Brighton: Derelict West Pier will last generations

A drone with a high-definition camera attached has captured the structure in never-before-seen detail and researchers say the results show it will last for generations.

The project started over a year ago when the West Pier Trust set out to find out exactly what state the 1866 pier was in. It waited for the perfect wind and tidal conditions to inspect the structure from top to bottom.

A screengrab from the film showing a concrete walkway on the exterior of the theatre (Image: Sam Moore / West Pier Trust)

And on the morning of May 20, honorary historian at the West Pier Trust Fred Gray went with cinematographer Sam Moore to view the pier like never before.

Fred said: "It was eye-opening and a revelation to see the pier in such detail, from the cast iron foundations upwards.

"Some of the 1866 pier is still there, solid, and doing the job it was designed to do.

"It is almost 50 years since the pier closed and since this it has gone from a fully formed but empty pier to this ruin."

Fred has been studying the West Pier since he moved to Brighton in 1970 (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Footage shows orginal staircases which used to take people from the deck of the pier to paddle steamers and extremely detailed cast iron railings which are not visible from the shoreline.

The West Pier was designed by prolific pier architect Eugenius Birch who used an innovative method of screwing the foundations into the sea bed rather than pile driving them.

Fred said: "It shows the confidence of Victorian engineers when building structures in the sea where it would be battered endlessly by the weather."

The decision to use the drone was made because much of the pier is dangerous to get near because of exposed metalwork and fluctuating tides.

Fred said: "The West Pier will never be rebuilt. We cannot restore it. The ruin is going to change over time. But part of the joy of looking at the West Pier over any period of time is that it is constantly changing.

"It gets people to think about the past, present and future."

Fiona Macbeth standing among the supports for the walkway out to the pier (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Hopes are high for the future of the structure. Fiona Macbeth, who produced the film with the West Pier Trust, said: "The pier is in a much better shape than we hoped and will last much longer than we expected.

"Parts will still fall off from time to time but the overall structure is still standing solid. Eugenius Birch was such a genius and a master of his game.

"This structure has an amazing emotional pull for people here. Seeing the resilience of this in the sea is inspiring for people, and long may it continue do this.

Fiona, who is 66, said: "It will certainly outlive me."

The West Pier Trust (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

The footage also answered questions about parts of the pier which survived two fires in 2003. On the right hand side, concrete from the original theatre has been identified as it slowly slips off the pier and into the sea.

Fiona said: "It is a really big plus for the wildlife on there such as the cormorants which nest on it. There is a heck of a lot happening out there."