Apple has announced it will create a new London headquarters inside Battersea Power Station, taking over six floors of the former industrial building on the bank of the River Thames.

The tech giant plans to move 1,400 staff into the iconic 1930s power station by 2021. The building is currently undergoing redevelopment as part of a wider project to create 3,400 homes, a shopping centre, hotels, offices and an arts space in the vicinity.

Apple will rent over 46,000 square metres of newly created office space across six storeys of the power station's former boiler house, which is being overhauled by British firm Wilkinson Eyre.

"We are delighted that Apple has chosen to make Battersea Power Station its home in 2021," said Rob Tincknell, chief executive of the Battersea Power Station Development Company.

"It is testament to our fantastic building and the wider regeneration of the 42-acre site," he added. "It has always been our clear objective to create one of London’s most thriving new communities and this commitment from Apple will undoubtedly help us achieve our goal."

Apple's move to Battersea will bring together staff currently spread across several London offices.

The company will occupy 40 per cent of the office space in the whole development, becoming the power station's biggest tenant and the largest employer in the borough of Wandsworth.

"I am delighted that Apple is moving into Battersea Power Station‎, helping to generate new jobs and economic prosperity for Londoners," said London mayor Sadiq Khan.

"It is a further sign that London is open to the biggest brands in the world and the leading city for trade and investment."

A consortium of Malaysian investors, comprising developers SP Setia and Sime Darby plus the Employees Provident Fund pension fund, bought the site for £400 million in 2012.

The Giles Gilbert Scott-designed Battersea Power Station had been out of use since 1983 and the deal ended almost 30 years of speculation over the future of the site.

Rafael Viñoly's 17-hectare masterplan for area will feature housing by British firms Ian Simpson Architects and dRMM, as well as a public square deigned by Bjarke Ingels – the Danish architect's first project in the UK.

The £8 billion redevelopment will also see the addition of housing, shops, restaurants, a library, a hotel and a leisure centre by Frank Gehry and Norman Foster.

This will be Apple's first major campus in London. The tech company is also putting its finishing touches to a ring-shaped headquarters designed by Foster + Partners in California.