The white water rafting and canoeing course at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, has reopened to the public following the completion of upgrade work at the facility. Improvements at the course have included improved flow and water depth, a more flexible layout and use of features and the creation of a new intermediate paddler and rescue area, as well as new concrete platforms to provide launch

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has confirmed that the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south east London, will remain as the host venue for shooting events at the 2012 Olympics. Both the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the National Shooting Centre at Bisley, Surrey, had put themselves forward as alternative venues for the events, but the ODA has now decided that it will pursue a planning application for

Portsmouth Football Club (PFC) has announced that its plans for a new stadium have been put on hold due to the economic downturn and will instead extend its existing Fratton Park ground as a short-term solution. The club has been working in partnership with developer Sellar and Portsmouth City Council (PCC) on the proposals for a new 40-45,000-seat stadium at Horsea Island near Port Solent, Hampshire. But PFC has now

Leicester Tigers Rugby Football Club (LTRFC) has been granted conditional planning approval for the £100m redevelopment of the former Granby Halls and Fosse Day Centre sites. The project, which was given the green light by Leicester City Council, will be situated on land adjacent to the club's Welford Road stadium, and includes the construction of a new four-star hotel. New facilities for the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) and the

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) has put forward its case to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to host shooting events at the 2012 Games. Rising costs have cast doubt over whether the ODA will continue with plans to build a temporary 7,500-seat venue at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, with LBBD arguing that the development of a venue at Barking Riverside would save £10m. The borough

Designs for the new London 2012 basketball arena, which is to be the third largest venue on the Olympic Park site, have been approved by the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) planning committee. Plans for the temporary 12,000-seat arena, which will host basketball and handball events during the Games, as well as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby, will now be referred to the Government Office for London. The venue, which will

Chesterfield Football Club's (CFC) plans to build a new £13m stadium at Whittingham Moor have taken a step forward after the club acquired 10 acres (4.05 hectares) of land from Wilson Bowden Developments (WBD). The new 10,500-seat stadium forms part of a wider regeneration scheme, which also includes a Tesco superstore and a mixed-use retail and business development on the the former Dema Glass industrial site. Planning permission was granted

The University of Worcester (UW) has announced that it has acquired a 47-acre (19-hectare) site on the outskirts of the city, which it intends to transform into a new business, science and sports park. An indoor sports complex and playing fields is included in the 10-year scheme, which will be situated at Grove Farm in St John's, more than a mile from the university's St John's campus. Former landowner Tesco

Work is set to get underway on a new £21m pavilion at Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground in Leeds after Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) and Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) signed-off the scheme. BAM Construction has been appointed to build the new 4,000sq m (43,056sq ft) facility, which has been designed by architect Will Alsop to comply with the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) requirements for Test match venues. Plans

The redevelopment of Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre and the construction of a new facility in London Colney, Hertfordshire, are now underway following the appointment of a design team. Developer Drivers Jonas has selected S&P Architects, landscape architects CBA and consultants Strategic Leisure to move the project forward. Stephen Jepson, a partner in Drivers Jonas’s specialist DJ Sport team, said: “We are delighted to have won this commission. We put a

The Peter Perkin's Swimming Pool at the Fitzalan High School has opened following a £300,000 revamp. Work on the pool facility, which is open to both pupils and the general public, included the refurbishment of the 20m pool and the transformation of a disused classroom into a fitness suite and multi-gym facility. The new fitness suite has been fitted with a selection of CV stations – including treadmills, cross trainers

Demolition work has got underway at the Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester in preparation for the first stage of Lancashire County Cricket Club's (LCCC) £200m redevelopment of the venue. The initial phase of the project, which has been designed by BDP Architects, includes the creation of a new £12m glass-fronted conference and events facility overlooking the cricket pitch, which will be able to cater for up to 1,000 people.

Plans for the multi-million pound redevelopment of the Rodney Parade rugby stadium in Newport, South Wales, have been given the go-ahead by Newport City Council (NCC). A new 15,000-capacity stadium is at the heart of the three-stage scheme, which will be home to both Newport Gwent Dragons rugby team and Newport Rugby Football Club (NRFC). S & P Architects are behind the designs for the development, which also incorporates new

Designs for a new 300,000sq m (3,229 sq ft) mixed-use sports complex in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, have been unveiled as part of the country's preparations for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The state-funded development, designed by UK-based Wilkinson Eyre Architects, will be used as a training facility and reserve site for the Olympics and will include five Olympic ski jumps encased in a 125m-high structure with spectator grandstands. There will

Archial — formerly SMC Charter Architects — has unveiled its designs for the £46.5m Life Centre in Plymouth. A full planning application has been submitted to the city council for the massive leisure scheme, which will be located in the city’s main parkland. Paul Weston, director of Archial, said: “This building is a major architectural statement in Central Park and will act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the

The team behind a new £55m golf resort is hoping the project could establish Angus as one of Scotland's foremost tourist destinations. Plans for the development in the village of Wellbank include an 18-hole Darren Clarke signature golf course, Scotland's first golf youth academy and a five-star hotel and spa, as well as a housing development along the course edge. The course will be designed by renowned architect, Graeme Webster,

Peebles High School is to get new dual-use sports facilities following Scottish Borders Council's (SBC) decision to commit £4.8m towards the scheme. The school is currently the only high school in the Borders region that does not have its own sports facilities, and the new centre will form part of the council's £40m investment in local education over the next five years. Plans for the new sports centre include a

A new play area, which has been designed in accordance with Play England's Design for Play strategy, has been unveiled for Egford Lane Playing Fields in Frome, Somerset. Mendip District Council (MDC) has invested more than £55,000 in the facility, which incorporates fun landscaping alongside play equipment. Nigel Hewitt-Cooper, MDC's deputy portfolio holder for street and landscape services, said: "Working with the people in Frome to provide more play facilities

The athletics track at the Queens Park Athletics Stadium, Inverness, is set to be fully refurbished after the venue's operator, Inverness Leisure, secured £125,000 of funding for the scheme. First opened in 1984, the 400m synthetic, all-weather track will undergo its first major work since it was upgraded from a six-lane to an eight-lane facility in 1996. Both the Inverness Common Good Fund and Inverness Council's Education, Culture and Sport

Farnborough Football Club (FFC) has announced that it has appointed a contractor to lead the development of the new South Stand at the Prospect Road End of the club's Cherrywood Road stadium. Stadium Solutions will be responsible for delivering the project, which is expected to cost around £500,000 once additional professional and consultancy fees are taken into account. Planning permission was granted by Rushmoor Borough Council in 2004 for the

Aberdeen City Council (ACC) has given the green light in principle to plans to enter a lease agreement with a private developer that will enable the redevelopment of Hazlehead Golf Course to take a step forward. In October, the council announced that The MacKenzie Club had been selected as its preferred developer for the multi-million pound scheme, which aims to transform the 245-acre (99-hectare) into a major international golf destination.

Bangor City Football Club (BCFC) has insisted that its proposed move to a new stadium at Nantporth remain on track, as part of plans for a mixed-use scheme on the site of its current Farrar Road ground. Club chair, Dilwyn Jones, said that there was no reason to suggest that the plans had been shelved, despite delays to the project led by Deiniol Developments, a joint venture between Morbaine and

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has announced that it will invest more than £11.5m in a scheme that will enable 385,000 spectators to walk or cycle to events at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Two new walking and cycling trails will be established, while six others will be upgraded, to create a network of paths between Finsbury Park and Victoria Park, and from Epping Forest and the Wanstead

Plans drawn up by the London Development Agency (LDA) for the £100m regeneration of Crystal Palace Park in south London have been called in by communities secretary Hazel Blears. A masterplan for the scheme – drawn up by German-based architect Latz and Partner, the LDA and Design for London – was launched in October 2007 and has been designed to guarantee that the park has a sustainable future. Proposals include

Work is set to get underway on the major refurbishment of Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey following Mole Valley District Council's (MVDC) decision to approve the proposals. Enabling work is scheduled to start by the end of the month, with the first phase of the 22-month revamp, designed by A+G Architects, set to begin in March provided the final tender for the scheme falls within the council's budget. A new

One of the first rural academies in England and Wales will open this autumn in Wiltshire. Wellington Academy in Tidworth will house a theatre, a floodlit all-weather sports pitch, ICT facilities and the community radio station, as well as boarding for around 100 students and a Combined Cadet Force. Built on the site of the existing Castledown School, the new academy will benefit from a set of new buildings scheduled

Two of England's most historic cricket grounds, Lord's Cricket Ground in North London and the Brit Oval in Vauxhall, London, will have "semi-permanent" telescopic floodlights installed this year to enable the venues to host one-day cricket matches late into the evening. Nottingham-based lighting specialist Abacus has secured two deals, worth a total of £3.7m, which will see the company deliver four masts at both grounds. Each mast will be 47.6m