Lord Rogers built the Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff

Lord Rogers, who built the �67m Welsh Assembly building, will design one of five towers to replace the World Trade Center Twin Towers, destroyed in 2001.

The move comes six months after fellow Briton Lord Foster was chosen.

Lord Rogers, whose tower will be 60 storeys high, described it as a rare opportunity to work on a "key site".

He said: "We are particularly delighted that we will be working in the heart of the city.

"This will be a complex and challenging project - but one which will also help to contribute to the revitalisation of New York City and which will help to inspire a new hope for the city's future."

Construction work began at the site last month on a memorial made up of two reflecting pools surrounded by trees and an underground museum.

Work has begun at Ground Zero

The memorial, titled Reflecting Absence, will bear the names of the 2,900 people who died in the attacks and is expected to open in 2009.

It will be flanked by five towers, which are due to be completed by 2012.

The memorial and the underground museum face complaints from some relatives of those who died, who believe them to be unsafe and undignified.

'Very interesting'

Lord Rogers's company, the Richard Rogers Partnership, said their plans would be presented to developers in September.

Mike Davies, of Lord Rogers's firm, said he had already seen Lord Foster's initial diagrams for his tower, describing them as "very interesting indeed".

"We're very open with each other - there's no competition," he added.

Construction work began after city officials and multi-millionaire developer Larry Silverstein, who owns the leasehold, finally reached an agreement over the plans.