Plans for a new 116m tall mixed-use tower have been revealed for Copenhagen, Denmark. The 21,688sq m (233,447sq ft) Rødovre Skyscraper will include a 2,000sq m hotel, a public park and a plaza, restaurants, 970sq m of retail space, offices and apartments. A public park adjacent to the 'sky village' is part of the project and will be refurbished to feature public paths, a playground, a picnic area and exercise

Entrepreneur Mark Fuller has announced that his latest hotel venture, Sanctum Soho, will open in March 2009. The £10m, 30-room hotel will include a 60-cover restaurant and resident-only bars and is marketed as a "sin worthy of an affair". The hotel's signature feature is a number of "crash pads" – private spaces which can be rented by by the hour. The hotel also houses a private cinema on the ground

Whitbread's flagship 'green' Premier Inn opens today (8 December) in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The 20-bed property is part of the hotel operator's plans to minimise its impact on the environment and is designed to reduce energy consumption by up to 80 per cent. The hotel includes ground-source heat pumps, which use the earth's natural energy to cool and heat the hotel, as well as providing hot water throughout. Grey water recycling

A £115m golf course on the outskirts of Aberdeen has been given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government, less than 48-hours after Donald Trump’s £1bn Balmedie golf resort was also approved. The course, designed by former Open champion Paul Lawrie and being developed by the Muir Group, will also boast a hotel and housing. The proposal was previously okayed by Aberdeenshire Council and the government has decided not to call

The £250m Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre has opened in Bern, Switzerland. Designed by New York-based architect Daniel Libeskind, the new complex boasts 55 shops, 10 restaurants and bars, a 144-room hotel, a multiplex cinema, a fitness centre and a fun pool. Libeskind’s concept was to “create a public space with day and night facilities, a self-enclosed district offering endless amenities and services, almost like a city within a city”.

The birthplace of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas has been turned into an 'experiential self-catering holiday home' following a refurbishment project. Guests staying at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in the Uplands area of Swansea will be given the chance to experience life as it would have been in 1914, the year in which the property was first bought the property. In order to replicate conditions from nearly a century ago, the house

Tower Hamlets Borough Council has granted permission for a 170m (558ft) super-yacht hotel to be moored permanently in London's Docklands. The proposals for Thames Quay in West India Dock were put forward by the Dubai-based developer, Aquiva, and the project is now set to go before the Greater London Authority for final approval. Located adjacent to Canary Wharf, the floating hotel will feature up to 180 staterooms and suites, as

Argent, the developers leading the £2bn regeneration of London's King's Cross area, will need to use its own money to fund the next phase of the project after talks with a consortium of international banks fell through. Negotiations over the £400,000 financial package ended as conditions in the financial market deteriorated. Argent needs to start the next phase of work this month in order to finish the first buildings in

Just St James restaurant, which originally opened in 2000, has been refurbished by owner Peter Gladwyn. The main aim of the £500,000 refurbishment project was to raise the profile of the restaurant, which had been previously screened off behind the adjacent bar. The dining area has now been raised by 1.5m, giving it a stronger visual prsence, and allowing diners to look out onto St James’ Street below. A new

The Leicester Square Co-ownership Group has received approval for its plans to redevelop the south-west corner of Leicester Square in London. The 22,604 sq ft (2,100sq m) site will include a luxury, 240-room hotel, a new two-screen Odeon cinema, four street-level restaurants and cafés, a rooftop restaurant and 33 luxury residential apartments. The site currently houses the existing Odeon West End cinema. Designed by architects Make, the work on the

Plans for a waterside mixed-use development, immediately adjacent to Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, London, has been granted outline planning permission by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The mixed-use project, called Wood Wharf, is a partnership between developers Ballymore Group, the urban regeneration company Canary Wharf Group and the site's owners British Waterways. GVA Grimley is the planning adviser for the development. The site is currently a

Liverpool City Council has approved plans for the £105m redevelopment of the former Lewis's department store. Proposals for mixed-use project at the 420,000sq ft (39,000sq m) Grade II-listed building were passed by the city's planning committee in August. The owners of the site, developer Merepark and property company Capital & Counties, are behind the plans for the redevelopment of the nine-storey building, which will include a music venue, food and

Stirling Council has approved plans for the next phase of the city's £110m Forthside regeneration project. A new city square, a hotel development and a restaurant are part of proposals to redevelop the 40-acre site on the banks of the Forth river. The first phase of the project saw the opening of a new £2.5m, eight-screen, 1,100-seat Vue cinema and two restaurants in January, as well as the construction of

Tampopo, the Manchester-based noodle bar, has opened its sixth restaurant in Bristol as part of the brand's £2.2m expansion. The 104-seat restaurant is located at the new £500m Cabot Circus retail and leisure development in Broadmead. It follows the opening of two Tampopo sites in Manchester in December 2007 – at the Trafford Centre and the Triangle Shopping Centre. The company has also refurbished its first restaurant, which opened at

The £210m mixed-use development of Church Wharf, led by regeneration companies Ask Developments and Bluemantel, has been granted outline planning permission by Bolton Council. The masterplan, designed by careyjones architects, features a 'leisure zone' consisting of a six-screen cinema, up to 10 restaurants, bars and cafés, an 160-bedroom hotel and a series of new pedestrian routes and public spaces. There will also be a business quarter with 340,000sq ft (31.5sq

Lancashire County Cricket Club (LCCC) has unveiled plans for the £200m redevelopment of Old Trafford cricket club in Manchester as part of a larger 50-acre sports-led regeneration scheme. The project, led by a joint partnership between the club, Trafford Council, Ask Developments, Tesco and Stretford High School, will include a 750,000 sq ft (69.6 sq m) development featuring a new 15,000-seat stadium with the capability of rising to 25,000 with

Croydon council has given the go-ahead for a £5m extension and refurbishment of Selsdon Park Hotel & Golf Club in South Croydon, London. The 200-bed hotel, situated in 205-acres of parkland, is soon to acquire a new 88-bed, single-storey development and the existing leisure facilities will be converted into meeting and conference rooms. A new leisure club will also be created to replace the old facilities and will feature an

Construction work has begun on a £12m dual-use sports and social centre – the flagship project of the University of Sunderland's £75m redevelopment of its former city centre Chester Road Campus. Called CitySpace, the centre is designed by architects FaulknerBrowns, and will be a pre-paralympic training site for the 2012 London Games. It will be the official training base for Paralympic sailing, boccia, table tennis, goalball and wheelchair basketball, fencing

The Renaissance Hotel, formerly operated by Marriott, in Reading is to undergo a multi-million pound refurbishment as part of its re-branding as the first UK pentahotel. The Germany-based brand has been created by the property's owner HPI Holdings, which decided to rebrand the hotel when Marriott's management contract expired. As part of the refurbishment, which will take place in the next couple of months, the six-floor hotel will acquire 12

The Skelwith Group plans to make a bid to host the Ryder Cup golf tournament in Yorkshire for the first time since 1957. The developer, which has the backing of Yorkshire Forward and The Yorkshire Tourist Board, plans to submit an official bid to the British and European PGA once its £100m Flaxby Country Club hotel is completed in early 2011. The company hopes to host the Europe v US

Whitbread, the hotel and restaurant operator, will open its first 'green' Premier Inn at Tamworth, Staffordshire, in December. Work on the new site is already underway, and is set to implement a variety of environmental measures designed to reduce energy consumption by as much as 80 per cent. The new hotel will include ground-source heat pumps, which will use the earth's natural energy to cool and heat the hotel, as

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

Property developer The Klin Group has submitted plans for a 27-room boutique hotel and retail complex to East Ayrshire Council in Scotland. The Encore Project, which is expected to cost around £65m, will result in a series of derelict buildings being converted into a five-storey, 40,000sq ft tower, in the Victorian Quarter of Kilmarnock’s town centre. When complete, the building will house restaurants, retail stores and the hotel as part

Work has started on a new £30m destination hotel and spa resort at Tregorrick, near St. Austell, in Cornwall. The Cornwall Hotel, Spa and Estate will be set in a 43-acre area of historic wood and parkland, designed with a natural theme to fit in with the surrounding Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Bristol-based architects AWW designed the new resort, which will see the transformation of a 19th century country

A £122m regeneration plan for south Norwich has received the green light from Norwich City Council. The 45,000sq ft mixed-use development, called Harford Place, is led by developers Targetfollow and includes a leisure complex, restaurants, cafés, a hotel and a 10,000sq ft community art centre with 20 artist studios. When complete, the development will also include residential housing, a public realm and a new public square, which will form the

Budget hotel chain Travelodge has opened Europe's first hotel to be constructed from modified shipping containers. The 120-room property in Uxbridge, London, opened last week and has been built using 86 steel containers which were constructed and fitted in China. Two different sizes of container were used in the hotel's construction, which offers double rooms measuring 5m x 3m, as well as 3.5m x 6m family rooms. Disabled rooms will

The Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel in Chicago, US, has unveiled the first phase of its US$27m (£14.2m, 18m euro) refurbishment. Boston-based Jinnie Kim Design was responsible for the plans, which included transforming all 306 guest rooms, in a "contemporary style that highlights details hearkening back to the hotel's 1920s origination". General manager, Anthony Kinnear, said: "The redesign of our guest accommodation brings our hotel to a level of luxury befitting its