Hollywood actor Brad Pitt could touch down in Brighton and Hove in August to visit the site of a controversial architectural project.

The 41-year-old star of blockbusters such as Troy and Fight Club is helping award-winning architect Frank Gehry with his designs for a £250 million seafront development in Hove.

Pitt, who has a keen interest in architecture, may visit in August when the planning application is submitted or later in the year when the architectural team makes a presentation to Brighton and Hove City Council.

Josh Arghiros is chairman and chief executive of development company Karis, responsible for bringing Mr Gehry in to design the development.

He said: "Brad could well be coming over. He's more likely to come after August when we're ready to make a presentation to the council planning committee."

Mr Arghiros said he did not know whether Pitt would be attending the presentation.

Pitt is designing a penthouse flat and a restaurant in the project, originally dubbed Tin Can Towers by residents objecting to the plans.

The first designs for 750 flats and a £26 million sports centre at the King Alfred swimming pool site featured four 120 metre-high skyscrapers inspired by crumpled Victorian dresses.

Conservation groups said they would be out of place and the scheme has since been redesigned with two towers.

Pitt, who first met Mr Gehry in 2001, is tipped to buy one of the luxury apartments he is helping design.

Mr Arghiros said: "He was there at inception and will be involved all the way. Brad is looking for a place in Britain and it may well be that he'll take one of the flats in Brighton.

"I understand from Frank that Brad's design aspirations coincide with Frank's aspirations for the project."

Mr Gehry, 76, whose most famous designs include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, described his plans for the project last Friday to a Hove audience of more than 100 council officers and sports club representatives.

Pitt, the ex-husband of Friends star Jennifer Aniston, spoke in an interview last year of his love for architecture and respect for Gehry.

He told Vanity Fair magazine: "I've got few men I respect very much and one would be Frank Gehry. He said to me: If you know where it's going, it's not worth doing'. That's become like a mantra for me."