A proposal for a five-star luxury lodge at the edge of Sutton on the Forest in Yorkshire, near Easingwold, has been submitted by Yorkshire-based developer Luxury Lodge Group. The £12m (US$18m, €16m) Forest Lakes development plans to feature 46 eco-friendly wooden lodges, a spa, clubhouse, brasserie, delicatessen and village store. If plans go ahead, the site will open by 2016. Developer Luxury Lodge Group, which also plans to manage the

The Castletown Golf Links Hotel, situated on the Langess Peninsula on the Isle of Man is one step closer to redevelopment after closing its doors seven years ago. London-based architecture and design practice, Metropolitan Workshop, has won a competition to redevelop the site, transforming it into a boutique hotel with an accompanying residential development. The £20m (US$30m, €26m) scheme will replace the existing hotel owned by developer Dandara, which purchased

A massive aquarium is at the centre of plans for Casablanca, Morocco, to lure in tourists and locals with a new MAD300m (US$34.8m, €30m, £23m) facility. To feature a variety of aquatic life – including dolphins, sea lions, penguins and sharks – the 15,000sq m (161,500sq ft) aquarium would be built at the Casablanca Marina. The Casablanca-based Al Manar Development Company (AMDC) is behind the plans, which have been inspired

Launching in April, an online crowdfunding campaign is looking for £250,000 (US$383,425, €336,544) to make outdoor swimming in London’s Thames a reality. Plans for an outdoor swimming pool, known as the Thames Baths, have been in the works for a while. Originally designed for a competition “London As It Could Be Now” in early 2014, architecture practice Studio Octopi came up with the initial outline for the project. The practice,

The Le Meridien Columbus hotel has opened in the Joseph, a US$68m (€49m, £40m) mixed-use development in the Short North neighbourhood of Columbus, Ohio, US. Owned and developed by the Columbus-based Pizzuti Companies, the 10-storey high-rise broke ground in August 2013. Le Meridien Columbus, managed by Wischermann Partners, features 135 bedrooms, an in-house restaurant and spa suites. Designed by Miami-based architectural firm Arquitectonica, Le Meridien Columbus houses art from chair

The Coniston Hotel and Country Estate has announced the development of a spa adjacent to the property’s hotel building in the UK's Yorkshire Dales. Set to open in Q4 2015, the 16,500sq ft (1,533sq m) spa will offer views over the estate’s 24 acre (10 hectare) lake. Expected to create at least 35 new jobs for the local market, the new facility will offer a 15m swimming pool, thermal spa

The £80m (US$121m, €104.4m) Jurassica dinosaur attraction proposed inside a limestone quarry in Dorset, UK, could generate £20m (US$30.3m, €26.1m) for the local economy every year, according to the charity behind the planned attraction. If the plans go ahead, the attraction is estimated to bring in 960,000 visitors annually. The subterranean geological park – backed and supported by Sir David Attenborough, the Eden Project's Sir Tim Smit and science writer

Work will begin in Sheffield this July on a new £65m mixed-use development which has received significant backing from a consortium of Chinese investors. Designed by Sheffield-based architects Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson, the New Era Square scheme was given the green light this week by city councillors, who believe the plans show that the city can offer enterprising links with the international community. The 86,100 sq ft (8,000 sq m) development,

Saudi Arabia’s Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) – in collaboration with colleges of excellence at the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) – will train 10,000 young Saudi people in architectural heritage to help professionalise the sector and boost domestic tourism. The ambitious training programme would see the students trained over the next five years in preparation for joining engineering and contracting offices and firms in the Kingdom. In

The field of architects competing to design the revamp of the Sydney Modern art gallery in New South Wales, Australia, has been narrowed down to five architects for stage two of the competition. The final five shortlisted architects are Tokyo-based Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA; Kengo Kuma & Associates - also from Tokyo; Perth’s Kerry Hill Architects; Mumbai-based Rahul Mehrotra Architects; and Melbourne’s Sean Godsell Architects. “Our vision

Minnesota Children’s Museum has revealed new renderings for its US$28m (€24.1m, £18.4m) expansion, designed to reimagine existing galleries, plus add new amenities and engaging activities for visitors. The expansion will increase the museum’s size to around 74,000sq ft (6,874sq m) and will include new interactive exhibits for children. Additional exhibits will include expanded air and water play space, as well as a new obstacle course comprising a four-storey climbing structure,

Toledo Zoo in Ohio is entering the final stages of a three-year, US$25m (€21.5m, £16.4m) renovation of its aquarium, which has seen the interior of the historic facility completely renovated. The aquarium, which first opened in 1939, was closed in 2012 for the renovations. The new development has almost tripled the amount of water inside the aquarium. The aquarium’s new saltwater Pacific Reef holds 90,000 gallons of water – nearly

Milford Hall Hotel, a Georgian mansion dating back to the 1800s just a short drive from Stonehenge, UK, is adding a £500,000 (US$756,200, €652,300) spa to its four-star amenities. The property is owned by Hughes Hotels, which has brought in consultancy Spa Creators to create the Lime Spa – expected to open in May 2015. Alistair Johnson, managing director of Spa Creators, spoke exclusively to Spa Opportunities, detailing the company’s

Global design firm PGAV Destinations, which won accolades for Chimelong Ocean Kingdom last year, has announced a completely different type of project. Following on from the blockbuster Chinese theme park comes a change of pace, as the practice starts work on California wild animal rescue centre Big Bear Alpine Zoo. PGAV has been commissioned to redesign the facility, which is being relocated to a nearby site. The zoo originally opened

Prime Minister David Cameron has fired the starter pistol on plans for a £400m (US$608m, €525m) leisure, health, sport and education destination on a reclaimed opencast mining site in Chesterfield. On a recent visit to the US, the UK premier announced a raft of bilateral investment deals worth more than £1.1bn (US$1.7bn, €1.4bn), with Chesterfield being the standout story. The Peak Resort project aims to bring together leading hospitality, university,

Aman Resorts, known for its high-end hotels in exotic locations, has opened its first urban property, an 84-bedroom hotel in Tokyo’s financial district. The Aman Tokyo is the company’s first Japanese venture and occupies the top six floors of The Otemachi Tower. Kerry Hill Architects was in charge of the interior design, which mirrors local cultures and traditions, with shoji paper sliding doors and a Japanese engawa porch. Two floors

George Lucas has said that his proposed legacy museum to be built on the Chicago lakefront could end up going to Los Angeles, after the project met with opposition from an open space campaign group. Last year Lucas picked Chicago over both San Francisco and Los Angeles, with Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti strongly pushing for the museum to come to his city. In November, a federal judge put a

Operator Swire Hotels is set to unveil a 100-bedroom hotel and 42 adjoining serviced apartments in Chengdu, China, this May. The project forms part of the city government’s conservation project to preserve the surrounding heritage buildings, which are integral to the success of a wider mixed-use development. The Temple House will be located within the Chengdu Daci Temple Cultural and Commercial Complex, a joint venture to be developed by Sino-Ocean

The City of Miami has approved US$9m (€7.8m, £6m) in tax subsidies for the upcoming US$430m (€371m, £283m) SkyRise tower – an entertainment complex topped by a 1,000ft (304m) observation tower. Located next to the American Airline Arena and Miami’s Bayside Marketplace, the tower itself is expected to be the second-tallest observation tower in the US, after Las Vegas’ 1,148ft (350m) Stratosphere Tower. Also set to be included is a

The Gateway to Science Center in Bismarck, North Dakota, is planning a new US$40m (€34m, £26.3m) facility to expand its target audience from children to people of all ages. Overlooking the Missouri River, the new space will morph the centre from a hands-on children's facility to one that benefits visitors young and old. Scheduled to open in Q1 of 2017, the 65,000sq ft (6,000sq m) facility will sit on a

The Condado Vanderbilt Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico has reached the completion of the second stage of its revival, including the addition of luxury guestrooms and a spa. The US$200m (€149m, £118m) revitalisation of the five-star property, built in 1919 by Frederick William Vanderbilt, has taken 10 years. The hotel was originally designed by Warren and Wetmore, the architectural firm known for Grand Central Station and the New York

Bill Hellmuth, president of global architecture practice HOK is “excited” by the firm’s recent re-entry into the sports sector. Speaking to Sports Management, Hellmuth said the acquisition of sports specialist 360 Architecture, which will form part of a new global practice called HOK Sports + Recreation + Entertainment, has “filled a void” in HOK’s operations. “It’s great to be back in sports,” he said. “It’s a piece of our practice

One of Germany’s longest autobahns is to undergo a major transformation – sections of the A7 will be covered over, allowing for the creation of parks, meadows, woods, cycleways and gardens on the newly-created ‘roof’. Excessive noise pollution caused by increased traffic has been affecting the town of Hamburg – the solution is to send a stretch of the road underground. Reinhard Schier, from Hamburg’s Ministry of Urban Development and

The first Virgin-branded hotel has opened in Chicago’s Loop district in the 26-storey Old Dearborn Bank Building, originally designed by architecture firm Rapp and Rapp. The Art Deco building, a Chicago landmark, has 250 guestrooms, including 40 one-bedroom suites and two Penthouse Suites. There are four restaurants – three of which are scheduled to open between February and April of this year. The hotel’s spa will open in Q2 and

Plans to convert a 1926 art deco cinema in London into a luxury residential development have been rejected by Kensington & Chelsea Council, following a firm word from London's favourite fictional detective. Squire and Partners’ plans for the site has been in the works since 2007, when planning permission was originally granted. However, the 'Save Kensington Odeon' campaign brought the development to a standstill following its most recent plea, which

Rockliffe Hall in Darlington is investing approximately £1m in various projects to expand its hospitality and leisure facilities and a portion of those funds will include the creation of a spa garden that will sit adjacent to the existing 13- treatment room wellness centre. The five-star resort, which features 61 bedrooms and two luxury houses, will add a 200sq m (2,153sq ft) spa garden area that will include an infinity

The 67-key Baglioni Hotel London facing Kensington Gardens has completed a full renovation of its spa, designed by Milanese architects Rebosio+Spagnulo. Open to both hotel guests and external clients, the Baglioni Spa offers female and male Turkish baths and three treatment rooms for massages, facial and body treatments, with products from Natura Bissé. Natura Bissé has developed unique signature facial and body treatments for the Baglioni spa, such as a