Plans for the construction of a new £9.2m leisure centre in Nottingham have been given the green light by the city council, after a feasibility study ruled that the scheme presented the most cost-effective option. The decision by Nottingham City Council's (NCC) executive board now means that the historic Victoria Leisure Centre at Sneinton Market is set to be demolished to make way for the new facility, which could be

A one day international cricket match between Australia and Pakistan has marked the official opening of a new 25,000-seat, purpose-built cricket stadium at Dubai Sports City in the Middle East. The US$100m (£68.3m, 77.3m euro) venue, which has taken three years to develop, was designed by architects Gerkan, Marg and Partner (GMP), the firm behind Berlin's Olympic Stadium and the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt. Facilities at the new stadium include

Regeneration company Renaissance Southend has unveiled plans for the £1.8m redesign of Warrior Square Gardens, one of few green spaces within central Southend-on-Sea. The garden is part of the redevelopment of Warrior Square – a major project area in the Central Area Masterplan Development Framework created in collaboration with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. Plans for the rest of Warrior Square are still under consultation but is likely to include the relocation

Plans for two new temporary pavilions for Chicago's Milennium Park, US, have been revealled to mark the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham's 1909 masterplan, which outlined the controlled growth of city. Designed by London-based Zaha Hadid and Amsterdam-based UNStudio's Ben Van Berkel, the recyclable pavilions will be installed in the park this June and will be open to the public until October. The project was commissioned to celebrate Burnham's masterplan

Construction work on the travelling art exhibition space, Prada Transformer, has been completed and the installation is being prepared for its public opening on 25 April in the front yard of the 16th century Gyeonghui Palace in Seoul, Korea. Designed by Dutch architects Rem Koolhaas, partner of Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), on behalf of fashion designer Prada, the structure will host a cinema festival, a contemporary art exhibition and

Work is now underway on the construction of a new £12m centre of excellence for dance in Leeds, which will become the new home of the Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT) and the Phoenix Dance Theatre (PDT). The new six-storey venue, which has been designed by the Strategic Design Alliance, a partnership between LCC's in-house architectural consultancy and Jacobs Architecture, will also house Leeds Metropolitan University's (LMU) new dance degree courses

Plans for the long-term future of the Grade II-listed Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool, which includes a multi-million pound refurbishment, have gone before the city council's Regeneration Select Committee. Discussions are now set to get underway between Liverpool City Council and trustees of the 1,250-seat venue in a bid to secure a lease agreement after the select committee admitted that it was impressed with a presentation by the Royal Court

A new £2.2m visitor centre has opened at the Stanwick Lakes countryside attraction and nature reserve near Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, as part of a two-phase project at the site. The facility, which marks the completion of the first phase of the construction scheme, includes a central atrium containing an interpretation space and interactive exhibits, a multi-purpose function suite and an indoor play area for young children. A café with terrace

Plans to establish a learning, research and innovation centre in the Olympic Park, which will form part of the London 2012 legacy, have been unveiled by London mayor Boris Johnson and the government. It is hoped that the provision of a specialist, inter-disciplinary centre of excellence at the heart of the Olympic Park will compliment the range of other facilities planned as part of the legacy for east London, including

Yorkcourt Properties has revealed plans to build a new 12,000-capacity community stadium in a bid to secure Wakefield Wildcats Rugby League Football Club's (WWRFLC) Super League status. The proposed new venue will replace the Wildcats' current Belle Vue ground, which has been the club's home since 1878 but no longer meets minimum stadium requirements that form part of the Super League's licence criteria. Plans for the new stadium, which will

Work has now started on the London 2012 International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MPC), the last of the five main construction projects in the Olympic Park to get underway. The IBC and MPC will accommodate around 20,000 media professionals during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, broadcasting to an estimated audience of four billion people worldwide, before it is converted into 900,000sq ft (83,613sq m) of

A new £23m indoor hub for skiing and snowboarding, which has been constructed on the site of the former Hemel Ski Slope in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, is to open on 6 May. The Snow Centre, which has been built by UK-based company Sir Robert McAlpine, incorporates a 160m (525ft) main slope suitable for skiers of all abilities, a 100m (328ft) lesson slope, a Snow and Rock retail outlet, a café

Morrison Construction has been appointed to build enhanced rowing and canoe sprint facilities for the London 2012 Olympics at the Eton College Rowing School at Dorney Lake near Windsor, Berkshire. The UK-based company was selected by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to upgrade the venue in time for the Games, which currently comprise a 2,000m, eight-lane rowing lake, a return lane and associated competition facilities. A new 50m span bridge

A historic cinema in Bo'ness, the oldest purpose-built building of its kind in Scotland, has screened its first film since 1975 following the completion of an extensive £2.15m refurbishment earlier this month. First opened in 1912, the A-listed Hippodrome reopened to the local community on 6 April following the revamp, which has seen extensive work carried out on both the interior and exterior of the venue, including the installation of

Sheffield United Football Club (SUFC) has submitted its plans to redevelop the Bramall Lane stadium to the Sheffield City Council. The plans divide the redevelopment of the ground into two phases, with phase one comprising the extension of the Frasers Property Kop to increase its capacity by more than 3,200 seats – resulting in the overall capacity increasing to 37,000. A further planning application for phase two of the development

Attempts to save the former home of author Elizabeth Gaskell have received a boost after English Heritage (EH) announced that it would contribute more than £260,000 as part of a £2.5m revamp of the property. The Grade II-listed house, where Gaskell wrote novels including Cranford and Wives and Daughters, is set for extensive renovation work after Manchester City Council approved the scheme in November last year. Owned by the Manchester

A new £6.44m leisure centre, which is currently being built at Forest Fields, Nottingham, has received a £1m grant from Sport England's Free Swimming Capital Modernisation Development Programme (SCMP). Nottingham City Council (NCC) is behind plans for the new complex, which will replace existing facilities at Noel Street as part of its £18.5m Leisure Centre Transformation Programme to improve sports provision across the city. The funding, which is made available

Basildon District Council has appointed Community Solutions for Leisure (CSL) as developer of the £35m Basildon Sporting Village. CSL will now finalise the design – and eventually build – the new centre and its 50m Olympic-size sized pool. The council cabinet’s decision brings to an end a 15-month procurement process. Councillor Kevin Blake, cabinet member for leisure and arts said: “The process that we have had to go through has

Plans to build a 39,000-capacity sports stadium on the site of the notorious Maze prison near Lisburn, Northern Ireland, have been dumped by the Northern Ireland Assembly. In a statement, the Northern Ireland first minister Peter Robinson said that although the redevelopment options for the site will be studied further, all plans to build a multi-sport stadium "will not be taken forward". The stadium, which was designed by HOK Sport

The £30m refurbishment of the 2009 Open Championship venue Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire, Scotland, is underway. The project, designed by Mary Fox Linton in consultation with Historic Scotland, is led by Dubai-based Leisurecorp – which recently bought the site's 113-room hotel and golf course. Half of the 1906 hotel will be refurbished during the first phase of the project and public spaces are being renovated back to their original

Development of the £13.5m mixed-use regeneration scheme at Rotherhithe, Canada Water, have moved a step closer with the appointment of a construction firm by Southwark Council. Contractors ISG Jackson have been signed to build the 3,165sq m library building, which will sit aside a new public space called the Dean Porters Plaza.The development is part of the Canada Water masterplan and is a key regeneration project for the council. The

Plans for a mixed-use development in Wood Green, North London, have been submitted to Haringey Council. The Clarendon Square at Haringey Heartlands scheme will regenerate a former gas works to provide a five-hectare residential district set around a new public square, serviced by leisure and community facilities. The combined project between National Grid Property Holdings (NGP) and the London Development Agency (LDA) has been designed by Make Architects and developed

Deeside Leisure Centre in Flintshire, North Wales, may be demolished to make way for a new facility dubbed the ‘House of Sport’. Flintshire County Council is holding an executive cabinet meeting on Wednesday 1 April to decide how best to move forward with the proposals for a 12-court sports hall, a six-lane indoor bowls hall and an outdoor five-a-side football pitch. A dance/aerobics room, a martial arts room and a

Work is set to get underway on the restoration and redevelopment of a historic music hall in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, after the scheme secured a £1m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The Shropshire Portal scheme will include the development of a new, sustainable museum and visitor information centre at the 13th century, Grade II*-listed Vaughan's Mansion and the Grade II-listed Music Hall and Assembly Rooms dating back to 1835.

A Grade II-listed gallery in Bedfordshire, which dates back to 1841 and has been closed to the public since the 1970s, has been reopened following the completion of a £2.5m refurbishment. The revamp of the Bedford Gallery marks the first phase of a wider £11.3m regeneration scheme designed to unite the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum buildings as part of a new flagship complex for the town. Funding

The Shetland Arts Development Agency (SADA) is set to begin construction on its new £12m music, cinema and arts venue on the Shetland Islands in three weeks. The Mareel centre, on track to open in 2010, will be situated on Lerwick's waterfront, has been designed to drive Scotland's burgeoning cultural and economic development forward. Although the development is led by SADA, the Shetland Islands Council and a stakeholder group consisting

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre (REP) is set to undergo a £193m overhaul as part of a joint scheme to redevelop the Library of Birmingham. The joint venture development, led by Birmingham City Council and The REP, is designed by Dutch architect Mecanoo to create a 31,000sq ft "centre for culture and knowledge" in Centenary Square. The library will be built adjacent to the theatre and integrated with The REP at