AS work continued yesterday to tear "Brighton's ugliest building" to the ground, the unkempt interior of the site has been revealed.

As the exterior walls were ripped away, the rooms inside Anston House in Preston Road were revealed, with many covered with graffiti tags and spray-painted scrawls.

What appeared to be a tree could also be seen growing from the top of the building.

The site, owned by First Base and Hyde Housing Group, is set to be flattened and then redeveloped into 229 new homes across three tower blocks. This "build to rent" scheme was granted planning permission last year.

Of the 229 flats, 30 one-bedroom and two-bedroom properties will be classed as affordable, and there will also be a communal work space on the ground floor.

Brighton architects Conran and Partners, who have laid out designs for the planned blocks of flats, said the development will "provide much-needed new, contemporary homes and work space within the city".

And William Shaw, a Brighton resident who lives nearby, said he and, he suspected, many other people in the city would be "really happy to see the back of Anston House".