Business news: Christopher Turner is leaving British design and architecture magazine Icon to join the organisation behind London's annual design festival.

Turner will begin his new role as deputy director of the London Design Festival on 9 March, with the remit to expand the festival's "thought-leadership activity and other new directions".

He will work alongside director Ben Evans, and replace Max Fraser who will continue to work as a consultant on the festival's editorial content – including writing its official guide.

Turner relaunched the monthly architecture and design magazine Icon in 2010, and was also responsible for the launch of the Icon Awards programme.

"After an enjoyable four years as editor of ICON, and having produced 52 issues of the magazine, I felt it was time to move on and let a new editor make their mark," Turner told Dezeen. "That new appointment is yet to be made."

"I'd like to help the Festival go to the next level, raising its international profile, both here in London and elsewhere in the world," he said.

"Compared to the corporate chaos of Milan, London is a very tightly organised Festival. The umbrella organisation gives it coherence and structure, making it easy for visitors to navigate and discover new things."

Founded in 2003 with the intention of creating an event that would promote the city's creativity, the London Design Festival is now in its 13th year and has expanded to include almost 400 events spread over nine days.

In 2012 it also introduced the Global Design Forum – a conference consisting of a series of talks and debates led by leading designers. Participants have included Ross Lovegrove, Peter Saville and Tom Dixon.

"The Festival reflects the international and diverse nature of London's design scene, and is not just about the industry and selling products, but public facing and about the exploration of ideas," said Turner.

"The Festival also has a fantastic relationship with the V&A, who have the confidence to let a third party make dramatic interventions in its collection. This has resulted in a range of hugely ambitious installations that you really don't see at any other design festivals."