The architect behind the infamous "walkie talkie" tower has been named the new masterplanner for Battersea Power Station.

Site owner Real Estate Opportunities (REO) yesterday unveiled Uruguayan-American Rafael Vinoly as the new designer, after beating off competition from other renowned names, such as Lord Norman Foster.

His brief will include designing a completely new master plan for the site, effectively taking development there back to square one. The previous master plan took three years to create and was followed by a decade of inaction.

The Battersea Power Station Community Group fears the news will delay matters and allow the iconic building to decay even further.

Spokesman Keith Garner said: "They've got all the permissions to do the repairs. They don't need a master plan to start fixing the roof. The danger is that REO is just becoming another Parkview (the previous owner)."

The old master plan envisged a mix of leisure, homes, cinemas and an exclusive one table restaurant in one of the chimneys.

It would also have seen the power station building encircled with office blocks and hotels that would have been a similar height to the main building.

However, with the sale of the building and site, that has now all been scrapped, disappointing hundreds of people living nearby who had hoped action at the site had moved a significant step closer.

REO, which bought the 38-acre site last December said that the previous plan "did not fully respond to contemporary market conditions".

Based in London and New York, Mr Vinoly's firm has completed dozens of high profile projects around the world over the past 40 years.

Rob Davies, of REO's majority shareholder Treasury Holdings, said it would still be used as a mixed-use development. But he added: "Our belief is that the site needs, and is capable of, increased density that is tied into its locality and is supported by significant improvements to the transport infrastructure."

Mr Vinoly said: "Bringing back to a new life this spectacular building the power station is one of the most exciting prospects for the future of London. The potential of revitalizing this area of town in a sensible and well balanced manner is perhaps the most exciting job we have ever hoped to be involved in."

Mr Vinoly has grabbed the headlines in recent years for narrowly failing to be awarded the contract to design the new World Trade Centre.

His 20 Fenchurch Street project in London, dubbed the "walkie talkie" tower, has also courted controversy. Labelled "ugly" and a "child's concept" by a former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the proposed tower is currently the subject of a public inquiry.

Mr Garner added: "What's the point of a master plan that will take another two years, when they just need to get the power station back into shape?"

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