Gordon Wigglesworth, one of the last architects to be in charge of the Greater London Council’s housing programme, has died aged 85.

Wigglesworth was the GLC’s housing architect from 1974 until 1980, during which period the GLC developed the new town of Thamesmead in what is now the Thames Gateway. He was also responsible for rationalising the internal layouts and construction of council dwellings so as to streamline housing production.

Wigglesworth was in the wave of public-spirited post-war architects who made a career within national and local government. In 1957, he became assistant chief architect at the Department of Education and Science and later became director of building development at the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. In 1972 he joined the GLC as principal education architect.

He is survived by his wife and three daughters.

  • John Edwards, founder of Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects in London, and his wife Allison have been killed in a car accident.

Born in 1938, Edwards joined forces in 1974 with Roger Pollard and Bill Thomas, who credited Edwards with being the anchorman of the practice. Perhaps the design that had the greatest impact was his New Concordia Wharf, a conversion of Thameside warehouses that introduced Manhattan loft living to Britain.