Scunthorpe United Football Club (SUFC) has submitted a planning application to the North Lincolnshire Council for a new £18m stadium located west of Scunthorpe. The 12,000-seater stadium is set to be developed as part of the mixed-use Lincolnshire Lakes project – which is spearheaded by Lucent Group and will include 3,500 new houses, a commercial park, a school and a transport hub. The designs and masterplan for the stadium have

A hotel that has been constructed inside an old mechanical crane has recently opened in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The crane, situated in a former harbour, was set for demolition when its 50m (164ft) high structure fell into disuse. Since then, the hunk of metal has been transformed into the luxury Hotel Faralda, offering three suites and a hot tub with impressive views of Amsterdam perched near the top of the

Spa design consultancy and equipment manufacturer Thermarium Bäder-Bau is working on a three-storey spa outside Oslo, Norway, which is set to open at the end of 2015. The Canica Spa Complex, funded by a private investor, is part of a 6,230sq m (67,059sq ft) leisure development being developed by Canica AS. The day spa will measure 3,700sq m (39,826sq ft). Thermarium is providing the concept, engineering, interior design and final

Plans to restore a Grade II-listed lido in Reading, UK, have been approved by councillors. Thames Lido Ltd is in charge of the £3m (US$4.5m, €3.8m) development of the Kings Meadow Baths lido and spa, having been granted a 250-year lease by the local council in July 2014. Mark Thwaites, general manager of Lido Bristol – which Thames Lido reopened in 2008 – spoke exclusively to Spa Opportunities to reveal

West Ham United Football Club (WHU) will begin selling season tickets for the 2016-17 season – its first at the Olympic Stadium – this April. The club announced that the seat selection process for current season ticket holders will run from April 2015 to February 2016. Those who want to guarantee their seats at the 54,000-capacity arena for WHU’s first game in August 2016 will also have to commit to

The Arizona Biltmore, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, has completed the remodeling and renovation of its 22,000sq ft (2,044sq m) spa facility – part of the multi-million dollar revamp of the property previously known as the Grand Dame of Phoenix. Originally built in 1929, Waldorf Astoria has kept the architectural features designed by Frank Lloyd Wright intact. The 740-bedroom resort’s spa has undergone floor-to-ceiling interior remodeling and is now home to

The Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh at Kingdom Centre has opened its newly renovated men’s spa, designed by GA Design International. Akram Kawasmeh, senior director of spa for Four Seasons in the Middle East and Africa, spoke exclusively to Spa Opportunities – detailing the SAR10m (US$2.7m, €2.3m, £1.8m) refurbishment that started at the end of May 2014 and ended in December 2014. The 274-bedroom hotel occupies 11 floors of the tallest

Global facility management giant SMG, in partnership with Live Nation, has been named as the preferred bidder to operate the 12,000-seat Bristol Arena when it opens in 2017. The Bristol Arena, set become the UK’s largest indoor arena, will be located at an old oil depot site near the city’s Temple Meads Station and is expected to cost around £95m to build. A multi-use venue, the arena will be capable

The greenhouse at the top of the controversial Rafael Viñoly-designed Walkie Talkie skyscraper, has opened to the public for the first time Officially known as 20 Fenchurch Street, the tower, which made headlines last year after solar glare coming off the tower melted parts of parked cars, has a public space in the shape of the Sky Garden on the 35th, 36th and 37th floors, which is open to everyone

The city of Vilnius in Lithuania is stepping up its push into the European ski market with the announcement it will build a new cultural/sports venue – the Vilnius Beacon – with design by Studio Libeskind. This is the first ski resort by the practice. The development is backed by the City of Vilnius, the State Trade Co and Start Vilnius Co, which took over responsibility for the location –

Danish architecture firm 3XN has revealed renderings of its designs for the new Olympic Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. 3XN was chosen to design the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) new base in April 2014 following an international competition. The practice fought off eleven other high-profile outfits to win the competition. These included London-based Amanda Levete Architects, New Yorkers OMA, Diller Scofidio and Renfro, to name a few. Called ‘Olympic Unity House’,

Work is underway on what is being billed as “the world’s largest eco-theme park” – a US$240m (E202.2m, £158.5m) development – called Funtasy Island – which will be located on Indonesia’s Riau Islands, near Singapore. Set to open in late 2015, eight key “eco-zones” are currently under construction in the 3sq km (1.2sq m) development, including a multi-sensory rainforest. There will also be land- and river-based safaris, snorkel and scuba

Four US universities are currently battling it out to host Barack Obama’s US$500m (€419.5m, £329m) presidential library – a repository for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every President of the United States since Herbert Hoover in 1929. The President and first lady will choose one location from either the University of Chicago, Columbia University in New York, the University of Illinois in

Carlson Rezidor plans to open a new Radisson Blu branded hotel, complete with a balneotherapy-centric spa, in the French city of Bordeaux – the wine capital city of the world. The 125-bedroom Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa Bordeaux will be built north of the city’s UNESCO-protected centre as part of ‘Les Bassins à Flots’ – a mixed-use complex that is currently the largest real estate development in France: facilitated by

As part of the first ever Chicago Architecture Biennial, starting in October 2015, a lakefront architecture competition has been announced. This competition aims to bring attention to Lake Michigan’s bustling shoreline and offers participants a chance to create “an iconic work of architecture that will attract visitors and enliven the lakefront all year round.” As a celebrated public space in Chicago, the lakefront is currently features over twenty miles of

The Dalian Wanda group has launched its latest theme park project – a US$1bn (€839m, £659m) movie park in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Designed by Stufish Entertainment Architects and located at either end of Wuhan’s cultural district – an US$8bn (€6.7bn, £5.3bn) development project in the city – the indoor movie theme park comprises six attractions which combine 3D effects, live actors, props, stunts and special effects. The park

Subsequent to winning a competition to revamp Oldham Coliseum in 2013, Dutch practice Mecanoo has submitted plans to transform the building into a new heritage centre and theatre. Mecanoo, which has offices in nearby Manchester as well as overseas, had a busy year in 2014. Back in February, Francine Houben, Mecanoo’s creative director and founding partner was awarded Woman Architect of the Year 2014. Following this, one of the practices’

Following a two-year fundraising campaign, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) is closing in on its financial target to build a 235,000sq ft (21,800sq m) new wing. The US$610m (€513m, £401m) figure would fund the new wing – which would house works by the likes of Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and David Hockney – and secure the future of the museum for many years to come. The expanded

The Six Senses Zil Pasyon resort, located on the private island of Félicité in the Seychelles, is scheduled to open in July 2015 with a Six Senses Spa and a yoga pavilion on the granite boulders that punctuate the shoreline. Designed by Richard Hywel Evans of Studio RHE, the resort will comprise 28 one-bedroom villas, two two-bedroom villas and 17 private residences – all with private pools. Six Senses will

MOBO Architects has won a design competition to refurbish vertical and horizontal access structures of a UNESCO-protected fortress in Cartagena, Colombia. The London-based practice will revamp the 20,000sq m (215,000sq ft) area that surrounds the walled, colonial city with the aim of creating a pleasant walking tour through the city’s bastions and walls. The winning proposal offers a series of urban interventions that will unify the existing disparate structures and

Swiss-based architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron is working on plans to increase the capacity of Chelsea Football Club’s Stamford Bridge ground in west London in partnership with London-based practice Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands. The club wants to expand from the current 41,837 seats, to a 60,000 seat capacity, following the recommendations of a feasibility study undertaken in June 2014. At the time, the club said: “The study will assess the

Damian Rogers Architecture, in partnership with Arup, has unveiled a concept for a beach and surf park for Melbourne’s Central Pier, Australia. The development would be based on a floating wave pool, with filtered water from Victoria Harbour, and a sandy beachfront. Offering surfers a chance to catch waves between 1-1.8m (3-6ft) high, the heated wave pool would be one of several attractions in the 16,000sq m (172,222sq ft) development.

Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has signed a memorandum of understanding with developers Summit Group of Nepal to collaborate on the first of four hotels to be built across the country as part of a development rollout. The five-star Leela Kathmandu – designed by John Gerondolis of Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates of Atlanta, US – will be the first hotel created by the partners, to capitalise on tourism

French architecture firm Valode & Pistre is set to break ground on what would become Africa’s tallest skyscraper in June 2015. Planned for a yet to be confirmed site in Morocco, the building will be more than 500m (1,640ft) tall and have 114 floors representative of the number of chapters found in the Quran. More than just an incredibly tall tower, the building will also have a luxury shopping area,

Plans to create a €400 million (£314m, $489m) metropolitan theme park on the outskirts of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, are being developed by a caucus of leading design firms. The project – Park 21 – would be a 1,000-hectare (3,000 acre) cultural, recreational urban parkland, with landscaped and leisure elements. Facilities such as shops, restaurants, hotels and attractions are central to the proposal, which would offer a ‘cluster concept’ where visitors

Virgin Hotels and owner/developer Lam Group have revealed building designs for their first project together in New York City, expected to open in 2017. VOA Architecture has been appointed as architect and interior designer for the new structure, which includes a street-long high-end retail space, 457 guest rooms, multiple food and beverage outlets – including a rooftop bar – plus an outdoor pool and spa. The spa’s details have not

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has reopened its American art wing following a US$7.9m (€6.4m, £5m) two-year redevelopment. The 15,000sq ft (1,400sq m) area has undergone a full renovation, which now sees artworks arranged chronologically with the aim of demonstrating how American artists were involved with art coming from overseas. The wing’s unveiling also coincides with the reopening of the building’s main entrance, the neoclassically-designed John Russell Pope entrance,