London mayor Sadiq Khan has appointed 50 architects and designers to develop a vision for the future of London. Sadiq Khan's special "design advocates" list included Sir David Adjaye, Wayne Hemingway MBE and Sadie Morgan to work with City Hall and Councils within the scope of a newly-developed programme.

50 selected names will be working as part of the Good Growth by Design Programme, has been launched by Sadiq Khan. The Good Growth by Design Programme - supported by three design advocates including Sir David Adjaye, Wayne Hemingway MBE and Sadie Morgan - will aim to enhance the design of buildings and neighbourhoods for all Londoners, stated during a speech at the London School of Economics on Monday. 

As London's population heads towards 10 million people, the Mayor spoke about his vision for the future of London and invited London’s architectural, design and built environment professions to help realise his vision of London as a city that is "socially and economically inclusive as well as environmentally sustainable."

"London needs to provide space for 46,000 new jobs and build 50,000 new homes a year just to keep up with demand, as well as build the social infrastructure to support both. Good Growth will enable this, leaving a legacy of world-class buildings, outstanding public realm and large-scale regeneration for Londoners of the future," mentioned in his speech.

The advocates – half who are women and a quarter who are BAME – include celebrated architects Sir David Adjaye OBE and Sadie Morgan, as well as influential fashion designer Wayne Hemingway MBE.

"My vision for London is a city that enables all Londoners to reach their potential, a city that is inclusive and a city where growth brings benefits to communities," said Sadiq Khan.

"London is facing unprecedented population growth and with that comes challenging work, but also amazing opportunities to deliver a city that is socially integrated, sustainable, healthier, safer and with a world class public realm." 

"We must embrace London’s rapid growth with both hands and take this chance to use good architecture and planning to make a real difference to the lives of Londoners. And this is a chance to learn from past mistakes, some of which are still dotted across our city, and blight the lives of the communities that live in them," he added.

"We’ve already seen examples of where good growth can lead to a host of other benefits such as better social integration amongst different communities and generations, and new transport links transforming areas and local economies."

"One of the way I want to apply the principles of Good Growth is to re-balance development in London away from the high-price homes in central London towards more genuinely affordable homes for all Londoners," explained Khan.

"This is just one of the ways in which Good Growth has the potential to transform London. This programme will ensure we make the most of London’s growth so that every community is able to share in the fruits of development."

Sir David Adjaye OBE is one of selected 50 names who will work thoughout this programme. A Ghanaian British architect David Adjaye is the founder of Adjaye Associates based in London and New York. 

"Predictions of unprecedented growth within our capital urgently necessitate exceptional leadership and unparalleled design strategies in order for London to thrive as a successful and sustainable World city.  But how also do we create and shape a city that benefits everyone, a city with inclusivity and diversity at its heart?," said David Adjaye.

"These are one of the key challenges I will relish working on with Mayor Khan, my fellow Design Advocates and the citizens that live, work and visit our great capital and it will be an absolute honour to play a part in re-imagining London’s future."

The Good Growth by Design programme will set ambitious design standards and apply these standards and undertake rigorous design reviews. The program aims to increase capacity by launching a new social enterprise - "Public Practice" - that will place talented designers and planners in local authorities for up to a year, plugging the skills gap and creating a sense of common endeavour in enhancing London’s built environment.

It will also support diversity by pushing the firms that City Hall commissions to do much more to tackle the under-representation of women and people from minority groups in the built environment professions. It will use open procurement processes such as design competitions to seek the highest standards for public projects.

Besides that, it will select a leader of the program, with the Greater London Authority, announcing champions of good growth by advocating best practice to support success across the sector.

Sadie Morgan, co-founder of dRMM Architects. Image courtesy of Uk construction media

Sadie Morgan, co-founder of dRMM Architects, will be one of Design Advocates appointed by Sadiq Khan. dRMM is a London-based and international studio of architects and designers founded in 1995 by Alex de Rijke, Philip Marsh and Sadie Morgan.

"For me, London is the greatest city in the world, but it will only prosper if it is fit for the next century and beyond," said Sadie Morgan.

"With pressure on the world’s natural resources increasing, architects and designers can help government create a future that is sustainable and which encourages the next generation to flourish and prosper; a beautiful city whose residents are housed well and safely, in which travel is accessible and affordable, the air is clean, and where the public realm is truly for the public good."

"I have spent my professional career advocating the importance of good design. I’m absolutely delighted to be chosen as one of the Mayor’s Design Advocates, and will continue to make the case that people and place should be at the forefront of our thinking when designing our built environment," she explained.

See the full list of Mayor’s Design Advocates below:

Sir David Adjaye OBE

Hiro Aso

Joanna Averley

Rachel Bagenal

Clara Bagenal George

Claire Bennie

Dinah Bornat

Andy von Bradsky

Alison Brooks

Adam Brown

Peter Coleman

Russell Curtis

John Dales

Irene Djao-Rakitine

Alex Ely

Liza Fior

Kathryn Firth

Daisy Froud

Alice Fung

Roger Hawkins

Wayne Hemingway MBE

Dan Hill

Tom Holbrook

Rory Hyde

Indy Johar

Dipa Joshi

Paul Karakusevic

Adam Khan

Lynn Kinnear

Vincent Lacovara

Richard Lavington

Christopher Lee

Julian Lewis

Holly Lewis

Laura Mazzeo

Sadie Morgan

Peter Murray

Lucy Musgrave

Fabienne Nicholas

David Ogunmuyiwa

Elsie Owusu OBE

Julia Park

Sowmya Parthasarathy

Manisha Patel

Sunand Prasad

Hilary Satchwell

Monica von Schmalensee

Fiona Scott

Neil Smith

Maria Smith

Paloma Strelitz

David West

Top image © Hayes Davidson

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