From the relative safety of its new vantage point in the WA 100 Top 10, Korea’s biggest practice can watch its two closest rivals fight it out for the silver medal.

But though Samoo Architects & Engineers has more architects than Heerim (18) and Kunwon (19), in Korean terms that’s not the biggest margin. With a GDP growth rate of 6% and an appetite for “iconic” architecture in its second-tier cities, the country could see anything happen by next year’s WA 100 survey.

Still, things are looking good for Samoo, which upped its total fee income a fraction to £240-249 million and tops the industrial Market Sector chart with $42 million.

It earned even more from education and was the second biggest earner from cultural projects.