Plans for a new public square at Nottingham's Sneinton Market have been put on display. Local residents were given the opportunity to have their say on the Patel Taylor-designed proposals – part of a wider £6.8m scheme to improve links with the city's eastside – at a Nottingham City Council (NCC) event held on 24 April. The public square, which will create a space for events, festivals and performances, is

The former Express Lift Tower in Northampton, UK, is the subject of a planning application to Northampton Borough Council which seeks to turn the 418.1ft (127.45m) structure into a tourist attraction. The proposal, by local developer Peter Sullivan, would see alterations to the tower involving the provision of a high level maintenance gantry and panoramic lift on its external surface, with a two-storey visitor centre at its base. The latter

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is to add a 3.5 acre, USS$30m park - the North Campus - to its site on Exposition Boulevard in Los Angeles, US. Scheduled to open in July 2011, North Campus - a collaboration between the museum itself; Jorge de la Cal, AIA, of CO Architects, Don Webb of the Cordell Corporation; and Mia Lehrer + Associates - will increase the visitor

A new masterplan for a major mixed-use redevelopment of the 12.8-acre (5.2-hectare) Chelsea Barracks project in Westminster, London, has been revealed. Middle East-based developer Qatari Diar is leading the multi-million pound scheme, which has been drawn up by Dixon Jones architects; Squire and Partners; and Kim Wilkie Associates. A boutique hotel, a community sports facility, public art and a medical centre form part of the residential-led scheme, along with some

Electric Hotel - a new 'pop-up' temporary dance work designed to involve the audience in a voyeur role - is set to embark on a UK tour from 7 May. London's Sadler's Wells theatre and outdoor festival consortium Without Walls co-commissioned the performance, which will be taking place in a number of public open spaces. Debuting at Millennium Place in Norwich between 7-9 May, the Electric Hotel concept will see

The former 3-pool swimming baths at Knowsley on Merseyside are to be demolished to make way for a new shopping development. The findings of a consultation document sent by Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council to residents and businesses in Kirkby asking for their views on the future development of the town, revealed that seven out of 10 of the respondents rated new retail facilities and a food superstore as their top

Dorset-based contractor Greendale Construction has started work on a £5.5m scheme to restore a historic Grade II-listed castle near Swanage. Durlston Castle, situated at the heart of Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve, is set to be returned to full public use as a new visitor centre. The castle, which is due to reopen in summer 2011, will provide a new eastern gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage

Plans drawn up by architects Stanton Williams have been chosen for a new public square as part of Network Rail's £500m redevelopment of King's Cross station. The London-based firm was selected after holding off more than 100 architects and urban design practices who submitted designs for the project, which will create one of the capital's largest public squares. Network Rail has set aside around £6m for the 7,000sq m (75,347sq

English Heritage has pledged support for the £5.5bn renovation of London's Battersea Power Station, in a letter to Wandsworth Council. The news will be a welcome boost to Irish developers, Treasury Holdings, who, with their Rafael Viñoly-designed scheme, are the latest in a long line of firms that have tried to rejuvenate the site. The letter said: “As a long-standing 'Building at Risk', we welcome the plans for the reuse

Hotel operator Fairmont has revealed that London's Savoy Hotel will not reopen until late summer after a major renovation of the 120-year-old property hit further delays. A spokesperson for the company said it had yet to confirm a specific date for the relaunch, which was originally scheduled for May 2009 after the hotel closed in December 2007 to allow work to take place. Initial costs for the renovation project, which

Almost exactly 12 years after the idea was originally mooted, the first theme park in Europe devoted to plant life has opened near Angers in France's north western Anjou region. Terra Botanica is an €83m (£73m, US$113m) edutainment concept inviting visitors to discover the world of plant life - be it symbolic, historic, geographic, economic, scientific or aesthetic - through a series of displays, animated sets and interactive attractions set

A new £25m leisure complex being developed in Harlow, Essex, will not be completed until mid-to-late April after the contractor delivering the scheme reported further delays. Forming part of the wider Harlow Gateway regeneration project, the Harlow Leisurezone was initially due to be handed over to Gateway partners by Christmas 2009 but is now not set to open until May. An issue with the installation of fire dampers meant Abingdon-based

Australia-based operator Art Series Hotels, unveiled its latest property on 10 March with the launch of the company's flagship Olsen Hotel in Melbourne, Australia. The AU$90m (£54.2m, €60.1m, US$82m) hotel, which was designed by Melbourne-based architects Rothelowman, is situated on the junction of Toorak Road and Daly Street in the suburb of South Yarra. Dedicated to Australian artist Dr John Olsen, the 16-storey property boasts 229 bedrooms, a glass-bottomed swimming

A turf-cutting ceremony has been held to mark the start of work on a major £2.5m sculptured human landform as part of a new 29-hectare (71.7-acre) park in Northumberland. Designs for the Northumberlandia project, which will be located on land donated by The Blagdon Estate at Shotton, near Cramlington, were drawn up by artist Charles Jencks. Developer The Banks Group is leading the scheme, which will see the shape of

Hornsey Town Hall is set to be transformed into a major new multi-million pound arts centre in Crouch End, London, under proposals submitted by Haringey Council. Plans for the renovation of the Grade II*-listed building, which was initially designed by Reginald Uren and opened during the 1930s, have been drawn up by architects John McAslan and Partners. Capita Symonds has been appointed to project manage the Hornsey Town Hall redevelopment,

Hadley Wood Youth Trust (HWYT) has secured planning permission for new community sports facilities at Hadley Wood, north London. Designed by AndArchitects, the scheme will include the development of a full-size, floodlit artificial grass pitch, sports pavilion with four changing rooms, an education suite, kitchen, multi-function room and a number of grass pitches. As well as the local community, the facilities will be used by a number of further education

Efforts to renovate Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre have taken a step forward after Royal Court Liverpool Trust (RCLT) was awarded a 30-year lease to operate the venue. The trust will now be able to move forward plans to raise funds for a £10.6m renovation of the Grade II-listed building, following Liverpool City Council confirmed its decision on 26 March. Designs drawn up by London-based architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)

More than 10 million litres of water are being used to test the three concrete pools at the London 2012 Aquatics Centre, which remains on track for completion in 2011. Testing of the dive pool and training pool has been completed, with the competition pool due to be filled before work starts to seal and line the pools with 180,000 tiles. Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins said: "The

The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, US, will open its 127,000sq ft (11,800sq m) extension to the public on 24 April. The new single-storey building, designed by New York-based Thomas Phifer of Thomas Phifer and Partners, was created specifically to showcase the gallery's permanent collection of more than 5,000 pieces of art spanning antiquity to the present day. Surrounded by sculpture gardens and pools, the expansion project will

Netherlands-based The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has won a competition for a major expansion to the Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec (MNBAQ) in Quebec, Canada. The 12,000sq m new building, effectively three overlapping boxes, will be situated at the point where downtown Quebec City meets Battlefields Park and form the company's first built project in Canada. The design, led by OMA partners Shohei Sigematsu and Rem Koolhaas in

A new £19.1m tourist attraction is set to be created at the Olympic Park in London after plans for the 115m (377ft)-tall sculpture - the ArcelorMittal Orbit - were commissioned. London-based artist Anish Kapoor was selected by mayor Boris Johnson, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and ArcelorMittal chair and chief executive officer Lakshmi Mittal for the scheme. The sculpture - set to become the largest in the UK - will be

Olympic Stadium poised for Dubai move A consortium of Middle East-based investors have launched an audacious bid to move London's Olympic Stadium to Dubai after the 2012 Games. The Al-Shera consortium claimed the proposal would offer "an effective solution" to an ongoing debate over what the stadium should be used for in legacy mode. West Ham United Football Club (WHUFC) has already signalled its plans to move to the East

Architectural practice Foster + Partners has confirmed that the Hermitage Plaza mixed-use development for La Défense in Paris will open by the end of 2014. Designed by Foster + Partners, the twin tower buildings of Hermitage Plaza will take the form of interlocking triangles which face one another and enclose a large public piazza. As the towers rise, they will turn outwards to offer sweeping views across the city from

The city of Donetsk in the Ukraine is soon to be home to what is claimed to be the largest aluminium-domed waterpark in the world. Scheduled to open in August 2011, the dome over the Royal Marine Aquapark - a joint venture between the city of Donetsk and a consortium of private sector investors - is being built by Oakville, Ontario, Canada-based OpenAire, a specialist in retractable roofing systems. At

Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have been awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize for architecture for 2010. The pair, who together own the SANAA architectural firm, were selected largely due to their design work on two museum projects - the O-Museum in Nagano, Japan and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. In a statement announcing the winners, the jury said: "The buildings by Sejima and

Britain's elite track and field athletes are set to be given a boost in their preparations for London 2012 with the installation of the Olympic track at two training locations. A replica of the Mondo FX track due to be installed at London's Olympic Stadium will be fitted at both UK Athletics' (UKA) National Performance Centres in Lee Valley and Loughborough. The London Marathon Charitable Trust's (LMCT) has agreed to

Work is due to get underway on the construction of a new multi-use sports pavilion in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, which will become the new home of a number of clubs. A sod-cutting ceremony is scheduled to take place on 26 March to mark the start of work, which is due for completion in late summer. Designed by Norwich-based NPS Group, the facility will be built by construction group Irwins at