The rankings, published in June by Beedier’s Social Media Zeitgeist, count the followers on Instagram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn for ‘every architecture studio’ in the UK. And they show that ZHA still tops the chart.

The practice has an impressive 3.1 million worldwide followers across the four platforms, with 100,000 more followers than in March 2024, when the AJ first covered the quarterly findings .

Catching up in second place is Foster + Partners – the UK’s largest practice by number of architects. The global brand has almost 1.7 million followers, the majority of which (717,000) are on LinkedIn. That compares with 1.4 million in March last year, when LinkedIn accounted for 582,000 followers.

Fosters had the highest growth in social media reach of any UK practice in the last quarter, Beedier says. It acquired 64,000 new followers in the three months to June while ZHA gained 42,000 new followers in the same period.

But there remains a significant gap between the top two firms and the other 98 ranked practices. The next three practices listed by popularity are: John Pawson (518,000 total followers, up from 455,000 in March 2024), David Chipperfield Architects (315,000, up from 297,000) and Heatherwick Studio (253,000, up from 203,000).

The only shift among the top 10 practices in the last three months was Populous, which was missing from Beedier’s initial rankings last year. Populous moved up one spot to ninth place after acquiring 11,000 followers in the last three months to June, bringing its total followers to 169,000.

The practice says that in March 2024, it had a total of 122,000 followers – (27,000), X (15,000), Facebook (10,000) and LinkedIn (70,000) – which would have placed it in ninth spot when the AJ last covered the rankings.

Providing an overall snapshot of the profession on social media, Breedier said UK architects collectively had 24.7 million followers across the four most widely used social media platforms, with Instagram the most followed, accounting for just over half of all followers (12.98 million). The next most popular platform is LinkedIn, at 6.17 million followers.

This compares to 21.2 million total followers for UK practices in March 2024, when the AJ last covered the rankings.

Practice
Location
Total followers
Instagram
LinkedIn
X
Facebook

1
Zaha Hadid Architects
Islington
3,140,379
1,548,909
792,100
497,289
302,081

2
Foster + Partners
Wandsworth
1,685,623
570,874
717,603
131,706
182,017

3
John Pawson
Islington
518,874
460,616
–
–
5,658

4
David Chipperfield Architects
Westminster
315,312
202,891
202,891
–
11,023

5
Heatherwick Studio
Camden
253,186
156,372
95,938
–
796

6
Koto Design
Bideford
209,502
179,052
1,222
404
2,481

7
Grimshaw
Islington
180,911
57,361
103,225
10,61
9,713

8
Adjaye Associates
Westminster
172,669
96,266
32,196
11,573
17,034

9
Populous
Wandsworth
169,154
37,718
104,266
16,091
11,079

10
Initiate Architecture
Bridgend
162,535
143,208
753
–
261

11
RSHP
City of London
137,656
67,874
42,595
11,120
6,804

12
Ström Architects
Lymington
121,224
84,384
1,889
11,536
11,057

13
Gregory Phillips Architects
Westminster
110,537
105,397
594
788
2,895

14
BDP
Manchester
108,796
14,000
73,082
16,184
5,530

15
RMJM
Edinburgh
108,618
20,697
69,960
2,607
11,073

16
Stallan-Brand
Glasgow
104,381
102,578
1,265
496
–

17
Make Architects
Camden
101,724
23,398
46,775
27,991
1,152

18
Hawkins\Brown
Islington
89,860
20,351
50,290
16,036
921

19
Farshid Moussavi Architecture
City of London
88,618
71,947
3,171
1,452
12,048

20
Ben Pentreath
Camden
75,900
70,464
1,291
4,145
–

The top 10 listed practices make up 28 per cent of all follower counts, having more than 6 million followers between them.

Of the practices in the table with more than 500 followers across all platforms, 95 per cent have Instagram accounts with an average of 4,400 followers per account.

X was the only platform to show falling numbers every quarter over the past year (September 2024 to June 2025), the report says. It adds that 85 studios have deleted their X accounts completely.

Surprises on the list include Devon-based Koto Design, which produces small timber cabins, and gained 30,000 followers in the last quarter – the third-highest increase after Fosters and ZHA – for its ‘serene timber Instagramable retreats’, which have earned the practice sixth place.

Beedier also highlighted the growth of Westminster-based Gregory Phillips Architects, which had the highest percentage growth outside the top 10 in the last year and has 110,537 followers, having gained 23,086 followers.

Beedier’s June 2025 report. UK practices’ social media reach by platform

Studios that outperformed others in the most recent quarter were Carmody Groarke (3.96 per cent growth), Hopkins Architects (3.88 per cent), Allies and Morrison (3.70 per cent), Stanton Williams (3.69 per cent), and Ascot Design (3,65 per cent).

Heatherwick Studio, which was described as being ‘late to set up their Instagram account in July 2024’ on the 30th anniversary of its founding, now sits at fifth place after enjoying the fifth-highest growth this quarter. Beedier noted that the Thomas Heatherwick-founded studio still trails David Chipperfield Architects by more than 65,000 followers.

Morris + Company, meanwhile, suffered an Instagram account hack and deletion last year, when it had 81,000 followers. Beedier, expressing sympathy, said the practice has ‘steadily rebuilt their presence’, regaining 11,000 followers. The studio now sits in 41st place, down from 10th in March last year.

Regionally, London’s share of followers dipped by 1.4 per cent for practices headquartered in the capital, moving from 68 per cent to 66.6 per cent. However, the overall total of followers moved upwards from 13.9 million to 16.5 million since the AJ last reported on the Beedier findings. The region with the second highest count is Scotland (5.3 per cent) followed by South East England (5.2 per cent).

Beedier was founded by writer and designer Robert Park. Its Social Media Zeitgeist rankings were first published late last year.

Beedier’s June 2025 report. UK practices’ social media reach by region