Boris Johnson has axed his design advisory body and incorporated it into the London Development Agency.

Design for London (DfL) was set up 18 months ago to advise the mayor of London on design. It will merge with the LDA’s land and infrastructure directorate.

The new body will take responsibility for land holdings, environment projects and area planning, with an expected budget of £70-80m.

Peter Bishop, the director of DfL, will head the division. He will become a director at the LDA on 1 August and lead the integration process, which is expected to last six to eight weeks.

Architect Richard Rogers is expected to stay on as an adviser to the mayor, although his exact role is unclear. Bishop said this was still under discussion.

Bishop said: “You could say this was the end of DfL or see it as a huge opportunity. There are frustrations to being a free-floating organisation. At times we have put an awful lot of effort in and not a lot has come out. Now we can take ideas, back them with a spending budget and put them into practice. It’s a logical move.”

He said he expected most DfL projects to continue but some small schemes may be “shed or wound up”.