ART students have been flying the flag for northern architecture as part of a vocational project.

The group of 28 students from Northallerton College, who are all studying for an Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education (AVCE) in art, have each designed a banner celebrating some of the area's most outstanding buildings.

They visited Newcastle to study the buildings on the Quayside, ranging from a 19th Century former soup kitchen to the Baltic Centre, the Millennium Bridge and the Sage music centre.

The group looked at the work of Walter Brierley, who designed parts of the former Northallerton Grammar School nearly 100 years ago and of Michael Severs Associates, which designed the college's maths block.

Michael Severs has sponsored the project and was at the college to pick a winner from the banners, which are about 6ft long and 20in wide.

Head of art Jean Lake said: "The banners, celebrating northern buildings, are all in different styles. Some are black and white, others are brightly coloured. Some depict the buildings literally, others are abstract.

"We asked the students to design a banner to decorate a special occasion - in this case, a fictional awards ceremony for Young Architect of the Year.

"The whole project gave the students the chance to work on a bigger scale and made them more aware of architecture as a whole."