Architects have been appointed for the proposed redevelopment of Helsinki Zoo, on Korkeasaari Island, in Finland. The project is intended to improve the zoo's profile internationally and to develop the island as a centre for education and research concerning nature and conservation. The winning design, called Beluga, was created by French architect group Beckmann-N'Thepe and comprises new animal enclosures and viewing rooms, greenhouses, auditoriums, an outdoor theatre, a reception, offices,

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

New revised plans have been announced to build a £200m tourism and leisure attraction on the site of three former mines in Northumberland. According to Widdrington Regeneration Partnership (WRP), the joint venture behind the scheme, the development will now include a holiday village with chalet accommodation, an indoor leisure complex with a 50m swimming pool, a man-made sailing lake, a 150-room luxury hotel, a health spa and a championship golf

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

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

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 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

A new £18m visitor centre is set to be built at the Giant's Causeway World Heritage Site after the scheme was approved by the Northern Ireland Executive's environment minister, Sammy Wilson. Plans for the new centre, which was designed by Dublin-based architects, heneghan.peng, were submitted by the National Trust in June last year to replace a previous facility destroyed by fire eight years ago. Moyle District Council is also involved

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

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 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 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

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 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

Plans for the redevelopment of the 104-year old Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare have been submitted to North Somerset Council (NSC), five months after the attraction was severely damaged by fire. Bristol-based architect, Angus Meek, was appointed in October by pier owners, Kerry and Michelle Michael, following a design competition for the new pavilion, which will replace the one destroyed in July's blaze. Since the original concept design was unveiled, several

Russia-based MT Development has announced that it will be building a new RUS16.8bn (US$620m, £406m, 472m euro) leisure attraction in the capital Moscow. To be called Freestyle Park, the 280,000sq m (3 million sq ft) sport and leisure destination is expected to attract five million visits annually. The attraction aims to cater for all ages by providing a range of events, from extreme sports to gaming facilities. Activities will include

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

The first phase of the construction of the i360 observation tower, to be located at Brighton's West Pier in south-east England, is underway. Steelwork fabrication of the tower is currently in progress at a factory in Maastricht, the Netherlands, where a total of 660 tonnes of steel plate is currently being rolled into a 3.9-metre wide tube, which will form the 158m-high core of the tower. The team building the

Designs for the redevelopment of the 104-year old Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, have been unveiled. Six architecture firms have put forward their ideas for the future of the Grade-II listed structure, just eight weeks after the attraction was destroyed by a large fire. The designs have been drawn up by four Bristol-based architects – Stride Treglown, Acanthus Ferguson Mann, Angus Meek and AWW, as well as Ray Hole and

The new US$500m (£271.6m) California Academy of Sciences has opened in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Designed by architect Renzo Piano, the main feature of the new academy building is the 2.5-acre (1.01-hectare) 'living roof', featuring 1.7 million native Californian plants and wildflowers. Built as a single 412,000sq ft (38.276sq m) structure, the site contains the Steinhart Aquarium, the Morrison Planetarium, the Kimball Natural History Museum, and a four-storey rainforest

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