Mayor retains Lord Rogers for adviser role

The new mayor of London, Boris Johnson is to retain Lord Rogers as his design adviser, it has been reported.

The new mayor of London, Boris Johnson is to retain Lord Rogers as his design adviser, it has been reported.

Lord Rogers, a Labour peer, will serve London as the architectural adviser, according to a speech made by Mr Johnson.

"I am extremely fortunate to have inherited Richard Rogers as an advisor, and I hope to recruit an additional panel of advisors - not just the great and the good, but from smaller practices too," said Mr Johnson at the London Festival of Architecture.

Responding to rumours concerning the new mayor's dislike of tall towers, Mr Johnson added: "I am not opposed to all tall buildings.

"When Pugin and Barry introduced Big Ben, no doubt there were Westminster councillors making noises about it. However if proposals are gigantism for gigantism's sake, I will have no hesitation in going against them."

Mr Johnson's comments regarding a panel of advisors could spark speculation over which firms the mayor will be seeking to recruit from, with a broad spectrum of architecture firms under the microscope from City Hall.

Reiterating his plans for a new panel of advisors for the mayor's architectural decisions, Mr Johnson responded to a question from Building Design by saying: "Richard is going to be joining this panel of people who... will not be drawn just from the big beasts of the architectural firmament, but will also include some of the thrusting young firms."