Frank Gehry – regarded as one of the world’s most innovative architects – will co-design part of the £8bn project to redevelop Battersea Power Station as a mixed-use leisure project.

The Canadian American will jointly create a new shopping street and surrounding homes at the iconic site on the bank of the River Thames with architect Lord Foster.

The project in Nine Elms in London was granted outline planning consent in 2011 and is being undertaken in three phases, with the third phase comprising of two residential zones as well as a hotel, shops and restaurants.

The masterplan covers a full mixed-use redevelopment including new homes, offices, shops, restaurants and hotels as well as community, cultural and leisure facilities and have been agreed by English Heritage and Design Council CABE.

One side is being designed by Foster+Partners, while the other will be designed by Gehry and his team which is based in Santa Monica, California, US.

The 39-acre site was purchased in 2012 by a Malaysian consortium. It had been feared that the iconic chimney’s of Battersea Power Station would be lost but developers confirmed that they would be retained.