The Southbank Centre, London, is to receive funding from Arts Council England to carry out part of the much need conservation project across the site. The £16.7m grant will fund the repair and maintenance of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery. Starting in 2015, the project will begin to address an accumulated backlog of £24m worth of repairs. Arts Council England will meet 70 per cent

Niall McLaughlin Architects (NMA) and Purcell have won a competition to build a new national museum for religion and religious art at Auckland Castle, County Durham. Auckland Castle, considered to be the third most historically-significant ecclesiastical complex in Europe, is in the process of being transformed into a major visitor attraction by its owner, businessman and philanthropist, Jonathan Ruffer. Shortlisted for the 2013 Stirling Prize, NMA will be heading up

In an exclusive interview with AM2, Jamie Christon, MD of Chester Zoo, UK, has revealed the masterplan for the attraction’s second wave of expansion which will follow the completion of the zoo’s Islands project in December this year. Islands will open to the public in May 2015. The 111 acre (50 hectare) zoo has earmarked an additional 389 acres (157.4 hectares) of space for its second wave of development. Christon

The Babcock Galleries at The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard have opened to the public following a £4.5m renovation. The opening coincides with the centenary of the First World War, with the Galleries house to host a new permanent exhibition which explores 100 years of life in the Navy and the personal stories from those who served at sea. The project, led by architects Purcell

Nobu Hospitality – a chain famous for its Michelin-starred sushi, celebrity partners including Robert de Niro, and its glitterati clientele – is opening its first hotel in Europe. The site, located in the Shoreditch area of London, will be built in the chain's signature ‘east meets west’ style. London-based Ben Adams Architects and Californian Studio PCH are collaborating on the overall design of the project. The hotel, currently under construction,

A new £370m mixed-use ‘village’ is to be built in Islington on the site of the former North London Sorting Centre, which has been operated by the Royal Mail since 1904. Developer Sager Group is behind the plans for the 500,000sq ft (46,452sq m) mixed use Islington Square project, which will feature 170,000sq ft (15,794sq m) of retail and leisure space along with 356 residential units. CZWG Architects assisted with

The Two Bunch Palms Spa Resort in California, US will become the first carbon-neutral resort in North America after partnering with the nation’s clean energy provider, Pear Energy. Pear will finance and construct a 550-kW solar photovoltaic (solar panel) installation for the hot spring resort which, when complete, will offset 100 per cent of Two Bunch Palms’ electric power consumption. “With Pear Energy’s support, Two Bunch Palms is expanding the

The luxury Parisian lido and hotel Molitor finally opened on 19 May after being closed for 25 years, with membership to the exclusive health facility limited to 1,000 – of which 100 have already been snapped up. The site is steeped in history and is renowned for hosting the first unveiling of the modern bikini, designed by Louis Réard, during a 1946 fashion show. The €80m (US$109m, £64.8m) renovation took

New images have been released to show how Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium will look once the 6,000-seat stadium expansion is completed. City gained planning permission in February to extend the stadium capacity, with engineering firm Laing O’Rourke overseeing the construction. An integrated Laing O’Rourke Group team will carry out the expansion, with work starting at the beginning of April. Interesting aspects of the new pictures include versatile signage on the

The food and wine-based Evangeline Spa has opened at the gastronomy-focused Epicurean Hotel in South Tampa, Florida. Spa consultants, WTS, organised the layout and interior design of the 2,800sq ft (260sq m) spa, which provides food-based treatments to its guests. They will also manage the spa. The five-treatment room spa includes two couples’ rooms which feature chromatherapy lighting – one including a rain shower for two while the other has

A new Bourbon distillery, which has recently opened in Newport, Ohio, is expecting to bring around 40,000 visitors a year to the visitor attraction side of its business. New Riff Distillery, located near to downtown Cincinnati and which opened on 12 May, is the creation of Ken Lewis – former president of the wine and Spirits Guild of America. Included at the distillery is a private dining room, multiple guest

Philadelphia Zoo has opened a trail for its big cats, allowing them to leave their usual homes and cross an overhead visitor path to enter a second enclosure. The new ‘Big Cat Crossing’, designed by Philadelphia architectural firm CLR Design, is a 330ft (100m) mesh-engineered pathway that extends 14ft (4.2m) above the zoo’s main visitor path, allowing large animals such as tigers, lions and pumas to explore overhead. The first

Melbourne, Australia’s waterfront precinct is set to undergo a major redevelopment, which will include a host of leisure facilities. The City of Melbourne, in partnership with government body Places Victoria, has developed a six-part masterplan which will see the construction of a social hub in an effort to attract more markets, televised sporting events and musical performances to the redeveloped area. The proposal also includes the construction of heritage sheds

An application to list Bristol Rovers stadium in Horfield as a war memorial has been rejected by English Heritage. The club is planning to sell off the stadium, which will be turned into a supermarket, to finance the £40m purchase of a new home ground at Frenchay. There has been significant opposition to the proposed ground switch by a small group of protesters, with a legal battle over Sainsbury’s plans

The Brenners Park Hotel & Spa in Baden Baden, Germany – the flagship property of the Oetker Collection – is on track to open its Villa Stéphanie destination health spa this summer, with 5,000sq m (53,820sq ft) of treatment facilities. In an exclusive interview at SPATEC Europe 2014, Oetker Collection's director of spa development, Hans-Peter Veit, told Spa Opportunities about the five-year project to create “the finest spa in Europe.”

The Brenners Park Hotel & Spa in Baden Baden, Germany – the flagship property of the Oetker Collection – is on track to open its Villa Stéphanie destination health spa this summer, with 5,000sq m (53,820sq ft) of treatment facilities. In an exclusive interview at SPATEC Europe 2014, Oetker Collection's director of spa development, Hans-Peter Veit, told Spa Opportunities about the five-year project to create “the finest spa in Europe.”

The Brenners Park Hotel & Spa in Baden Baden, Germany – the flagship property of the Oetker Collection – is on track to open its Villa Stéphanie destination health spa this summer, with 5,000sq m (53,820sq ft) of treatment facilities. In an exclusive interview at SPATEC Europe 2014, Oetker Collection's director of spa development, Hans-Peter Veit, told Spa Opportunities about the five-year project to create “the finest spa in Europe.”

The CHF 485m (US$545m, €397m, £323m) Bürgenstock Resort at Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, is on track for an opening in Q2 of 2017. The 400-bedroom resort with 68-suites, is owned by Katara Hospitality, which is in turn owned by the state of Qatar. Katara Hospitality Switzerland AG – a subsidiary of Katara Hospitality – is the developer and operator of the Bürgenstock. Of 75 building permits, 71 have already been issued

The five-star Huma Island Resort and Spa, located on the last frontier of the Philippines, opened in April with 15 beach villas, 64 water villas – built on stilts over the beach water – and two presidential suites. The 81 tropical villas are situated on the Diciligan island in Busuanga, Palawan – developed by the owning company, Kuwait-based IHTC. Its subsidiary company in the Philippines, HUMA Corporation renamed the island

The UK’s largest fruit, vegetable and flower market, Covent Garden Market, could be the setting for a £2bn redevelopment featuring 3,000 homes plus a combined 21,000sq m (226,042sq ft) of leisure, office and retail space. Architecture giants BDP and SOM have submitted plans – a “refinement” of the scheme by Foster & Partners and Neil Tomlinson Architects which won planning in 2012 – for the regeneration of the New Covent

The So Spa at the Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa will open in Q3 this year as part of an estimated 12 to 18-month HK$20m (US$2.6m €1.8m, £1.5m) refurbishment of all accommodation, public areas, conference rooms and landscaping. The 215-key property – including suites and villas whose interiors were designed by Ed Tuttle – is a wellness enclave which was purchased by Royal Group Development for refurbishment for HK$210.85m

The Regal Princess, a luxury cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises, will debut on 16 May after completing successful sea trials. The new 141,000-tonne 3,600-passenger ship – sister to the Royal Princess cruise liner which was launched in 2013 – is preparing for its seven-day maiden voyage from Venice to Athens including stops in Corfu, Mykonos and an overnight call in Istanbul. Constructed in the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy,

The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) star, Ferne McCann, officially launched the St Nicholas Café, Bar and Spa in Shrewsbury last night – located within a converted church which dates back to 1865. Ferne McCann, of the BAFTA-winning ITV2 reality TV show, celebrated the launch of all three parts of the mixed-use facility - situated near Shrewsbury Castle. The top floor hosts the bar, the middle floor is home to

J. Mayer H. Architects has been announced as the the winning firm to carry out the proposal for ‘Volt Berlin’ – a new mixed-use development in Berlin’s city centre. Volt Berlin aims to be a new concept for shopping and urban experience within Germany’s capital. Situated near Alexanderplatz, the site is more about providing an exhilarating adventure for the visitor, than reliving the normal confines of a shopping mall. The

UNStudio, a Dutch architectural practice in collaboration with the Hong Kong based AD+RG, has been chosen to design a fifth arts venue in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), Hong Kong. Scheduled for completion in 2019 with schematic designs being released in Q3 of this year, the new 1,200 seat Lyric Theatre will be Hong Kong’s first dedicated facility for dance performances. The venue will also be used for the

The secrets to success for destination spas have been outlined by hospitality consulting firm Horwath HTL in a report which provides an overview of the growing market. Horwath HTL Health and Wellness consulted experts specialising in the design, operations and management of health and wellness-based projects. Unlike traditional resorts, destination spas possess greater internal appeal – including services, specialists, F&B and activities – which makes them more flexible than resorts