The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, Durham, has received a £250,000 cash injection towards its five-year redevelopment programme from the Garfield Weston Foundation (GWF). Established more than 100 years ago by John and Joséphine Bowes, the French-style château houses thousands of objects, including furniture, paintings and sculptures from across Europe. Work began on the transformation project in 2005, with repairs made to the building's leaky roof. The second and third

Proposals to build a £35m museum at the site of the 16th century Mary Rose warship in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard have been met with approval by the city council. The permanent museum — designed by architects Wilkinson Eyre and interior designers Pringle Brandon — will house the ship within a structure akin to a black, wooden, jewellery box. Almost 70 per cent of the artefacts (19,000) recovered from the Tudor

A decommissioned German U-boat has opened to the public as a visitor attraction on Liverpool Docks. One of only four remaining in the world, the vessel was acquired by Merseytravel when its previous owner, the Historic Warships Museum in Birkenhead went into voluntary liquidation. The ship has been completely restored and cut into four sections with glass panels at the end of each section to allow visitors the chance to

Plans put forward by seven shortlisted architects for the refurbishment of the Grade II-listed Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool have been put on public display until the end of the month. Designs for the revamp of the 1,250-seat theatre, which has one of the biggest revolve stages outside the West End of London, can be viewed until 27 February in the Architruck, the Royal Institute of British Architect's (RIBA) purpose-built

David Chipperfield Architects has revealed its winning design for an extension to the Kunsthaus Zurich art gallery in Zurich, Switzerland. The early 20th century building will continue to house the Old Masters, Giacometti collection, Swiss art and popular large-scale exhibitions, whereas the new 20,500sq m (220,660sq ft) extension will display classic modernism and art starting from the 1960s, as well as the Bührle collection. Photograph: courtesy if David Chipperfield Architects

The Monument, a memorial built to commemorate the Great Fire of London in 1666, has reopened to the public following multi-million pound restoration project lasting 18 months. A new viewing platform, balustrade and cage have been installed at the 202ft (62m)-high structure as part of the £4.5m scheme, as well as new telescopes and improved lighting. Work has also been carried out to clean The Monument's stonework and to repair

Plans for the £165m refurbishment of Manchester's town hall complex has been given the green light by the city council. The project, which is expected to get underway later this year, has been designed to preserve the area's historic buildings for future generations, as well as improving services for the local community. A new 'Mediatheque' facility will be created as part of the scheme, a series of spaces including cinema

Plans for the £750m transformation of the 468-acre (189.4-hectare) Longbridge site near Birmingham have been given the green light by the government. The Longbridge Area Action Plan (LAAP), which was submitted to the government last March, outlines a 15-year vision for a mixed-use redevelopment of the former MG Rover factory site. At the heart of the scheme is a new town centre incorporating public, leisure and retail facilities, as well

Designs have been unveiled for a landmark oil & gas museum and exhibition centre set to be built in Al Ahmadi, Kuwait for the Kuwait Oil Company. The 8,800sq m exhibition and display centre has been designed by UK-based Architect Morgan Professional Services (MPS) and will be arranged over three floor levels with a viewing tower above. Nine interactive exhibition spaces will form an integral part of the building and

The first part of a £10m expansion programme at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley has been unveiled. The three-dimensional interactive guidebook called Heart of the Black Country aims to provide visitors with a more in-depth experience by linking the interior of the museum with the open-air site via a mini graphic representation of what there is to see and do at the 26-acre urban heritage park. It includes

The Tempe Historical Museum in Arizona, US, is closing its doors to undergo a US$4.1m redevelopment. Weddle Gilmore Architects (WGA) has been selected as the architectural consultant for the project which will see the main gallery and entrances completely refurbished. According to museum officials, the redevelopment will redefine the exhibit area to feature flexible spaces with changing exhibits; integrate new technology with innovative interpretation; increase programming space; and create a

The Smithsonian Institution has chosen six architectural teams to compete for the £351m ($500m, €391m) contract to design the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, US. Among the finalists are UK-based architects Norman Foster of Foster + Partners in collaboration with URS as well as US-based architects Devrouax & Purnell; Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, which has designed the Museum of Islamic Art in

The design competition for the development of the Brunel Museum in Southwark, London has been won by London-based de Rijke Marsh Morgan Architects (dRMM). The focus of the brief was to make the attraction’s 15m-diameter vent shaft and former stairwell to the Thames Tunnel accessible again since its closure in 1865. Alex de Rijke, director at dRMM, said: “Our proposal consists of several ambitious site-specific responses, inspired by the Brunel

The £2m restoration of the 12th century Westminster Abbey Chapter House in central London, considered as the birthplace of parliament, has begun. The house, which was home to the King's Great Council in 1257 and became a meeting place for the House of Commons in the 14th century, will undergo the most comprehensive restoration project since architect Sir George Gilbert Scott worked on it in 1859. English Heritage is leading

Lincoln's historic Bailgate area is set to be revamped after Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) and the Historic Lincoln Partnership (HLP) secured funding worth £1.18m for the scheme. Work is expected to get underway in early 2010 and will include the repaving of the area, while a new landscape scheme will also be developed for the city's Roman Well and St Paul area. LCC hopes that the improvements will serve a

The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has scrapped plans to reopen the city's Usher Hall amid an ongoing £20m revamp due to concerns that such a move could impact upon the project's scheduled completion in July. Both the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) were due to stage events at the venue in May, but delays to the refurbishment of the 95-year-old concert hall have

A new 24m (78.7ft) pedestrian bridge has opened at Caernarfon Castle in North Wales in a bid to improve visitor access to the site. Designed by Ramboll Whitbybird Bridges Team in partnership with Cadw, the Welsh Assembly Government's historic environment agency, the S-shaped bridge will act as the main entrance to the castle, which is one of the most visited ancient monuments in Wales. Alun Ffred Jones, the Welsh minister

A turf-cutting ceremony has marked the start of work on a new £8.2m archive centre in Carlisle, Cumbria, UK, which will eventually house more than one million historical items. The project will include the restoration and renovation of the Grade II-listed Lady Gillford's House at Petteril Bank, as well as the creation of a new glass-fronted structure alongside it to house records currently stored at Carlisle Castle. Cumbria County Council

A scheme to redevelop a historic pumphouse in Llanelli, South Wales, has been handed a funding boost worth £1.8m from the Welsh Assembly Government. Development proposals for the preservation and restoration of the Grade II-listed building form part of a wider £250m regeneration of the town's North Dock and waterfront areas. The project, which will be carried out by Bendigo 9-10, will see the pumphouse transformed into a new restaurant

Work is to get underway on a £400,000 scheme to restore the 40-year-old Apollo Pavilion in Peterlee, County Durham. Located in the town's Sunny Blunts Park, the pavilion was named after the Apollo space mission and was designed by the artist Victor Pasmore as a symbol of 1960s simplicity. Having become a target for vandalism in recent years, the pavilion project will see the replacement of a staircase providing access

Work has got underway on a three-month project to create new visitor facilities at the Angel of the North in Gateshead, north east England. Gateshead Council agreed to proposals in early 2008, which included the creation of new parking and toilet facilities at the visitor attraction, along with new footpaths. It is expected that work will be completed by April, and will see the new facilities located well back from

The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham, is set to complete its revamp during the year and will reopen to the public on 14 February. The redevelopment work will be completed in stages and finished phases include the revamp of the Entrance Hall, with a more user friendly reception desk; a new glass corridor leading people to the upgraded Café Bowes; and the extension of the museum's retail facilities.

Science Oxford has closed for two months to allow work to get underway on a £250,000 refurbishment of the centre, which is expected to take two months. The project includes the upgrade and relocation of the children's science gallery, as well as the integration of a refreshment area into the ground floor adult exhibition space, and the installation of new audio-visual equipment in the first floor performance room. Leicester-based museum

A new scheme to preserve ten iconic cultural heritage sites in Wales is set to benefit from a £2m cash injection from the Welsh Assembly Government. Funding for the Welsh Cultural Heritage Initiative will be set aside from the Welsh Assembly Government's Strategic Capital Investment Fund, and will also go towards making the ten sites safe and accessible for visitors. Seven sites to be included as part of the scheme

One of the oldest museums in Britain, the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology at Oxford University, is to close the public until November 2009 as part of a major redevelopment project. First opened in 1683, the museum is undergoing a £61m revamp including the creation of a new 8,812sq m (94,852sq ft) exhibition hall, which will double the amount of available display space at the attraction. The museum has

A planning application is to be submitted as part of a £6m project to transform the General Offices at a former South Wales steelworks into a new visitor attraction. The scheme to redevelop the Grade-II listed building at The Works:Ebbw Vale is a joint venture partnership between Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and the Welsh Assembly Government. Once the administrative centre of the steelworks, the General Offices building is the

Hadrian's Wall Heritage (HWH) has acquired 150 acres (60.7 hectares) of land at Camp Farm in Maryport, Cumbria, as part of plans to establish a new museum at the World Heritage Site. The £11.5m scheme will involve the excavation of the former Roman fort at Maryport, as well as an adjacent vicus, a civilian settlement that spread outside the fort walls and comprised more than 170 buildings. It is hoped