Architecture Update: Brighton face-lift

UNCOMFORTABLE with its image as the Blackpool of the South, Brighton is considering proposals to improve its three miles of seafront. These include American-style crazy golf - 'contoured and elevated fairways in a themed and heavily landscaped setting' - a combined 'water park and ice rink', a 'heritage museum' and a huge glazed tea-room linked to one of the seafront hotels. There are also suggestions that part of the A259 which runs along the seafront should go underground. The local Civic Society remains sceptical about the proposals drawn up by Conran Roche and KPMG Peat Marwick, because of the need to attract private-sector investment. As the society points out, the Grade I-listed West Pier has been searching for an investor to restore it for the last decade with little success. The proposals are on show at Brighton Town Hall.