The Mayor’s Design Advocates (MDAs)  provide independent advice and reviews as part of the Good Growth by Design programme, which was launched in 2017.

The list is made up of architects and urban designers, including industry leaders such as Russell Curtis, whose practice RCKa won the AJ Architect of the Year 2025 award; Mellis Haward, director and co founder of Archio, an AJ 40 under 40 practice; and Manijeh Verghese, chief executive officer of Open City.

More than half of the 2026 cohort – 28 names – were retained from the previous intake, while the list has grown by 11 members from 42 appointed in 2022 up to a 53-strong list this year.

Appointed for three years until the end of 2028, the MDAs will work with a list of eight Advocate Organisations, including Architects for Change and the Architecture Foundation, which will use their existing platforms to promote the Good Growth programme and the projects associated with it.

The 2025 Mayor’s Design Advocates team, credit: Mayor of London

New appointee, Tarek Merlin, whose practice Feix&Merlin was named Practice of the Year at AJ Retrofit and Reuse Awards 2025, told the AJ: ‘I am honoured to take my place among such a talented group. The cohort reflects the diverse breadth of skills, lived experience and expertise needed to support London’s future, and I am proud to contribute to that collective effort.

‘In my application, a letter to the Mayor, I set out an ambition to help develop best-practice guidance for LGBTQ+ inclusive design, alongside a Diversity Directory to improve visibility and representation across the built environment professions.

‘Both initiatives are about ensuring that quality, sustainability and inclusion are embedded in how we design and deliver the city for the benefit of all Londoners.’

The Mayor of London emphasised the role of the MDAs in continuing to ‘champion diversity and inclusion across London’s design and planning professions’, with 47 per cent of new appointees being women, and 47 per cent being from black, Asian or other minority ethnic communities.

Another new member, Amandeep Kalra, founder and chief executive officer at GreenFlip, said: ‘I’m proud to champion that work on behalf of the Mayor and to support London boroughs as they tackle the biggest challenges the city faces.

‘I wasn’t born in London, but I was shaped by it. Its openness to the world is what makes the city so extraordinary.’

Full list of 2026 design advocates

Adam Brown Landolt + Brown
Adam Khan Adam Khan Architects
Alice Fung Architecture 00
Amandeep Kalra GreenFlip
Angeli Ganoo-Fletcher PRP
Anna Webster Hirst Architecture
Claire Bennie Municipal
Cristina Monteiro DK-CM
Daisy Froud 
Daniel Elsea Allies and Morrison
David Ogunmuyiwa Architecture Doing Place
David McEwen Unit 38
Dinah Bornat ZCD Architects
Farshid Moussavi Farshid Moussavi Architecture
Finn Williams Malmö
Fiona Scott Gort Scott
Gurmeet Sian Office Sian
Guy Rochez TOWN 
Hanif Kara AKT II
Hari Phillips
Hilary Satchwell Tibbalds
Holly Lewis We Made That
James Lee James Lee Contemporary Garden Design
Jas Bhalla Jas Bhalla Architects
Jayden Ali JA Projects
Jo McCafferty Levitt Bernstein
Johanna Gibbons J&L Gibbons
Jonathan Hagos Freehaus
Jordan Whitewood-Neal Quality of Life Foundation
Julia King Social Place
Julian Lewis East
Kat Scott Hackney Council
Ken Okonkwo Haworth Tompkins
Liza Fior Muf Architecture
Louisa Bowles Hawkins\Brown
Lucy Musgrave Publica
Manijeh Verghese Open City
Mellis Haward Archio 
Neil Deely Metropolitan Workshop
Neil Smith HS2 Limited
Paul Monaghan AHMM
Regine Kandan Donald Insall Associates
Robin Hutchinson The Community Brain CIC
Russell Curtis RCKa
Satish Jassal Satish Jassal Architects
Sophia Ceneda Howells
Sowmya Pathasarathy Arup
Takeshi Hayatsu Hayatsu Architects
Tara Gbolade Gbolade Design Studio
Tarek Merlin Feix&Merlin
Tom Holbrook 5th Studio
Tom Dollard Pollard Thomas Edwards 
Yẹmí Aládérun Ealing Council