Finnish architects OOPEAA have won a competition to design and create floating sea pools for public use in coastal cities and towns around the world, with the first to be rolled out in Oulu in the north of Finland. Following a pilot project in Helsinki in 2016, city development and investment group Töölö Urban ran the competition in April 2018 to commission a firm to design the Allas Sea Pools.

Avani Hotels & Resorts is continuing its expansion in Australia with the development of Avani Central Melbourne Residences, its second property in Australia. Due to open this year, the 456-bedroom, 55-storey hotel will draw inspiration from the brands contemporary design and will include an indoor swimming pool with floor-to-ceiling windows as well as two outdoor spas. The hotel also will include a sauna, steamroom and a dedicated yoga room. The

Luxury hotel brand Six Senses is planning a series of developments next year – announcing new resort locations in Bali, Fiji, Turkey, Bhutan, Cambodia, Israel and India. It will be a busy year for the hotel, with a further two spas set to be opened in the Middle East in the first half of 2018. Set to open in March 2018, Six Senses Uluwatu, Bali, will be set atop a

Global spa management company Resense is developing several new spas for hotel brand Kempinski in Asia, including locations in Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and South Korea. The Spa & Wellness Membership Club at Kempinski Hotel & Residences in Busan, South Korea, will include a 4,000sq m (43,056sq ft) health and wellness facility designed by HBA Singapore and spread over two floors. Designed as a ‘best in class’ private club, the facility

A new 900sq m (9,688sq ft) Eagles Spa by Elemis is set to open near the birthplace of Aristotle, in time to celebrate the great philosopher’s 2,400th birthday. Located in Halkidiki, Greece, the spa is part of a larger expansion of the five-star Eagles Palace resort, which also includes the addition of Eagles Villas. The 42 villas, designed by architects 3sk Stylianidis, are nestled into a green hilltop and feature

Mia Kyricos, founder of strategic advisory firm Kyricos & Associates, told an audience at the World Spa & Wellness Convention in London that wellness communities grew by 19 per cent from 2013 to 2015, and are worth an estimated US$29bn (€27.5bn, £23.6bn) in Europe and US$48bn (€45.6bn, £39.1bn) in North America. Kyricos moderated a panel on wellness communities that also included Steve Nygren, president of Serenbe wellness community near Atlanta,

Over the last twelve months, some stunning spas and wellness facilities have been unveiled around the world. Here are some of the projects – including both independent spas and those integrated into larger resorts – that have particularly caught CLAD's eye in 2016. No such list can ever be truly comprehensive of course, especially when the design standard is increasingly so high, so please let us know your own favourite contenders

International spa and wellness consultancy Blu Spas is working on a project to develop a resort in Paradise Valley in Montana, close to Yellowstone National Park. The site is being developed at the Yellowstone Hot Springs, near the national park’s northern access, and is in the same location where the LaDuke Hot Springs and Corwin Hot Springs were popular resort and bathing destinations more than a century ago. Designers, engineers

The ‘Creating Atmospheres’ pavilion at the upcoming pool, spa and sauna trade fair Interbad, set to take place 27 - 30 September in Stuttgart, Germany, aims to show how to create the ‘right’ environment for all the senses. The pavilion will include architecture, green areas, lighting and acoustics, and is developed in co-operation with the Association of German Interior Designers (BDIA), the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects and the interior design

Six Senses is opening a resort on Fiji’s Malolo Island in 2017 with a planned Six Senses Spa as well as the Six Senses Integrated Wellness programme. Designed by New Zealand-based architect Richard Priest, Six Senses Fiji will include 24 pool villas and 66 residential villas located along a private sandy beach. Sustainability will be reflected throughout the resort, through active management of energy, water, waste, biodiversity, purchasing and chemical

The brand new International helo Sauna & Spa Academy is offering two-day training sessions for architects and project planners on how to design spas according to the latest trends and efficiency targets. The German thermal spa zone supplier helo created the academy – located in Knüllwald-Wallenstein, Germany – which will teach architects and project planners about the design possibilities for spas – using helo’s range of saunas, heaters, control equipment

One of the largest spas in the Four Seasons portfolio is set to open in early 2015 at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay in the centre of the Kingdom’s capital city, Manama. Scheduled to launch on 1 March 2015, the 273-bedroom hotel – designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – rises 68 stories above the Bahrain Bay on its own 12-acre oval-shaped man-made island. Restaurants, meeting spaces, terraces, gardens

The secrets to success for destination spas have been outlined by hospitality consulting firm Horwath HTL in a report which provides an overview of the growing market. Horwath HTL Health and Wellness consulted experts specialising in the design, operations and management of health and wellness-based projects. Unlike traditional resorts, destination spas possess greater internal appeal – including services, specialists, F&B and activities – which makes them more flexible than resorts