A designer has won an award for his vision of how to redesign a derelict pier.

Alex Honey was so inspired by Brighton's decaying West Pier he decided to create an image for it as part of his final year college project.

Taking the theme "elements", he used the sea, pebbles and the sky as inspiration to draw up a new look for the Grade I listed pier.

Alex, 22, a former student at Varndean Sixth Form College, Brighton, said: "I originally looked at rebranding the arches on Brighton seafront which have become businesses.

"They were separate entities and there was nothing to bring them together as one commercial unit but the beauty of the West Pier was something which had inspired me when I came to Brighton from my family home at Balcombe, near Haywards Heath.

"The starlings swooping down to roost on the pier at sunset is an image anyone who knows Brighton will never forget so I decided to design a new look and image for the pier instead."

Alex, a student at Surrey Institute of Art and Design, spent weeks in Brighton in May researching the pier's history and studying its plans. He also went on tours of the pier and spoke to staff.

He said: "The first building on the pier is the pavilion which I saw as an art gallery where local artists could display their work.

"The theatre would be rebuilt and used as a performing arts space by local performers and as a theatre for professional shows.

"Above that would be a cafe where people could meet. It would sell hampers which they could fill with food of their choice to either eat on the pier or take away."

The project won Alex the Young Designer Award for the most effective paper-based communication at the Paper and Print Focus Spotlight Awards 2001.

He was presented with the award by TV weathergirl Sian Lloyd at a dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

He said: "She was very nice, easy to talk to and was very interested in the project."

Alex hopes to start a career in advertising.