A SWITCHED on Greenock man has scooped a major award for a striking seafront project.

Joseph Stewart transformed an area of Hastings - a town on England’s southeast coast - into a major public attraction using colourful multi-coloured LED lighting.

The 55-year-old, who is a lighting development manager, was given the 'Outdoor Lighting Project of the Year' award at Lux Live - a prestigious annual industry event.

He told the Tele: "It's like winning my World Cup final."

The project focused on Bottle Alley - a 500 metre lower deck promenade situated alongside the Hastings' pier.

Built in the 1930s, Bottle Alley was named as such due to the countless pieces of multiple coloured glass bottles embedded in the concrete panels along the entire length of the walkway.

In recent years, the alley had become a poorly-lit and unsafe area attracting anti-social behaviour.

Hastings Borough Council wanted to start a project to improve the surroundings for residents and tourists and contacted Joseph and his team

He helped keep the project rolling through various challenges around funding and technical complexities.

Joseph, added: "A lot of people had tried to come up with ways to improve this area but nobody was successful.

"It took me a while to get it together but I had a vision of how I wanted it to look."

Joseph, a former pupil of Notre Dame High School, said he has always had a passion for lighting.

He said: "After school, I worked at Andrew Halliday's, which was quite a big company in Greenock at the time, and I also worked in IBM.

"I moved to London in 1986 because there was a recession and times were tough.

"I went to Southbank University to study for a degree in electrical and electronic engineering."

After completing his studies, Joseph worked for a Lutron, an American electronics company.

He eventually moved from London to Kent, and is now the lighting development manager at Laser Energy, a job which takes him across the country

Joseph, who is married to Helen and has two sons Fintan, 23, and Callum, 21.

Joseph still enjoys coming back to his hometown to visit his family and friends - and has a few bright ideas of how iconic landmarks in Inverclyde could be lit up.

He added: "I would love to light up Greenock Town Hall and the Victoria Tower.

"I think I could have it looking fantastic."