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

Go Fit has been brought on board by Club Atlético de Madrid for the €800 million Sport City project which is being designed by architects Cruz y Ortiz. This ambitious project is a partnership between the football club and Madrid City Council to turn the north-eastern area of Madrid into an international benchmark for live entertainment. The extensive leisure and sports complex will be sited on a 115-hectare municipal plot

Work is underway on a £19.7 million waterfront leisure centre in Newport, which will be one of the UK's first net zero leisure centres. Replacing an ageing facility, Newport Leisure Centre is being built to BREEAM standards and will be powered solely by renewable energy. Expected to be completed in the spring, the facilities will include a modern leisure pool, with a lazy river and slides, a teaching pool for

Four Seasons I, the first yacht by the luxury hotel and resort operator, will launch in 2026 with spa and wellness facilities on its fourth deck. The 95-key vessel will be jointly owned and operated by Four Seasons and Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings. Four Seasons Yachts will lead the hospitality and service experience with a 1:1 guest-to-staff ratio. Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings will oversee the nautical operations. Design partners for the vessel

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

Luxury wellness brand BodyHoliday is expanding into Europe with a five-star health and fitness retreat on Portugal’s East Algarve coastline. Set to open in 2027, the €158 million (US$165.9 million, £131.1 million) – at yet unnamed – BodyHoliday Algarve will be located near the unspoiled beaches of Praia da Lota. The 220-key resort will be a sister destination to the operator’s flagship in St Lucia and mark BodyHoliday’s first European outpost.

Resort developer and operator Kerzner International has announced plans to expand its portfolio of luxury hotels and residences with two new fitness-centric wellness destinations in 2025. The first, SIRO Boka Place, will be operated under the group’s fitness-focused hospitality lifestyle brand SIRO which invites guests to live at their fullest potential through a specialised blend of hospitality, fitness and wellness. With a flagship property in Dubai, the brand's philosophy has

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) has released promising new research on the wellness real estate market at its third-annual Wellness Real Estate & Communities Symposium in Manhattan. The GWI defines wellness real estate as homes and buildings that are proactively designed, built and operated to support the holistic health of their residents. Called Wellness Real Estate: Market Growth (2019-2023) and Future Developments, the paper reveals wellness real estate is by

A new urban wellness retreat has opened in downtown Portland, Oregon, at the recently opened luxury hotel The Ritz-Carlton, Portland with architecture and design by GBD Architects and HKS Interior Design and identity and wayfinding by Knot. Situated on the 19th floor of the 35-storey, 251-room hotel, Cloudbreak on Nineteen has been conceived with the help of ROAM Interior Design as a restorative health and wellness haven complete with a

Populous have unveiled their plans for a state-of-the-art e-sports arena, designed to stand as a central landmark in Qiddaya City’s gaming and e-sports district, Saudi Arabia. The 5,155-seat venue will be designed to accommodate multiple experiences that prioritise players and spectators, as well as hosting both national and international esports events. The stadium will include the largest combined total video screen area of any esports arena in the world, with

A network of Sports Illustrated branded resort and lifestyle complexes will launch in the US following a deal between Travel + Leisure Co and Sports Hospitality Ventures (SHV) – the hotel and resorts licensee for the Sports Illustrated brand in North America and the Caribbean. Each Sports Illustrated Resort campus is expected to feature a full-service hotel, a vacation club and residences, as well as a host of branded attractions

As part of the World Congress of Architecture in Copenhagen, Buro Happold will be hosting the one-hour walk and talk event through the city centre of Copenhagen to explore the challenges and solutions for active mobility planning. Buro Happold’s global lead for active mobility, Sidsel Birk Hjuler, will be hosting the side event on why it is so important to create more liveable places by making active mobility an integral

Seneca Polytechnic in Toronto, Canada, has revealed plans for a multi-million-dollar health and wellness complex based on indigenous design, sustainability and inclusion. Described as a "transformative destination", the hub will offer health and wellbeing services, teaching and learning, sports and fitness facilities, recreational spaces and a "spiritual connection" with its surroundings. Designed by integrated practice, Dialog – in partnership with indigenous design firm, Two Row Architect – the new Health

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) and metaverse services provider Infinite Reality have entered into a multi-year agreement that will deliver new immersive and interactive metaverse experiences to sports fans. The scope of what’s on offer – described as “new avenues for sports communities, athletes and brands to interact with each other within unique virtual environments” – can be experienced and previewed for the first time at the UCI Track

A team of architects led by BIG and HOK have won an international competition to design the largest dock of Zurich Airport in Switzerland. Composed predominantly of regional wood, The new Dock A and adjacent buildings seek to strengthen the airport’s continued status as the gateway of Switzerland. Bjarke Ingels, BIG founder and creative director, said: “As airports grow and evolve and as international guidelines and safety requirements change, airports

Global design practice Perkins & Will has unveiled plans for a net-zero operational carbon community sports centre, health club and cultural hub in Toronto, Canada. A first-of-its-kind for Ontario, the multi-purpose centre is set to achieve net-zero status through energy-efficient design and renewable energy systems, while adding much-needed facilities for the local community. Called North East Scarborough Community and Child Care Centre, the building has three levels. The lower level

A fitness club with a boxing studio, dance and performing arts studio and a four-court sports hall are just a few of the facilities included in plans for the new Horizon Youth Zone in Grimsby, UK. The 5,440sq m centre will also include a climbing wall, health and wellbeing room and an outdoor 3G pitch. Planning approval has been given for the redevelopment, which will be located in the town's

A global team of architects has been chosen to design the masterplan for the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic village. The team, called Outcomist, includes Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Arup, Nigel Dunnett Studio, Carlo Ratti Associati, Gross Max, Portland Design, Systematica, Studio Zoppini, Aecom, LAND, Artelia and PLP Architecture. The project – called Parco Romana – will transform the vast Porta Romana railway yard area in Milan, creating a Athletes’ Village

Coventry, the UK City of Culture in 2021, wants to seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create an arts hub to establish the city as an international destination for culture. Coventry City Council (CCC) has revealed multi-million pound plans to transform the IKEA building in the city into a visitor attraction showcasing some of the UK's greatest works of art. The new national Collections Centre would be created through a partnership

Construction work has begun on the huge Shanghai International New Cultural and Creative esports Center. The 500,000sq m venue is estimated to cost around 5.8 billion yuan ($898.2m) and forms part of a larger, US$1.5bn project. Built by Chinese property company SuperGen Group – the parent company of Chinese esports organisation Edward Gaming (EDG) – the venue is located in the city's Minhang District. The 6,000-seat arena is expected to

The UK government has launched a £1bn Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), providing grant funding for energy efficiency measures across the public sector. The funding has been made available for capital sustainability and heat decarbonisation projects within public sector non-domestic buildings, including central government departments and non-departmental public bodies in England. Public sector bodies can apply for a grant to finance up to 100 per cent of the costs of

Madrid city council (Ayuntamiento de Madrid) has set out plans to develop a number of sports facilities in the surrounding areas of the existing Wanda Metropolitano stadium. The "sports city" project, in the eastern San Blas-Canillejas district, is led by the council and is set to transform a site which was originally earmarked for an Olympic park during the city's failed bids for the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Facilities

Andrew Frontini, principal and design director of Perkins and Will in Toronto, and his colleague Paul Kulig, principal for urban design and transit, told CLAD how the Covid-19 pandemic will change how we live and move around cities. There has been a significant trend towards designing health and wellness into the built environment over the last decade, perhaps best illustrated by the launch of the International WELL Building Institute and

A sports centre in Barcelona, designed by Anna Noguera and Javier Fernandez, has won awards for its sustainable and innovative design, which includes a greenery-covered façade, swathes of glazing and timber interiors. Barcelona City Council appointed Noguera and Fernandez after they won an architectural competition it ran in 2014. The competition briefed for the creation of a sports centre in the Turó de la Peira area of Barcelona, in which

Adidas has built a sustainable sports pitch in Florida, using 1.8m recycled plastic bottles. The bottles were collected from nature – at remote islands, beaches, coastal communities and shorelines – in order to prevent them from ending up permanently in the eco-system. Each bottle was then washed and treated before being converted and used as infill for the synthetic 3G pitch. The pitch has been installed at the Miami Edison

Luxury alpine destination Vail Marriott Mountain Resort has relaunched its spa and wellness with a focus on sports recovery, following a $6m (€5m, £5m) resort-wide refurbishment by Simeone Deary Design Group. Developed and managed by boutique spa operator Trilogy Spa Holdings, the 8,830sq ft (820sq m) Well & Being centre focuses on offers evidence-based healthy living services. There are seven treatment rooms in total, with facilities for cryotherapy, vibration therapy

Francl Architecture have created a new ice sports centre in the Canadian city of Surrey, British Columbia, with a vast timber roof that recalls the waves of the nearby Fraser River. The North Surrey Sports and Ice Complex, which opened late last year, covers an area of 134,000sq ft (12,500sq m) and houses three ice sheets that are used for ice hockey, sledge hockey, figure skating and other ice sports.