A YORK-born architect is part of an international campaign to help sell Glasgow, his adopted city.

His face greets tourists arriving at Central Station, is on the side of the double-decker buses and in glass panels at bus stops, as well as on banners fluttering in George Square, Glasgow's civic heartland.

Peter Richardson, aged 41, an old boy of Archbishop Holgate's School, York, is one of a group of people chosen as ambassadors whose images both in Scotland and abroad aim to market Glasgow worldwide.

Glasgow, already heralded in America as "Manhattan with a Scottish accent", has based its campaign on the legacy of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whose influence as an architect and furniture maker made him and the city an icon in the design community.

Peter, whose parents live in Hull Road, now runs his own practice, Zoo Architects, in Glasgow. He is being promoted as Glaswegian for the campaign but feels as someone who moved there to work and bring up a family he can identify with the vibrancy and innovation that has set it apart since Glasgow was named UK City of Architecture and Design in 1999.

The campaign has been branded "Glasgow: Scotland with Style" and the sponsors insist it is not simply a slogan.

"We had to answer the question: What does Glasgow have that no other city in the world could claim? Our response was Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow style. We are paying homage to him and his impact on European Art Nouveau, they say."

The initiative has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Glasgow City Council and the Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board.

"It's a weird feeling standing in a queue for a bus alongside a larger-than-life picture of yourself, or finding that the next one to arrive has your face on the side. As far as our children are concerned, their dad is famous," said Peter.

Peter's firm was voted one of Scotland's best young practices in 1998 and four years ago was named Scotland's innovative architect of the year after a £3.6 million makeover of Tramway, as an international arts centre in what was once the hub of Glasgow's horse-drawn transport system.

Updated: 09:04 Tuesday, July 27, 2004