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

Work is reportedly set to begin this month on a project which will see Dubai's Wonderland theme and water park transformed with the addition of new rides, water attractions, hotels, restaurants spas and retail outlets. The DH615m (£90m, US$167m, AUD$192m, 113m euro) development is designed to be a smaller-scale version of the Disneyland and Universal Studios theme parks in the United States. The work is scheduled for completion in 2010.

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

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

Merlin Entertainments Group is to unveil a US$55m (£27.6m, AUD$56.4m, 37.4m euro) Madame Tussauds wax museum in Hollywood, USA, next spring. The three-storey, 40,000sq ft property has been designed by Michael Rotondi of JAG/RoTo Architects and will be the ninth museum in the Madame Tussauds worldwide portfolio. It will be located on Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive and is the first time a new-build property has been specifically created for

From 26 July, once the last housemates have been evicted, the Australian Big Brother house will be available for corporate rentals and parties. The house is located at Dreamworld theme park on Queensland's Gold Coast. "Having an event at the Big Brother House is like holding a function at Australia's most well known address," said Deborah Holland, Dreamworld's National Sales Manager - Groups & Events. "The only other house in

Plans have been announced to build a new £70m world wildlife reserve in Bristol, south-west England. The proposed 55-hectare National Wildlife Conservation Park (NWCP) will be situated on the outskirts of the city, and is scheduled to open in 2012 providing the "first conservation-led visitor attraction of its kind in the UK." Bristol Zoo Gardens, which is behind the plans, hopes to "establish a more influential position in the global

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

New £4bn plans for Battersea Power Station in London have been revealed. The disused, Grade II-listed building has been the subject of redevelopment schemes since 1984, but none of the plans have come to fruition. Now, details of yet another new project – the brainchild of Irish group Treasury Holdings, which bought the site in 2006 for 595m euro (then £400m) – have been announced. Real Estate Opportunities (REO) –

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,

Chester Zoo could undergo expansion works that would see the site triple in size. Leisure Concepts, a design and architecture firm, has put forward a concept proposal for the zoo. The designs include increasing the size of the site to 140 hectares and adding a hotel. The proposal also includes plans for four habitat environments, which would “take visitors on geographic journey”, and a number of water rides that would

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 2008 World’s Fair is to begin in Saragossa, Spain, later this month. Called Expo Zaragoza, the Spanish spelling of the city, the 93-day event will have the topic of 'Water and Sustainable Development' and is being coordinated by the Bureau of International Expositions. Featuring buildings designed by Zaha Hadid (the Bridge Pavilion, which is expected to be turned into a museum after the event) and Enrique de Teresa (the

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