Monmouth's Savoy Theatre and the Animal Wall - part of the Cardiff Castle complex - are among 24 historic buildings to receive a share of nearly £1m from the Welsh Assembly Government. The Savoy Theatre - one of the oldest venues of its kind in Wales - is set to benefit from repair restoration work to its front elevation after securing more than £39,000 as part of the funding package.

A new multimedia experience has opened at Yan City, a mixed-use development in China's Chun Zhu Province that includes a number of attractions. Called Yan Yu Chun Qiu Water Show, the new attraction was designed in partnership by Australia-based multimedia company Spinifex Group and Chinese directors Han Lixun and Yvonne Ho. The 45-minute water show features Spinifex's multimedia rendering of "The Past Meets the Future." The content begins on the

The US$72m (€55, £46m) renovation project of Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose, California, US. has been awarded LEED gold by the US Green Building Council. The attraction is one of the first in the country to be certified LEED gold, which is given in recognition that a building project meets the "highest green building and performance measures". Points towards the award are earned across six categories: sustainable

Liverpool City Council (LCC) has given its approval to a £4.5bn regeneration scheme designed to transform Birkenhead Docks into a major new waterside destination. The 18 million sq ft (1.7 million sq m) Wirral Waters project is being led by the Manchester-based developer, Peel Holdings, and will incorporate a range of restaurants, cafés, bars, a hotel and cultural attractions. Individual architects have been involved with the design of different elements

Archial Architects has completed a £640,000 refurbishment and gym extension at the University of Essex in Colchester. The project is part of a larger £1.4m upgrade of the facility. The new two-storey extension to the sports centre's existing gym marks the completion of the first stage of the University's Strategic Sports Development Plan. The project has seen a new 130-station fitness suite being installed at the ground floor, while facilities

One of China's most iconic hotels, the Peace Hotel on Shanghai's Bund, has reopened as the Fairmont Peace Hotel after a three-year redevelopment programme. The 11-storey hotel, which first opened on 1 August, 1929 and was the city's first high-rise, was widely known as the 'Number One mansion in the Far East', due to its prime location on the Bund and for its luxury. In its new guise, the property

Will Deague, founder of the Australia-based Art Series Hotels, has revealed details of the group's expansion plans. The group currently operates two hotels - The Cullen in Melbourne and The Olsen in South Yarra - and is currently preparing to open its third site, called The Blackman, in Melbourne next month (August 2010). Deague said that the group will open three more hotels in Melbourne over the next 12 months.

Construction work has begun on a new leisure centre in Lewisham. The Loampit Vale Leisure Centre will include two swimming pools - an eight-lane, 25m competition pool and a 20m training pool - a 100-station fitness club, two group exercise studios, a climbing wall, a crèche and a café. Plans also include a full-service health and beauty spa. The centre has been designed by LA Architects, who worked with specialist

Doncaster Council has revealed the design of a new £22.5m performance venue that is set to become the "cultural anchor" of a new £300m civic and cultural quarter for the town. Plans include a 600-seat main auditorium across two levels to ensure that audiences can get close to the action, while a second flexible space is set to be able to accommodate 200 seated or 400 standing spectators. Dance and

The Kentish Town Sports Centre in London reopened yesterday (26 July) following a comprehensive £25m redevelopment of the Grade II-listed Victorian building. Facilities at the new centre include three swimming pools, a 90-station health and fitness club equipped by Technogym, a Kinesis area, a Power Plate zone, a large group exercise studio and a Wii Fit interactive zone. Work also included the refurbishment of the centre’s heritage features – such

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has reopened following a 3-year, US$100m (£64.5m, €77m) redevelopment programme involving new galleries, orientation facilities and public spaces. Led by James Carpenter Design Associates of New York and Efrat-Kowalsky Architects of Tel Aviv, the project also included the renovation and reconfiguration of the museum's three collection wings and the reinstallation of its encyclopedic collections. The museum's architectural footprint has increased considerably since its opening in

Steven Holl Architects has received international architecture awards for the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Herning, Denmark, and the Knut Hamsun Center in Hamarøy, Norway. The awards, administered annually by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Center for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies, recognise "new and cutting-edge design" and aim to promote "excellence in architecture and urbanism from a global point-of-view." The Herning

The Courtyard Charleston/Summerville in South Carolina, US is to be the first hotel built using Marriott International's 'green' hotel prototype. The development, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), will dramatically accelerate the company's goal to have 300 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) hotels by 2015. Marriott's prototype is the first in the hospitality industry to have been pre-approved by USGBC as part of its LEED

Reigate and Banstead Borough Council (RBBC) has appointed Holland-based Pellikaan Construction to build a new £7.5m leisure centre on the site of a former school in Horley, Surrey. Work is due to start on the demolition of existing buildings at Court Lodge Secondary School in late September in order to enable construction work on the S&P Architects-designed facility to get underway in November. A six-lane, 25m swimming pool with ramped

HRH The Duke of Gloucester has officially opened the new £21m Carnegie Pavilion at Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Designed by architect Will Alsop, the dual-use facility has been developed as the result of a partnership between Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC). YCCC will use the facility during the summer holidays as a cricket pavilion, which will boast a media centre, improved

Netherlands-based architect Erick van Egeraat has won an international design competition and secured the commission for the VTB Arena Park in Moscow. The 300,000sq m VTB Arena Park will include the complete redevelopment of the home of Dinamo Moscow football club. The mixed-use project is set to be one of the largest sport projects in Russia in recent years. VTB Bank will provide an investment of around €500m (US$644m, £421m)

Plans to replace the Victoria Leisure Centre in Sneinton, Nottingham, with a new £9m facility have been given the final approval by central government. The plans were given the greenlight by Nottingham City Council in June, but as the building is located within a conservation area and is owned by the council, the plans required the approval of Eric Pickles, the secretary of state for Communities and Local Government. Designs

The Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany - Jüdisches Museum Berlin - is to get an extension designed by original architect Daniel Libeskind, after the sale of land for the project was approved by current owners Berliner Grossmarkt GmbH. The museum is to build an academy housing a library, archives, educational spaces and offices on the site of the former flower market adjacent to its Kreuzberg premises in central Berlin. Construction

Museum buildings in Oxford and Berlin, a new art gallery in Rome and a live/work development in Shoreditch, east London, have made it onto the shortlist for the £20,000 RIBA Stirling Prize 2010. Included are the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Neues Museum in Berlin; MAXXI, National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome; and Bateman's Row, London. The shortlist is completed by two schools - Christ's College School, Guildford, and Clapham Manor

Oslo, Norway-based architects Snøhetta have been appointed to design a new US$250m (£164m) expansion to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). The project, first announced in April last year, will incorporate additional gallery space and interior improvements in the museum's Third Street building, together with an extension on Howard Street - to the south - that will connect to the back of the existing museum along the southern

Oldham Athletic Football Club's (OAFC) plans for a new stadium development have moved forward after consultancy Sports Solutions GB was appointed to deliver the £20m scheme. The npower League One club announced plans to relocate to a 30-acre (12.1-hectare) site at Failsworth last year as part of a major regeneration project to be carried out in partnership with Oldham Council. A new 12,000-capacity venue to replace OAFC's existing Boundary Park

The £12.6m redevelopment of Leatherhead Leisure Centre, Surrey, has entered its final phase after work on the new build element of the scheme was completed. A new 439sq m (4,725sq ft) fitness suite and aerobics studio, sauna and steamrooms, three therapy rooms and a four-court multi-use games area are among the new facilities at the venue, which is operated on behalf of the Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) by leisure

Haringey Council has approved plans for the transformation of Hornsey Town Hall into a multi-million pound arts centre for Crouch End, London. The redevelopment of the Grade II*-listed building - originally designed by architect Reginald Uren and opened during the 1930s - received the green light from the council's planning committee on 12 July. John McAslan and Partners is behind designs for the new-look Hornsey Town Hall, which will incorporate

Brentwood-based contractor McLaren Construction has been appointed to deliver Tottenham Hotspur Football Club's (THFC) new £45m training facility at Bulls Cross, London. The facility, which has been designed by KSS Design Group, is set to be used by the club's first team and academy squads and will incorporate a 70m x 50m (230ft x 164ft) indoor artificial pitch. A fitness centre and gym; changing rooms; medical facilities; a canteen and

Glenn Howells Architects (GHA) has been appointed to draw up plans for the £11m transformation of Edgbaston Priory Tennis Club in Birmingham, following a design competition. A planning application is due to be submitted later this year for the project, which will include a new performance centre, six new indoor courts, a new gym and a revamped clubhouse, as well as a new showcase court. The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA)

Tate's plans for a major multi-million pound redevelopment of its original London gallery - Tate Britain - have been given the green light by the local authority. Westminster City Council (WCC) has approved the scheme, which is set to cost around £45m and is designed to improve the attraction's galleries and conserve the 19th century Sidney Smith-designed building. Core visitor areas will be remodelled and renovated in order to open

A new £12m conference and events venue at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester - the home of Lancashire Cricket Club (LCCC) - has been officially opened. The Point, which forms part of a wider overhaul of the venue, can cater for up to 1,000 people and boasts a mezzanine bar area. Manchester-based BDP Architects designed the facility, which was built by Morgan Ashurst. Plans for the second phase of