Mayor's Skylon plans have lift off

A number of interesting ideas emerged during my visit to the Stratford site last week, where I met urban design experts Paul Finch and Frank Duffy and Westfield's development director Simon Cochrane.
Most interesting was probably news revealed by EGi that the mayor and the ODA want to see a major 60th anniversary of The Festival of Britain take place on the site in 2011, featuring a multi-million-pound replica of the Skylon , the acclaimed tower that was the centrepiece of the 1951 show on the South Bank.
The idea of using the festival as a dry run for the Olympics a year later is a great idea, particularly as the focus is no doubt going to be regeneration following a traumatic downturn in the economy. The circumstances may be different but such a Festival is likely to prove just as useful in 2011 as it did in 1951.
And of course, the shopping centre will be opening at the same time as the Festival brings in significant numbers of potential shoppers.
Apparently, the mayor is as much behind the idea as any one else, evidence again that Johnson is making the Olympics and the regeneration of east London his priority.