WAYNE Hemingway could hardly contain his excitement. And who would begrudge him?

Within minutes of the first shots of his Boscombe beach pods being broadcast on TV, the phones at agents Savills had gone “absolutely mental”.

“It looks like it’s got off to one hell of a flyer,” he beamed as he formally opened the project.

Anyone who doubted the wisdom of asking this bespectacled icon of modern design and his equally talented wife, Gerardine, to rebrand the unloved 1950s pile that was Boscombe Overstrand will have to eat their words.

Hemingway, who grew up in Morecambe, blazed a fashion trail throughout the 1980s with his company Red or Dead, before going back to his first love – urban regeneration through design.

He and Gerardine were brought in to inject innovation and “wow” factor to the Overstrand building and they have – in spades.

There are 36 double and single spaces bursting with colour, fun and the best of modern British design, all housed in a 1950s building that was dying of neglect.

Equipped with kitchens for which Formica produced a new “fish” pattern, rubber safety floors and deckchairs and windbreaks featuring more Hemingway design magic, the pods are sensational.

Hemingway had lavish praise for instigators Bournemouth Borough Council.

“I think the biggest round of applause should go to Bournemouth council,” he said, praising the authority for “sticking to this and doing something that lifts the seaside out of its torpor”.

Wayne’s enthusiasm extends to the Surf Reef, the Urban Reef restaurant and the regeneration of Boscombe Pier.

He believes the initiative is “probably the best regeneration scheme that’s going on in Britain” and is convinced it will win awards “because it’s so sympathetic”.

It’s certainly more impressive than a certain other resort that tried to rebrand itself this week...

“A couple of weeks ago I was in Blackpool and I left the place absolutely depressed,” he says.