Designs for the redevelopment of Gwyn Hall in Neath, South Wales, which was severely damaged by fire, have been unveiled by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (NPTCBC). A public consultation has now been launched by the council to allow local residents to have their say on Holder Mathias Architects' proposals for the venue, which was undergoing a £4m refurbishment at the time of the fire on 18 October last

Construction work on the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Kent, has begun but the opening will be delayed until 2011. The new gallery, designed by architect David Chipperfield, will exhibit contemporary art and celebrates the town's connect with artist JMW Turner, who was schooled in Margate and later lived there. The attraction, which has been in the pipeline for 15 years, was originally expected to open in 2010. Kent-based contractor

Owners of the Fetternear Estate, near Kemnay, in Scotland have submitted an outline planning application for a mixed-use development and the restoration of Bishops Palace to Aberdeenshire Council. The plans to redevelop disused farm land and restore the listed building, built in 1329, in collaboration with Scottish Heritage, have been created in partnership with Hardie Planning Consultancy and Leslie F Hunter Chartered Architects. If approved, the site will host a

Plans to redevelop the derelict Lowther Castle and Gardens near Penrith, Cumbria, into a new £15m tourist attraction have received a major funding boost worth £9m. The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) will contribute £7m towards the scheme, while an additional £2m is also being put forward by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). An application has also been made to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the remaining £6m, but

The Lune Aqueduct in Lancaster is to receive a £3m facelift. The plans, drawn up by British Waterways North West, involve relining the canal channel; repaving both sides of the canal along the aqueduct and rebuilding walls along the turning basin among other restoration work. However, British Waterways also held a public consultation at Lancaster’s Maritime Museum to discuss further plans to be included. Some of the ideas discussed included

A 400m (1,312ft) stretch of Brighton's seafront is set to be given a heritage-style makeover as part of a £300,000 improvement project along the city's Madeira Drive. New bollards and railings will be installed and the pavement widened, as part of work to protect seafront arches underneath the thoroughfare which can no longer take the weight of heavy vehicles parking on top of them. In September, a £250,000 scheme to

Developer Dubai Properties is building a £255m museum, dedicated to Middle Eastern modern art as the centre piece of its £8bn Cultural Village project in Dubai, UAE. The 25,000 sq m Museum of Middle East Modern Art (MOMEMA), designed by Amsterdam-based architects UN Studio, will include exhibition spaces, art galleries, leasable workshop spaces, an auditorium and an amphitheatre for live performances and international festivals. MOMEMA will also feature a 60-room

Owners of the Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, have announced their preferred design for the redevelopment of the 104-year old attraction. Bristol-based architect, Angus Meek, was selected after a design competition for the pier, which was severely damaged by a large fire in July. Designs for the future of the Grade-II listed structure were unveiled by six architects at the start of October, before being put to public consultation. A

Glasgow's new £74m Riverside Museum is starting to take shape with the construction of the building's steel framework now underway. The site, which will be the new home of Glasgow's Museum of Transport, is at the centre of a wider £800m regeneration project for the city's harbour. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, work on the Riverside Museum is being carried out by the main contractor, HBG. The project is being

The Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) has announced that Saadiyat Beach Golf Course in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is on track to open in autumn 2009. The 18-hole course, designed by golf champion Gary Player to be 'eco-sensitive', could be the first attraction to open as part of the 15-year, A Dhs.100 billion (£15bn, US$ 27bn) Saadiyat Island development. Translated to mean Island of Happiness, the project is

Proposals to build a National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, DC, US have been given the green light by local planners. Scheduled to open in 2011, the US$80m (£45m, 56m euro) museum was given final approval by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and has also received the support of the US Comission of Fine Arts (CFA). Authorized by Congress in the year 2000, the National Law Enforcement Museum will

Tate Modern and architects Herzog & de Meuron have revealed their revised plans for the £215m development of the museum. The original design – which resembled a stack of bricks – has been scrapped, making way for a new three-dimensional trapezoid-shaped structure. The 11-storey building will be 65m (213ft) tall and will add 21,500sq m (230,400sq ft) to the Tate Modern's existing 35,000sq m (377,000sq ft). Three oil tanks from the

The Museum of Liverpool, the £65m project currently under construction in this year's European Capital of Culture, has received an £11m cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). National Museums Liverpool, which is behind the scheme, will put the money towards the fit out of the museum, which is located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site between the Albert Dock and the Pier Head. Carole Souter, chief executive of

Whitstable Castle Park is in line for a major transformation following a major funding boost. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Big Lottery Fund 'Parks for People' programme have awarded a £2m grant to the project, which will see the restoration of the town's only public park. Together with a contribution of nearly £500,000 from Canterbury City Council, the scheme is set to restore the castle and its grounds, as

BRC Imagination Arts has been chosen to design a new sports experience centre in Heerenveen, Friesland, the Netherlands. BRC will work together with the client Sportstad Heerenveen BV, to design the centre, with the intention of engaging visitors through interactive and multi-media experiences. Called Sport Experience Heerenveen (SEH), the attraction will illustrate the history of sport with a particular emphasis on Friesland's sporting culture. When complete, SEH will feature themed

A plan to revive Durham's historic Riverbanks Gardens will be put forward at a public meeting later this month. Durham City Vision has drawn up proposals for the restoration of one of the city's most iconic landmarks, situated on the banks of the River Wear. A bid is being prepared to secure funding support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the ambitious landscaping project, which will be fully revealed

Three historic attractions have received a major funding boost after the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) confirmed over £16m of grants. The announcement was made as part of a £23m package pledged by the HLF for the repair and restoration of historic landmark buildings across Britain. Watts Gallery, home to the works of Victorian painter and sculptor, GF Watts, will receive £4.3m of HLF cash to put towards a £10m renovation

Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer has donated £3.3m towards the restoration of the London, UK-based tea clipper Cutty Sark, devastated in a fire in May 2007. It is the second major donation made this year by Ofer. In April, Ofer gave £20m to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich for the creation of a major new wing. Cutty Sark, considered one of London's iconic visitor attractions, was undergoing a £35m

Plans to build a museum of Middle Eastern modern art in Dubai have been revealed by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. Designed by Amsterdam, Netherlands-based architects UNStudio, the museum will be located within the proposed Culture Village in the city-state's Jadaf district. The UAD50bn (£6.91bn, US$13.6bn, 8.7bn euro) project will include a large centrepiece museum, an amphitheatre, an exhibition hall and smaller museums displaying local

Public voting for the National Lottery Awards, an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects, is now open until 4 July. The awards are split into seven categories – arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sports and charity – and each category features 10 projects. The three projects that receive the most votes, either online or by telephone, will progress through to the final round of voting, which will

Work on a new visitors centre at UNESCO world heritage site Giant’s Causeway could begin in autumn 2009 for a spring 2011 opening if a planning application by the National Trust is approved by the end of this year. The National Trust, which is working on the scheme in partnership with Moyle District Council, also announced it will be committing £6m to the project to replace the previous visitors centre,

The Lightbox art gallery and museum in Woking has won the £100,000 Art Fund Prize. The Lightbox – the end result of a 15-year campaign by a group of locals to obtain a galley for the Surrey town – was designed by Marks Barfield Architects, who designed the London Eye. Chair of the judges, Sue MacGregor, said: “It was a difficult final choice for the judges, but in the end

The Leighton House Museum in London's Holland Park is to undergo a £1.3m revamp. The work, which will include upgrading the 19th-century museum’s central heating and electrical services as well as restoring the original decorations, has been funded fully by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The museum will close to the public on 31 October for the duration of the work, and is scheduled to reopen in November

A new visitor attraction, centred on the legend of Captain Cook, is to be built in Whitby, Yorkshire. The Captain James Cook R.N. Charitable Trust has appointed visitor attraction design group, Continuum, to design and build the £1m attraction, which will be housed in an historic engine shed and entry will be through Whitby’ main railway station. Alan Eyles, project manager for Continuum, said: “It’s a really interesting job to

A £13m modern arts centre is to open in Aberdeen in 2010, after proposals were green lighted by the Scottish Government. The new centre recently received £4m in capital funding from the Scottish Arts Council and will be the first of its kind in northern Scotland. The development is the result of a partnership between Aberdeen City Council and Peacock Visual Arts, which hopes to attract 200,000 visitors a year

Work has begun on the £12.2m redevelopment of the People's History Museum in Manchester. The redevelopment of the site will see the museum double in size and consolidate its current two sites into one via an extension. The extension has been designed by architects Austin-Smith:Lord, with Headland Desing Associates responsible for the exhibition design. Funding for the project has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund (£7.18m), Manchester City Council (£2m),