James is a Design Lead in the Mayor’s recently formed Design Unit at the Great London Authority. Having previously trained as an architect, he has been advising the Mayor, applicants and other stakeholders on the design of tall and large scale development for the last 12 years. This included a period working in private consultancy, where he specialised in advising clients on townscape and design matters for a number of tall building schemes across London. He currently leads on inputting into design advice for schemes of strategic importance that are referred to the GLA’s Development Management team.