A proposed US$100m-plus (€93m, £66m) resort and spa in Rancho Mirage, California, has received approval from the city’s Architectural Review Board – following amendments made to the project’s design by Derek Sola from architecture firm Gensler. The 24-acre (10-hectare) Thunderbird Resort and Spa plans will be sent to the city’s planning commission for approval. The ‘six-star’ resort – which will be tucked into the landscape with the mountains serving as

Bjarke Ingels, in conjunction with Rebuild by Design, has laid out plans for ‘The Dryline’ – a leisure-oriented storm barrier for New York City. Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, where more than US$19bn (€17.9bn, £12.6bn) of damage was inflicted on New York, Rebuild by Design – a federally-funded initiative, which is part of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and the US Department of Housing and

Starwood Hotels & Resorts will debut its first St Regis-branded property in Istanbul, Turkey in March – designed by award-winning Turkish architect Emre Arolat in an Art Deco style reminiscent of the city’s artistic 1920s era. Housing an extensive selection of artwork from the Demsa Collection of Art – a private collection belonging to the Demsa Group that also owns the hotel itself – the property has 118 bedrooms and

International architecture and design firm Jestico + Whiles (J+W) has been appointed by TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate) to design a luxury hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Edinburgh St. James Hotel will act as the centrepiece of the overarching St. James development. With a price tag of £850m (€1.1m, $1.3m), the project is retail-led with the aim of transforming leisure in the Scottish capital. Once complete it will

Steiner Spa Consulting president Jeff Matthews has revealed the company's concepts and designs for a burgeoning pipeline of projects in the Indian Ocean and Middle East through to 2017, in an exclusive conversation with Spa Opportunities. Steiner has been chosen to refurbish and rebrand a spa in the North Ari Atoll of the Maldives at four-star hotel Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo – operated by Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts, a subsidiary of

Dutch architectural firm MVRDV has been granted approval for the restructuring of a mixed-use 1970s complex in Paris, France. Originally designed by Pierre Dufau, the Vandamme Nord, part of a wider urban development, currently houses retail and leisure outlets, as well as the 30-storey Pullman Hotel. MVRDV’s design will "reintroduce the lost human scale and bring back a sense of place within the Montparnasse district." The scheme will focus on

The International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) got off to a bang today (2 March), with Starwood announcing that it is on course to open more than 40 new hotels and resorts across Europe in the next five years. The hotel giant – which recently saw CEO, president and director Frits van Paasschen resign “by mutual agreement” – will concentrate on a combination of fast-growing and established markets as part of

The M by Montcalm hotel is set to launch in east London’s emerging technology district in an 18-storey building inspired by the work of ‘Op-Art’ artist Bridget Riley and designed by 5plus Architects. Built by SPG Contracts under a full design and build contract with the help of external consultants Curtins Engineering and KUT M&E consultants – the 296-key hotel features an unusual horizontal transom (a transverse horizontal structural beam

Developer and investor Union Hanover Securities has submitted a planning application for a new boutique hotel scheme at Stratford City, the former site of the 2012 Olympic Games. Designed by New York-based Grzywinski + Pons Architects, the £100m (US$155m, €136m) dual hotel scheme has been dubbed the Penny Brook Development. The scheme will consist of a 137-bed Adagio building and a 249-bed boutique hotel, called the Penny Brook. The Penny

A quintet of Manchester United legends led by Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs have unveiled their latest trophy this week – the world’s first ever Hotel Football in Manchester, UK. The 8,000sq m (86,111sq ft) building – designed by AEW Architects – incorporates a 133-bedroom hotel with public space for fans and spectators, plus a new Café Football – boasting a menu designed by two Michelin star chef, Michael Wignall.

Boston Partners, the Ethiopian company known for building Kuriftu-branded resorts, is to construct a new resort on Moucha Island – off the coast of the Republic of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa – in an attempt to establish the Kuriftu brand in east Africa. In December 2013, Kuriftu signed a 50-year lease for 500,000sq m (5,381,955sq ft) of land on the coral island Moucha. It hired Eyasu Siraj, a

Jon Jerde, founder of The Jerde Partnership, has died aged 75. Jerde, who was viewed by many as the father of modern shopping centre design, died on 9 February 2015 at his home in Los Angeles, US. Jerde established his practice in 1977, following a commission for a retail centre in San Diego from Ernie Hahn, a shopping mall developer. For years Jerde designed shopping malls and he began to

Raison d’Etre has entered into a strategic partnership with Cayan Group, a Middle Eastern real estate developer, to create a spa on the sixth floor of the Cayan Tower in Dubai Marina under the spa consultancy’s LivNordic concept. Located within the existing residential tower and designed by Italian architecture firm M+N architecture, the project will see Raison d’Etre working with interior specialist Blue Camel Design to complete the spa in

The Hyatt Playa del Carmen, Mexico, designed by Mexican architect Javier Sordo Madaleno of Rockwell Group, is scheduled to launch on June 1 2015 featuring a natural mangrove jungle, oceanfront infinity pools and a spa. Within the 314-bedroom beach resort there is a spa with cenotes – natural pits featuring groundwater that are used as swimming holes. These are typically found on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The new hotel

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has given a grant of £7.8m (US$11.8m, €10.4m) to ‘The Sill’ a new visitor centre for Hadrian’s Wall and Northumberland National park. The most recent plans for ‘The Sill’ were announced in October 2014, outlining that the project needed at least £11.2m (US$17.9m, €14.3m) to get it off the ground. The HLF grant will help to secure the future of the project, while other donations

Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort has opened on Hainan Island in Sanya, China’s southernmost province, promising the opening of a lakeside spa later in 2015. Situated three miles from Yalong Bay, the island’s most popular tourist destination, the 207-bedroom property has been designed by Belgian architect Jean-Michel Gathy of design firm Denniston. The modernist development comprises six standalone arch-shaped buildings designed to allow chi, the traditional Chinese notion of

Global architecture and design firm Atkins has been appointed to design a landmark development in Changsha, China. Atkins is working closely with developer Changsha Northstar Real Estate Development Company to create a the Northstar Changsha Centre, which will include a 400m (1,312ft) landmark tower. Situated in Hunan province, Changsha is one of China’s most economically advanced cities. Already acting as a commercial and industrial hub, this development will offer new

Puente Romano Beach Resort Marbella is set to launch a Six Senses Spa in Q3 2015 as part of an extensive multi-million euro refurbishment to the property in the Costa del Sol on the southern coast of Spain. Resembling an Andalusian village, the 264-guestroom resort is spread across 27 three-storey villas and is set amid 55,000sq m (592,016sq ft) of subtropical gardens featuring more than 400 species of plant life

The Ritz-Carlton Bali, Indonesia, has opened on the southern tip of island Nusa Dua, with a 70m (230ft) glass elevator from the cliff-top resort to the beach below. The 14-treatment room Ritz-Carlton Spa, equipped with thermal facilities by Barr+Wray and cosmetic products by ESPA, will open soon. The 12.7-hectare (31-acre) resort features 313 hotel rooms, six restaurants and meeting facilities for up to 200 guests.

The first Thémaé spa in Tunisia is set to open at the five-star hotel La Badira in the coastal town of Hammamet. The hotel is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World collection. The 130-bedroom property, designed by HSA Architects and Esthetika Déco, opened in December 2014, but the spa – a Thémaé franchise – will debut in March 2015. The property is owned and operated by La

TWB Partners, an Italian consulting network specialised in providing investors in sub-Saharan African hotels with leisure facilities, is working on a turn-key spa solution for the Angolan hospitality firm Chicoil Group. There are six hotels under the Chicoil Group’s Chik Chik Hotels brand and a seventh one is being built in a diamond mining area in the small city of Saurimo. The Chik Chik Saurimo hotel is being developed and

Diamante Cabo San Lucas, a private resort community located on the Pacific Coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is set to open its revamped spa at its 1,500-acre (607-hectare) property in February. The 70-bedroom residence club, owned by president and CEO Ken Jowdy, will also be expanded to include 200 more rooms within the next few years, a spokesperson told Spa Opportunities exclusively. The Spa at Diamante features four treatment

Two parties are vying for the right to develop the Queen’s Wharf site in Brisbane, with the scheme being hailed as the ‘best integrated resort in Australia’. Echo Entertainment Group (EEG) – working in conjunction with Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium International Limited – is up against Crown/Greenland: a group headed up by casino tycoon James Packer, Crown CEO, and Chinese development firm Greenland. The two groups

A 96-bedroom resort and spa is planned to open on Myanmar’s Inle Lake in March 2015, further signs of the southeast Asian nation's growing appeal as a tourism destination. It is set to be managed by owner/operator Apple Tree Group – which also owns La Residence Hotel & Spa by Accor in Hue, Vietnam. The Sanctum Inle Resort’s spa, spread across two floors, will feature four single treatment rooms, one

A proposal for a five-star luxury lodge at the edge of Sutton on the Forest in Yorkshire, near Easingwold, has been submitted by Yorkshire-based developer Luxury Lodge Group. The £12m (US$18m, €16m) Forest Lakes development plans to feature 46 eco-friendly wooden lodges, a spa, clubhouse, brasserie, delicatessen and village store. If plans go ahead, the site will open by 2016. Developer Luxury Lodge Group, which also plans to manage the

The Le Meridien Columbus hotel has opened in the Joseph, a US$68m (€49m, £40m) mixed-use development in the Short North neighbourhood of Columbus, Ohio, US. Owned and developed by the Columbus-based Pizzuti Companies, the 10-storey high-rise broke ground in August 2013. Le Meridien Columbus, managed by Wischermann Partners, features 135 bedrooms, an in-house restaurant and spa suites. Designed by Miami-based architectural firm Arquitectonica, Le Meridien Columbus houses art from chair

The Coniston Hotel and Country Estate has announced the development of a spa adjacent to the property’s hotel building in the UK's Yorkshire Dales. Set to open in Q4 2015, the 16,500sq ft (1,533sq m) spa will offer views over the estate’s 24 acre (10 hectare) lake. Expected to create at least 35 new jobs for the local market, the new facility will offer a 15m swimming pool, thermal spa