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.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260120_gla_mda_206-2-1-scaled.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
The 2025 Mayor\u2019s Design Advocates team, credit: Mayor of London<\/p>\n
New appointee, Tarek Merlin, whose practice Feix&Merlin was named Practice of the Year at AJ Retrofit and Reuse Awards 2025, told the AJ: \u2018I 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\u2019s future, and I am proud to contribute to that collective effort.<\/p>\n
\u2018In 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.<\/p>\n
\u2018Both 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.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Mayor of London emphasised the role of the MDAs in continuing to \u2018champion diversity and inclusion across London\u2019s design and planning professions\u2019, with 47 per cent of new appointees being women, and 47 per cent being from black, Asian or other minority ethnic communities.<\/p>\n
Another new member, Amandeep Kalra, founder and chief executive officer at GreenFlip, said: \u2018I\u2019m proud to champion that work on behalf of the Mayor and to support London boroughs as they tackle the biggest challenges the city faces.<\/p>\n
\u2018I wasn\u2019t born in London, but I was shaped by it. Its openness to the world is what makes the city so extraordinary.\u2019<\/p>\n
Full list of 2026 design advocates<\/p>\n
Adam Brown Landolt + Brown
Adam Khan Adam Khan Architects
Alice Fung Architecture 00
Amandeep Kalra\u00a0GreenFlip
Angeli Ganoo-Fletcher PRP
Anna Webster Hirst Architecture
Claire Bennie Municipal
Cristina Monteiro DK-CM
Daisy Froud\u00a0
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 Malm\u00f6
Fiona Scott Gort Scott
Gurmeet Sian Office Sian
Guy Rochez TOWN\u00a0
Hanif Kara AKT II
Hari Phillips
Hilary Satchwell Tibbalds
Holly Lewis We Made That
James Lee\u00a0James 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\u00a0Quality 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\u00a0
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\u00a0
Y\u1eb9mi\u0301 Al\u00e1d\u00e9run Ealing Council\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mayor\u2019s Design Advocates (MDAs)\u00a0 provide independent advice and reviews as part of the Good Growth by Design…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-384333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}