Westfield London is now the largest shopping centre in Europe with the opening of a £600 million extension.

The 740,000 sq ft expansion of White City, west London, will increase the overall size of the centre to 2.6 million sq ft to overtake Aviapark in Moscow and the Westgate shopping city in Zagreb, Croatia.

The new extension is launching six months ahead of schedule and will open in phases.

The key feature is a new state-of-the-art John Lewis department store over four levels and 230,000 sq ft, while retailers including H&M, The White Company, Ugg and Cath Kidston will be launching bigger outlets within the new space.

Westfield Square, a new public events space surrounded with shops, dining and leisure outlets, will open in the summer.

The expansion will create 8,000 new jobs taking the total number at the centre to 20,000.

Peter Miller, chief operating officer of Westfield Europe, said: “The further investment ahead of the centre’s 10th anniversary year is testimony to the strength of Westfield London, which experiences high retail demand for space from luxury and high street brands looking to house their flagship stores, along with first to market dining and leisure concepts.”

Stephen Cowan, leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, said: “We’re particularly pleased to have Westfield London working with us to build economic growth that works for all our residents.

“In this latest phase, we have negotiated new social housing, new jobs and new infrastructure that will benefit our residents.

“Our borough is fortunate to have all that Westfield brings and this latest development is a really exciting addition to our borough.”