Northern Ireland finance minister Sammy Wilson has announced that seven companies have been shortlisted to lead the £3m restoration of the Grade B-listed Cultra Manor in County Down. The Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) - acting on behalf of National Museums Northern Ireland - has now invited the shortlisted firms to tender for the contract to refurbish the manor, located at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. It is hoped that

English Heritage has unveiled designs for the proposed new £25m visitor centre at Stonehenge after submitting a planning application for the scheme to Wiltshire Council. The facility, which is to be built 1.5 miles (2.4km) to the west of the historic site at Airman's Corner, has been designed by London-based architects Denton Corker Marshall to be environmentally sensitive to its surroundings. A pair of single-storey structures - one glass and

An 18th century mansion house in Worcestershire where Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was handed his first major landscape gardening commission has been opened to the public. Croome Court in Severn Stoke, located between Worcester and Pershore, has been opened by National Trust (NT), which owns the site, for the first time in its history, having formerly been a school and a centre for the Hare Krishna movement. A 1751 scheme to

The Miami Science Museum has received planning permission for its new US$275m (£172m, 188m euro) home. Museum Park Miami will be a 40-acre park designed for both “active and passive recreation”, with two museums – The Miami Museum of Science and the Miami Art Museum – as well as lawns, public gardens, fountains and pools. The new museum has been designed by British firm Grimshaw Architects, with an aquarium designed

British Museum officials are to submit revised plans to Camden Council for a £135m extension that was initially turned down by the council in June. The rejigged plans, drawn up by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, include sinking part of the extension below ground in an attempt to solve criticism that the extension will block views of the Grade I-listed Reading Room. The new plans will go on public

A historic 18th century mill in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, is set to be redeveloped after a design team led by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios was appointed to draw up plans for the site's future. The team, which will also comprise structural engineers Adams Kara Taylor and landscape architects Grant Associates, has been appointed to examine sustainable solutions for the 212-year-old Ditherington Flax Mills. A partnership between English Heritage - which

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is to open its new location in New York on 22 September. The new 14,000sq ft space, located in a former machine shop, was designed by Maya Lin and will boast multiple exhibition galleries, interactive display kiosks, a multipurpose auditorium/classroom, a research centre and a space for multidisciplinary public programmes. MOCA’s core exhibition is called “With a single step: Stories in the making

Southampton City Council (SCC) has unveiled the latest designs for the new Sea City Museum Project, which is set to form part of the wider development of a new Cultural Quarter for the city. The first phase of the Sea City Museum scheme, which has been designed by London-based architects Wilkinson Eyre, is scheduled to open to the public in 2012 to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of

The Mary Rose warship at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is to be withdrawn from public view on 20 September in order to allow construction work to start on a new £35m museum at the Hampshire attraction. A special programme of events and activities will be provided during the temporary closure of the historic Tudor warship, which will remain out of view until 2012. The existing Mary Rose museum located elsewhere at

Exhibition design group Event Communications has been appointed to develop the interpretive design for the planned £18.5m visitor centre at the Giant's Causeway tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. Event will work closely with The National Trust - which manages the world heritage site - on the project which will include scoping, shaping and implementing the interpretative plan for the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site. Steve Simons, executive

UK-based Lazenby Design has been appointed to design the new Evolution Museum in Athens, Greece. Scheduled to open in 2010, the 4,000sq m museum will be located at the city’s Attica Zoological Park. The museum will house both outdoor and indoor exhibits, including immersive prehistoric environments, creature models, palaeontology displays and animated interpretive AV exhibits. The museum will chart the history of the planet from early organisms through the dinosaur

Camden Council has turned down a planning application for a £135m extension to the British Museum in London, UK. The proposed development, designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP), had secured the support of English Heritage but had angered a local conservation group, Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee (BCAAC). RSHP's plans included a new 1,000 sq m (10,760sq ft) building at the rear of the museum, replacing the

A new visitor centre has opened at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum's Blists Hill Victorian Town. The centre forms part of a £12m redevelopment of the town, which has been funded by Advantage West Midlands and The European Regional Development Fund. The building was designed by specialist architectural practice Nash Partnership of Bath with support from Osbornes Architects and was constructed by Mansell Construction Services Ltd. As well as the different

Southampton City Council in the UK has appointed architects to design its new £15m Sea City Museum attraction. London-based architects Wilkinson Eyre won the contract to design the attraction, which will be located in the council’s Civic Centre, previously occupied by Southampton’s magistrate courts and police headquarters. The museum is intended to provide access to and interpretation of the city’s maritime heritage, and will include an exhibition on the Titanic,

Britain's oldest continuously working cinema, The Phoenix in East Finchley, is to receive a makeover after a £608,800 grant from the Heritage Lottery fund (HLF). The revamp of the grade II-listed building will include the construction of a bar or café, repair work to the auditorium including the original Mollo and Egan plaster wall panels and barrel vaulted ceiling as well as the extension of the mezzanine. The restoration is

Proposals to enhance the visitor experience at Westminster Abbey in central London have been revealed. The £23m scheme will see the Abbey's small plain pyramid roof being replaced by a more decorative corona. A new museum and exhibition space showcasing historic treasures and artefacts previously unseen by the public will be housed in the upper gallery, known as the Triforium, while an education centre and a café will provide improved

Inspectors from UNESCO's World Heritage Committee have revealed that they have no concerns over Bath's status as World Heritage Site, despite plans for the Western Riverside development. A report published by the committee revealed that proposals for the first phase of the Western Riverside scheme, which comprises 44 acres (17.8) hectares of land to the west of the city centre, will not threaten the future of the World Heritage Site.

A major £6.93m conservation and improvement scheme at Taunton Castle in Somerset has been handed a funding boost by Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (SANHS). The £35,000 SANHS donation will be used to fund repair work at the castle, as well as the creation of new gallery spaces as part of the new Museum of Somerset attraction, which will house collections owned by the society. Bridgwater-based developer Henry W

Concerns have been raised over the future of more than 80 theatre buildings across the UK after the Theatres Trust published its latest research into venues at risk from dereliction or destruction. According to the 2009 Theatre Buildings at Risk Register, the Opera House at Blackpool's Winter Gardens complex is among the venues most at risk due to a potential threat of demolition, while the Grade II-listed Derby Hippodrome has

Manchester City Council (MCC) has announced that it will continue with plans for the restoration of Heaton Hall, Prestwich, despite failing in its bid to secure funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The council plans to submit a revised, phased bid for funding early next year after the HLF said that it was unable to provide financial support for the £9.4m restoration of the Grade I-listed Heaton Hall, as

Plans for the £1bn transformation of Coventry city centre may need to be reconsidered after the government announced that the city's 1950s Retail Market has been awarded Grade II-listed status. The market, which was built in 1957 and designed by Coventry City Council's (CCC) Architects Department, features a number of East German murals and has been described as an important part of England's architectural heritage by English Heritage. Deborah Porter,

Architect David Chipperfield has been commissioned to design a new gallery for the Jumex Foundation’s Coleccion Jumex in Mexico. The Coleccion Jumex is run by Jumex, a fruit juice company, and features contemporary art from around the world. The new 4,000sq m gallery will double the site’s exhibition space and will be host to 2,000 pieces of art from the collection. Work is expected to being in March next year.

Imperial War Museum North (IWMN) in Manchester has selected German architects Topotek 1 as the preferred design team to develop the external spaces of the museum. According to Jim Forrester, IWMN director, Topotek's scheme was chosen due to the fact that it best addressed a complex brief and complemented the Daniel Libeskind-designed building. Topotek's design includes "contemplation zones", a new quayside walkway with access across the water frontage; a landscaped

The new Ohio Statehouse Museum has opened to the public at the historic Statehouse building in downtown Columbus, Ohio, US. The 5,000sq ft (460sq m) museum is housed in a purpose-build space within the Statehouse and includes a number of galleries and exhibits telling the history and stories of the state of Ohio. Galleries include the Great Ohioans Exhibit, presenting recipients of the Great Ohioan award on a large touch

The Science Museum in London, UK, is to undergo a £100m modernisation. Designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, the designs for the revamp are intended to match with wider plans for the South Kensington area, and will boast a new glass feature called the Beacon on the Exhibition Road façade is intended to "present an exciting new image of the Science Museum as a dynamic and engaging place to visit". The

Work on the first phase of the £5.5m redevelopment of Durlston Country Park in Dorset is to get underway this summer with the restoration of the Great Globe and other stone inscriptions. Stone conservation specialists Sue and Lawrence Kelland have been appointed to repair and repaint the 40-ton globe, which was first erected during the late 19th century by the owner of the Durlston Estate, George Burt. The next phase

Boris Johnson's latest initiative to improve the lives of Londoners aims to boost the number of volunteers in the capital. Johnson said: "Volunteering is good for individuals and great for London in tough economic times. By giving your time, whether a one-off few hours or a regular commitment, we can both help to make the capital a more civilised, pleasant place and reap the rewards of putting something back into