%
Purcell
10.1%
15.6%
-5.5%
Ryder
17.3%
21.5%
-4.2%
Sheppard Robson
11.6%
10.2%
+1.4%
Stride Treglown
16%
16.3%
-0.3%
Zaha Hadid Architects
14.5%
6.3%
+8.2%
Gensler*
13.5%
14.5%
-1.0%
tp bennett*
6.5%
6.8%
-0.3%
*Gensler and tp bennett were not included in previous comparisons
** Excluding Gensler and tp bennett, the pay gap has decreased from 15.5% to 13.5%
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the RIBA’s gender pay gap almost doubled from 6.3 per cent to 11.3 per cent. The institute also released its median ethnicity pay gap figures, which showed that it had increased to 10.79 per cent, up from 10.45 per cent the previous year.
In a statement released with the data, RIBA chief executive Valerie Vaughan-Dick said: ‘This year’s results show that gender and ethnicity pay gaps remain within our organisation. While year-on-year movements can reflect changes in workforce composition and progression patterns, we recognise that sustained and deliberate action is required to reduce these gaps over time.
‘We continue to review how and where we advertise roles to ensure opportunities are communicated as widely as possible, and we explicitly welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
‘In 2026/27, we plan to implement a new HR system including an applicant tracking tool to strengthen how we collect and analyse workforce data, and to broaden our reporting over time, including exploring disability pay gap reporting.’
She concluded: ‘We recognise there is more work to do. We remain committed to examining our policies, progression pathways and recruitment practices to ensure RIBA is an inclusive, fair and equitable place to work, and we will continue to report openly on our progress.
‘We also acknowledge the current binary framework of gender pay reporting and would welcome a more inclusive approach in future legislation.’