Google Maps show how Brighton has changed in 10 years

While some will say the city is losing its charm as it gets bigger, hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on improvements over the past decade.

They include the new Lewes Road development, the building of the i360 and the redevelopment of the hospital in Eastern Road.  

We've taken a trip down memory lane using pictures from Google Street view taken in 2008 and 2019.

Take a scroll through our gallery below to see Brighton as you remember it.

Falmer, 2008

Twelve years ago The Argus visited a building site just north of Brighton.

Lines of excavators and heavy machinery sat on a large, flat sandy surface next to a series of temporary mobiles, overlooking the lush green of the South Downs.

Few could have predicted that within a decade this empty lot would play host to top flight football, multi-millions pound signings and one of the most successful periods in Albion’s 118 year history.

This is because this wasteland-esque lot would later become the Amex Stadium.

Falmer, 2019

The 30,000-seater stadium was a significant step up from Albion’s former home – the 8,850 capacity Withdean Stadium – and has allowed the club to grow from strength to strength.

It opened in 2011 and perhaps the most inarguable evidence of this growth came in 2017 when the club was promoted to the Premier League.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road, 2008

The Royal Sussex County Hospital is undergoing a £485 million programme to replace all the buildings on the front of the main hospital site. 

Here the hospital is pictured before any work had started. 

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road, 2019

In all, the 3Ts Redevelopment will improve the care environment for the patients and staff of more than forty wards and departments.

The redevelopment will improve the front half of the hospital beyond recognition.

>> SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about your new £485 million hospital

Here we can see building work underway.

Lewes Road, 2008

Preston Barracks in Lewes Road is being transformed.

It is one of three sites being regenerated in a partnership between U+I Group Plc, the University of Brighton and Brighton & Hove City Council.

Lewes Road, 2019

The three sites on Lewes Road are Preston Barracks, the existing Watt’s car park and Mithras car park on the University of Brighton’s Moulsecoomb campus.

This mixed-use project will provide:

• 369 new homes
• 1,338 purpose built student bedrooms in managed buildings
• A new Academic building
• New student union facilities
• Entrepreneurial Hub for start-up businesses and entrepreneurs
• New shops, cafes and workshops
• New sport and recreation facilities for the University and public use including a gym and 1km running and fitness route
• Open areas to provide spaces for people to meet and socialise
• A new pedestrian bridge across the busy Lewes Road
• Car parking and improved transport infrastructure to support the development and improve the flow of traffic in a busy road network

>> SEE ALSO: Huge transformation by University of Brighton on Lewes Road

Black Rock, 2008

Black Rock in Brighton has been abandoned since its popular swimming pool closed 40 years ago.

The site, near Brighton Marina, remains derelict despite a recent flood of renovation plans.

Black Rock, 2019

This picture shows not much has changed at Black Rock in 10 years.

Readers may notice the new flats in Brighton Marina. 

>> SEE MORE: Black Rock plan for Brighton seafront approved

The original plans for 853 flats and retail, commercial and community spaces, which included 11 buildings ranging from six to 40 storeys high, were granted planning permission in 2006.

The first phase of almost 200 flats and seven restaurants was completed in 2016.

Royal Pavilion, 2008

Several large-scale developments have changed the city's skyline dramatically, while other areas look very similar.

The Royal Pavilion, which has been in Brighton since 1787, has not changed in 10 years.

Royal Pavilion, 2019

King's Road, 2008

King's Road, 2019

We can see here Oceana has changed to Pryzm.

And restoration work taking place on Shelter Hall. 

The job on Brighton seafront originally began in October 2015 and was due to be completed by the end of last year.

>> SEE ALSO: Plans for multi-million pound seafront renovation project submitted

But it was delayed due to “small design issues”.

i360, 2008

Two years before this picture was taken, planning permission was granted to build the i360, an observation tower designed by Marks Barfield Architects, the creators of the London Eye.

i360, 2019

The Brighton i360 has been a prominent feature of the seafront since it opened in 2016.

Construction on the building started in June the previous year and saw more than 2,500 tonnes of concrete poured onto the ground to serve as the foundation for the viewing tower.

Work was completed on August 4, 2016, and was funded funded in part by a £36.4 million loan from the Government-owned Public Works Loans Board.

The board loaned the money to Brighton and Hove City Council, which i360 Ltd now has to repay every June and December over the next 25 years.

Managed by British Airways, the attraction has been met with a mixed reception.

It welcomed more than 500,000 visitors in it first financial year, but forecasts predicted 800,000 people would make the journey up and down the distinctive building in this time.

British Airways has increased its spending on marketing to improve the i360's performance.

King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove, 2009

The King Alfred Leisure Centre has also seen a lack of progress, despite a flurry of multi-million pound development plans over the years.

An Argus article from June 2010 detailed how the redevelopment of the site had been "ditched for up to 15 years after the council revealed privatisation plans".

Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, who designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, produced a £290 million design for the building but plans fell through.

King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove, 2019

More recently, £400 million proposals for the city council-owned land on Hove seafront were abandoned.

The Starr Trust, based in Brighton, was awarded the procurement with co-developer Crest Nicholson in January 2016.

But Crest pulled out in August amid concerns about Brexit.

Valley Gardens, 2009

Valley Gardens, 2020

Valley Gardens is almost unrecognisable now.

The city centre space is currently mid-way through a multi-million pound scheme, the Valley Gardens project.

Standout features will include the Aquarium roundabout being replaced with a signalled junction.

Meanwhile a two-way cycle lane will be built between Marlborough Place and the seafront.

The council says the scheme aims to "improve road safety, air quality, and flood risk management, improve access to public transport services and ease of movement throughout the area, improve access to the seafront, enhance and improve the area’s public spaces, provide safer walking and cycling links throughout the area and provide up-to-date traffic signals equipment and renew existing, poor condition, highway infrastructure".