British architects win big contracts in Azerbaijan

Zaha Hadid and Thomas Heatherwick have become the first high-profile British architects to win commissions in Azerbaijan, the former Soviet republic in the southern Caucuses.

The two have won separate schemes in Baku, the capital. Hadid has been signed up to design a 225m tower for SOCAR, the state oil company, and Heatherwick, the designer behind the B of the Bang sculpture in Manchester, has been asked to design a peace monument by the Azerbaijani government.

Azerbaijan, which has had the fastest growing economy in the world over the past two years, is considered an emerging market for British firms. It follows in the footsteps of oil-rich central Asian states such as Kazakhstan, which are increasingly attracting British designers.

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