Hotel owner-operator MCR Hotels is inviting the public to provide feedback on development plans for London’s iconic BT Tower as a luxury hotel and mixed use project. Public access to the tower – for the first time in 50 years – will also be part of the scheme. In February 2024, British telecommunications company BT Group sold the BT Tower for £275 million (US$347 million, €321.3 million) to MCR Hotels.

As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work). Running at London’s Cristea Roberts Gallery from 5 June to 11 July 2026, Yinka Ilori: Joy Through Resistance, He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best, spans new

A wellness club opens on London’s River Thames in June, offering luxury facilities and personalised wellness protocols focused on recovery and longevity. Sæl Spa at Fulham Pier – London’s new lifestyle destination on the River Thames – will be set across four floors and has been conceived as a “modern British sanctuary.” Facilities include a 15-metre heated rooftop infinity pool and sun terrace and a movement studio with integrated infrared

Royal Caribbean has revealed its Hero of the Seas cruise ship, home to the most pools at sea (nine), and a record-breaking 28 dining venues, as well as attractions including a waterpark with two new family raft slides. Other attractions include the Crown's Edge skywalk/zip line experience, the FlowRider surf simulator, the Adrenaline Peak rock-climbing wall, and the Lost Dunes mini-golf course. Arriving in Miami in August 2027, Hero of

A new floating wellbeing destination with a public park, residential and wellness facility is planned for a 12-hectare stretch of water within London’s Royal Docks, in the UK. The development is part of a wider regeneration of the Royal Docks to create a diverse waterfront, backed by £5 billion (US$6.35 billion, €5.85 billion) of investment over the next 20 years. The aim is to make the area a mixed-use development

Work has started on the £68.7 million refurbishment of the historic Kings Hall Leisure Centre in Hackney, with a planned reopening in early 2029. FaulknerBrowns Architects have drawn up the designs, which will preserve the features of the Grade II listed building, retaining important parts of the building’s heritage. New structures will be matched with the existing brickwork.   The swimming pool will be refurbished and a new large pool and

A social third space called Lore Bathing Club has opened in New York City’s NoHo neighbourhood, offering a contrast bathing membership model. The business has been set up by two co-founders: entrepreneur James O’Reilly, who is a co-founder of the co-working membership club NeueHouse, a company that has now been bought by Convene Hospitality Group after filing for bankruptcy late last year.  Lore’s second co-founder is hospitality concept creator and

A major new cultural facility has opened in Taichung, Taiwan, bringing together a metropolitan art museum and library in a bid to “bring together art, knowledge and nature.” Known as the Taichung Green Museumbrary, the facility has been designed by the Pritzker prize-winning Japanese architecture practice SANAA. The building – which is SANAA’s largest project to date – is home to the new Taichung Art Museum and the Taichung Public

BodyHoliday has confirmed it is expanding the brand and developing its first European property in Portugal’s Eastern Algarve, which is set to open in 2029. BodyHoliday Algarve will be a sister destination to the operator’s flagship 155-key resort in St Lucia. This property marks the first step in a programme to create a collection of BodyHoliday resorts. A new executive team has been chosen to lead the brand’s expansion. Since

A €285 million (US$316 million, £242 million) next-generation luxury yachting destination, Marina Resort Cavtat, is being developed on the Dubrovnik Riviera with wellness and regenerative programming by Under a Tree Consulting. The property, which is scheduled to open in 2029, will have a 151-berth marina, two five-star hotels, luxury villas, branded apartments, a wellness retreat, a performance hub, yacht club and a retail/dining village called Lungomare. The location was chosen

International wellness brand The Well and Miami-based real estate developer Terra have secured a US$238 million (€218.4 million, £183.5 million) refinancing loan to complete the new mixed-use luxury wellness development The Well Bay Harbor Islands in Miami, US. The loan provides the project with a long-term financing solution. The funds come from Eldridge Real Estate Credit, the real estate investing strategy division of Eldridge Capital Management, and global investment management

Sonu and Eva Shivdasani, who are known for establishing ultra-luxury sustainable hospitality brands Soneva and Six Senses, are launching a new luxury hotel brand called Sosei, which means “rebirth” in Japanese. Earlier this year KSL Capital Partners increased its stake in Soneva to become the majority owner of the brand, following an initial investment in the brand in 2019 that amounted to a stake that was reportedly worth 35-40 per

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) says wellness is becoming a mainstream priority for real estate developers and prospective residents are factoring wellbeing features into their decision-making. The GWI’s new report, Build Well to Live Well: Case Studies, Volume 1, outlines thirteen case studies across the US and the UK that demonstrate the wide range of real estate projects with wellness at their core. The authors hope the different models will

The opening date for Disneyland Paris’ new World of Frozen land has been announced, along with more details about the Frozen-themed land. The new land will be part of Disneyland Paris’ Walt Disney Studios Park, which is undergoing a major redevelopment to become Disney Adventure World. It is set to open in spring 2026, and will feature the Frozen Ever After boat ride, Immersive dining and shopping experiences, and views of Arendelle

Travel and wellness publication Destination Deluxe will host its seventh annual networking event between 16-17 September, celebrating some of the best wellness companies at the Destination Deluxe Awards ceremony on the final evening. The event will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok in Thailand and the programme will include panel discussions, wellness activities and networking break-out sessions. Panel discussions will vary and will be moderated by Melinda Yon,

Work is underway in the London Borough of Ealing on a landmark leisure centre to replace the old Gurnell Leisure Centre, which remained closed after COVID. The modern complex will include London’s third Olympic-sized swimming pool, a waterpark with slides, fitness studios, a climbing wall, a soft play area and a café. Outside will be a new skatepark, BMX track and children’s playground. Green space around the new leisure centre

Privately-owned hospitality company Nobis Hospitality Group will unveil a new Swedish wellness destination property called Hagastrand in Q4 this year, located next to the Brunnesviken lake in Stockholm’s royal park, Haga. When it opens, the property will join Marriott International’s luxury Autograph Collection and be known as Hagastrand, Autograph Collection. It will be the first Autograph Collection property in Scandinavia. A spokesperson for Nobis Hospitality group told Spa Business the

A new bathing experience called Basin Glacial Waters will open at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, on 15 September. Basin Glacial Waters takes its name from its setting: Lake Louise is a natural basin fed by a direct glacial water source, the Victoria Glacier. The 539-key hotel, owned by Oxford properties and a capital partner, is set within more than 6,500sq km of protected pine forest in the

A new recovery brand – Re:set by Pure – will open its first studio in Hong Kong on 1 July. The ‘smart wellness studio’ concept is the brainchild of industry veterans Colin Grant, Rey Bolivar, and Richard Boyd, who already have further studios in development, along with plans to franchise. Backed by Pure Group, which operates health clubs and yoga studios in Asia and the US, the new concept has

Go Fit has invested more than €20 million in its latest development, a 22,000 square metre sports and wellness hub in Tenerife, next to Heliodoro Rodríguez López Stadium. This is the Iberian operator’s second site in the Canary Islands, following a launch in Las Palmas in 2015. Go Fit now has 21 operating sites and will expand into Italy this year. Strategic European cities are being targeted for projects where

Corinthia Grand Hotel Astoria has unveiled its Sisley-branded spa in Brussels, Belgium, following a major refit of the entire property – with ESPA Design consulting on the wellness experience. The property’s newly-opened subterranean spa measures 1,200sq m and has six treatment rooms. It was designed in a collaboration between interior designers GA Group and ESPA to encompass organic details such as marble accents, brass elements and warm oak finishes to

A £14 million redevelopment of the iconic Doncaster Dome, one of the youngest listed buildings in the UK, has begun. Designed by Neil Taylor and the team at FaulknerBrowns to echo the pink and cream banding of the Duomo in Florence, the building received a Grade II listing on the National Heritage List for England in 2023. The Doncaster Dome has been operated by the Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust

The redesigned National Gallery Sainsbury Wing has opened in London Designed by Selldorf Architects in close collaboration with Purcell heritage architects, the £85m transformation of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown's Sainsbury Wing at London's National Gallery aims to make the building more welcoming and accessible, and to improve visitor flow. "We all miss out when anyone thinks that the National Gallery is not for them. Selldorf Architects’ thoughtful interventions

St Regis Cap Cana Resort, the first St Regis-branded spa property in the Dominican Republic, has opened in the heart of the Caribbean as the Marriott brand continues to expand its portfolio. With design by architects Acebal Canney Arquitectos and Asociados and interiors by Chapi Chapo Design, the resort’s palm-lined white beaches have inspired the look of the property’s 200 bedrooms and 36 suites. The dramatic cliffs of the coastline

The Naturhotel Forsthofgut resort has opened a health-focused extension to its existing spa in the forests of Salzburg at the base of the Asitz mountain in Austria. The 109-key hotel and land has been privately owned and managed for more than 400 years by the Schmuck family, whose hospitality philosophy is ‘harmony with nature’. The family has expanded its existing 5,700sq m WaldSpa (translated in English to Forest Spa) by

Rosewood has opened its first property in the Netherlands in the former 17th Century Palace of Justice at the heart of Amsterdam’s UNESCO-listed canal district. This is the last new hotel development which will be permitted within a monumental building in Amsterdam. A stay at the luxury 134-key hotel or one of its five 'houses' gives access to the property’s 560sq m Asaya Spa, which blends Eastern healing, Ayurvedic rituals

A new hot spring resort is due to open in the historic ski and spa town of Kusatsu, Japan, in Q2 of 2026. The forest resort, owned and operated by Hoshino Resorts, will be connected to the town by a private tunnel, exclusively reserved for resort guests. The new, 94-key property will be managed under Hoshino Resorts' hot spring ryokan brand ‘Kai’ and will trade as Kai Kusatsu. Located on