Swansea Council has announced that plans for the restoration of Mumbles Pier in South Wales are to move forward, after it was recommended that a development framework for the area be adopted. An extensive public consultation has been held to gather the opinions of local residents on the proposed £39m mixed-use scheme, which is designed to transform the historic site into a visitor and tourist attraction. Proposals for the pier

Lancaster City Council (LCC) has launched a major public consultation into plans for the Lancaster Square Routes scheme, which would result in an extensive refurbishment of the city centre. Designs for the project, which have been drawn up by Gillespies LLP in partnership with artists Amenity Space, aim to build on the city's history and heritage while also creating a modern centre. The council wants to gather feedback from local

The US$300m (£193.5m, 220m euro) Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago, US, has opened to public this week. The 24,500sq m (264,000sq ft) extension, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano has increased the museum's floor space to more than a million square feet, making it the second largest art museum in the US. The three-storey extension, which is covered by a sun-shade system allowing natural light to

A £2.8m development dubbed Rhondda Life will provide Ferndale in Wales with a new sports and leisure complex centered on the country's national sport. The four-year phased project will replace Ferndale Rugby Club with a new two-storey Rugby Club complete with an events pavilion and a fitness centre, complemented by a 20-bedroom, three-star hotel, bars, a restaurant featuring the history of Welsh rugby, a café and heritage suite and community

Lakeland Motor Museum at Holker Hall in Cumbria will be relocated to a new purpose-built premise at Backbarrow near Newby Bridge. Former Blue Mill carton packaging sheds have been redeveloped to provide a larger display space for the museum's 30,000 exhibits, which tell the story of more than 100 years of motoring history. A new exhibit on all aspects of road transport history will now be presented, while existing displays,

Metrix Consortium's proposals for a £12bn defence technical college at the former RAF airbase in St Athan, South Wales, incorporate a new community leisure centre. Plans submitted to the Vale of Glamorgan Council on 12 May outline a sports centre comprising 12 sports courts plus two squash courts; an eight-lane, floodlit athletics track; 12 outdoor sports for rugby, hockey, football and cricket; and a fitness suite with cardiovascular equipment and

A new planning strategy has been launched by the government in a bid to encourage local authorities to consider the benefits of good quality buildings and green spaces as part of new developments. 'World Class Places', unveiled by communities secretary Hazel Blears and culture secretary Andy Burnham, aims to ensure that all public and private sector schemes include a new minimum standard of design. Proposals for all new public sector

A £16m sports centre will be built at The University of Central Lancashire (UCL) in Preston to provide new sporting facilities to its students and to local children during the school holidays. The new complex will feature a sprung timber sports hall with more than 300 retractable bleacher seats and a viewing gallery, able to accommodate regional and national sporting events, conventions, exhibitions and academic examinations. Activity studios, squash courts,

Aberdeen City Council has approved planning permissions for two hotel expansions. The five-star Marcliffe Hotel will be extended to include a further 228 bedrooms, a reception, a function area and a lounge, leisure and spa facilities and a new underground car park. The three-and-a-half storey, city centre Bells Hotel will also be extended to comprise ten stories featuring 217 bedrooms, a restaurant and a bar, as well as a basement

Merlin Entertainments has unveiled plans for a £12.5m upgrade of the London Eye in a bid to improve customer experience and to 'future-proof' the attraction in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympics. The wheel's 32 capsules will be removed one at a time in order to undergo work to install new, environmentally-friendly heating and ventilation systems, while one of the upgraded capsules will also feature ceiling-mounted TV screens

Plans for the construction of a £2.9m dry ski slope and clubhouse at Newmilns Snow and Sports Complex near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, have been submitted to East Ayrshire Council. The proposals, which have been drawn up by architects Lawrence McPherson Associates, include a new 115m (377ft) adult ski slope and a 30m (98ft) nursery ski slope in addition to the new clubhouse facility, which will feature a café-bar, function rooms and

Meadowside Leisure Centre in Burton, Staffordshire, is set to undergo a major transformation. East Staffordshire Borough Council has revealed its initial plans and artists' impressions, produced by Maber Architects, of how the revamped leisure facility will look when it reopens in summer 2010. The £5m scheme includes a refurbishment of the gym with upgraded equipment and studio facilities, improvements to toilets and changing rooms and the introduction of a new

Birmingham's historic Jewellery Quarter is set to receive an extensive refurbishment after plans for the £160m St Georges scheme were given the go-ahead by the Birmingham City Council (BCC). The first phase of the 6.8-acre (2.8-hectare) mixed-use scheme, which is the largest development in the Jewellery Quarter for more than 200 years, includes the £55m transformation of the former Kettleworks factory into office and retail space and a 60m (197ft)

Scott Hall Leisure Centre in Leeds is to undergo a £0.41m redevelopment, thanks to a grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The grant, sourced from the Free Swimming Capital Modernisation Programme award, will fund the conversion of the centre's existing squash courts into an extended Bodyline Gym area to accommodate a further 17 pieces of equipment. The move is expected to boost net income by around

Detailed plans for the £30m redevelopment of Edgbaston cricket ground, home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club (WCCC), have been given the go-ahead by Birmingham City Council (BCC). MCD Developments has already been appointed to deliver the scheme, which includes a new hotel, a housing development, offices, and a new stand and pavilion designed to increase the venue's capacity to more than 25,000. The new stand has been designed to provide

Plans for the £48m development of a new leisure complex on the site of the Tropicana centre in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, have been put on hold until early 2010 due to the recession. The Lifestation@Tropicana project, which was approved by North Somerset Council's (NSC) West Area planning committee in October, had been set to get underway later this year as part of a wider scheme to revamp the town's seafront. However,

UEFA president Michel Platini has told the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) that Kiev could lose the right to host the Euro 2012 final if infrastructure issues are not addressed by 30 November. Ukraine is due to co-host the tournament with Poland, and the warning follows an announcement by European football's governing body that the Polish cities of Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw, have all been confirmed as host cities.

A new visitor attraction, based on the English Premiership football club Manchester United, has opened at The Venetian Macao-Resort-hotel in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau. The £1.5m, 1,000sq m indoor attraction was designed by UK-based MET Studio. The walk-through attraction offers guests a number of interactive stations as well as exhibits portraying the history of the club. Facilities at the attraction also include a large retail area.

A new £25m visitor centre is set to be built at Stonehenge in Wiltshire after a scheme to revitalise the World Heritage Site was provisionally given the green light by the government. Work will now commence on drawing up a planning application for the new centre, which is to be located at Airman's Corner following recommendations by the Stonehenge Project Board - chaired by culture minister Barbara Follett and transport

A new £4.3m multi-purpose leisure complex in Paddington, London, which will be the only facility in the area to be accredited by the Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI), is to open this summer. Westminster City Council hopes that the 1,800sq m (19,375sq ft) Little Venice Sports Centre will help to tackle the borough’s health inequalities by making its facilities fully accessible to customers with physical disabilities and learning difficulties, as well

London-based EPR architects have submitted a detailed planning application to Bromley Council for a four-star hotel at the Biggin Hill Airport in south east London. EPR has provided designs for a 76-room hotel with a restaurant at the airport, which played a major role as an RAF base in the Battle Of Britain during WWII. Biggin Hill Airport managing director Peter Lonergan said the airport is in "desperate need of

Nearly a quarter of all council-owned buildings across Scotland, including sports centres and museums, are not fit for purpose, according to a new report by the Scottish public spending watchdog, Audit Scotland. The study - Asset management in Local Government in Scotland - examined the maintenance and management of more than 12,000 properties across the country, with one in four found to be in poor or bad condition. Audit Scotland

Birmingham City Council (BCC) has unveiled new plans for the construction of the city's first urban park for 125 years, despite missing out on Lottery funding for the scheme two years ago. The council has now decided to fund the £11m project itself, which will see the creation of an 8-acre (3.2-hectare) area of parkland between the city's Moor Street railway station and Eastside Locks. Recreational space, formal gardens and

A council committee has narrowly voted in favour of proposals put forward by Poole Town Football Club (PTFC) for the construction of new facilities at Branksome Recreation Ground. The plans, which will see the football club relocate from its current Tatnam Park home, will now be considered by the the Borough of Poole Council's (BPC) cabinet on 2 June following council's environment overview and scrutiny committee's decision. Branksome Recreation Ground's

Southampton's Mayflower Theatre is set to undergo an extensive £1.6m refurbishment this summer in a bid to upgrade the venue's backstage and production facilities. The theatre will close for 12 weeks between June and August in order to allow the work to be carried out, although the box office and its conference and meeting room facilities will operate as normal. It is expected that the new backstage area, which will

Plans to create a multi-million pound indoor winter sports resort on the site of a former quarry at Great Blakenham, near Ipswich, Suffolk, could be delayed by another two years due to a planning technicality. Developer Onslow Suffolk was finally given the green light for the new £350m SnOasis complex by communities secretary Hazel Blears in November last year, nearly three years after predecessor Ruth Kelly called in the scheme.

Leisure entrepreneurs Mike Aikman and Jason Scott have opened their latest venture, called The Saint, in the Scottish capital. Located on St. Stephen Street in the centre of Edinburgh, The Saint has been launched as a late-night bar aiming to attract the more affluent revellers. Offering a number of different wines by the glass, the bar also has a large selection of beers from across the globe, along with wide