ARCHITECT John Poulson's name was synonymous with corruption in the North-East. Now, his only notable building is to follow his reputation as bulldozers poise to raze it to the ground.

A last-minute campaign has failed to get an emergency listing for the Leeds International Swimming Pool, which is falling apart and needs £12m in repairs.

The "brutalist modernist" building was doomed from the outset in 1967, when hopes of making it an Olympic venue were dashed by Poulson's failure to design wide enough lanes.

Five years later, Poulson was jailed after the exposure of his hidden empire based on bribing civil servants and politicians to win orders for tower blocks and offices which blighted the heart of northern towns.

Twenty people were prosecuted alongside the architect, many of them from the North-East. Poulson died in 1993.