A new 11,000-capacity grandstand has been officially opened at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey by the Duchess of Cornwall, marking the completion of a three-year, £38m redevelopment scheme. The Duchess Stand has been designed to accommodate both racing and non-racing events throughout the year, and includes the 1,123sq m (12,088sq ft) Oaks Hall on the ground floor, which can be used as an 800-seat conference venue. Three first floor restaurants

Plans for a new multi-million pound racecourse development near Salford, Greater Manchester, have gone before a public inquiry at the request of the developer behind the scheme. In November last year, Peel Holdings appealed to the government to intervene in the planning process after both Salford City Council (SCC) and Wigan Council failed to decide whether to approve the company's proposals for Salford Forest Park. A new international standard horse

The Pierre Hotel in New York is reopen on 1 June following a US$100m (£68m, 75.9m euro) refurbishment. The Fifth Avenue-based hotel, owned by Taj Hotels, will reopen with new guestroom and bathroom interiors, a new restaurant, a new lobby lounge and a new reception area. The restaurant, Le Caprice at The Pierre, was created in conjunction with Richard Caring, who owns the Le Caprice brand as well as The

Cardiff City Football Club (CCFC) has announced that the official opening of its new multi-million pound stadium at Leckwith is to be marked by a friendly match against Glasgow Celtic Football Club on 22 July. The 27,000-seat stadium, which has been built by Laing O'Rourke at a cost of more than £50m, will replace the club's current Ninian Park ground and will also be home to the Cardiff Blues rugby

A public consultation on two redevelopment options for the Forest Hill Pools has begun in Lewisham, London, to help determine the future of the facility, which was closed in 2006. It is the second round of consultations to be held on the development, after the council was forced to re-think designs last year following the adjacent Victorian Louise House receiving a Grade II listing by English Heritage. The listing meant

Plans for the £1bn transformation of the former Ferrier Estate and neighbouring Kidbrooke area in south-east London, have been approved by Greenwich Council and will include an array of leisure facilities. As part of the Kidbrooke Vision masterplan, Thomas Tallis secondary school will be redeveloped to include a dual-use gymnastics centre, martial arts dojo, a flood lit all-weather sports pitch and a six-court sports hall, designed for county and regional

A disused cricket pavilion in Newcastle upon Tyne is set to be transformed as part of plans for a new £880,000 Sure Start Children's Centre at the Brunswick Recreation Ground. Newcastle City Council's (NCC) executive has approved plans for the new centre, which will see the pavilion's existing changing rooms replaced by new facilities that meet Sport England requirements. The construction of the centre, which is expected to get underway

Plans for the London 2012 International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MPC) have been labelled as 'extremely weak' by the government's advisory body on urban design and architecture. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) also suggested that the proposed designs for the media complex could 'blight' the Olympic Delivery Authority's bid to deliver a strong, lasting legacy from the Games. According to CABE's London 2012

Construction work has begun on the first of two new leisure centres that were approved as part of Gateshead Council's £29m Building an Active Future programme. The centre, which is being built in Blaydon, will feature a six-lane, 25m swimming pool, learner pool, health club, multi-use studios and outdoor sport pitches. It will also house health care facilities and will be one of the first such dual-use centres in the

Organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been praised for the 'astounding' progress being made in preparation for the event, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Delegates from the IOC travelled to the capital in order to assess the ongoing construction of new venues at the Olympic Park site on what was their fourth visit to London since the city was awarded the 2012 Games in

Kings Lynn Football Club (KLFC) is to be demoted from the Blue Square North after league officials announced that the club's home ground, The Walks, failed to meet the minimum stadium requirements. The stadium's owner, the Borough Council of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk, has insisted that all necessary work will be carried out in time for the start of the 2009-10 season, but the club will now be forced

Plans for a major new leisure-led development at the Elland Road stadium in Leeds, West Yorkshire, home to Leeds United Football Club (LUFC), have been given the green light by Leeds City Council (LCC). The council has passed a resolution to award full planning consent for the scheme, which will be linked to the venue's existing East Stand but does not involve increasing the stadium's 40,000-seat capacity. Designed by London-based

Taunton Dean Borough Council (TDBC) has appointed St Modwen as its preferred development partner for the £270m regeneration of a 6.7-hectare (17-acre) brownfield site in the centre of Taunton, Somerset. The Firepool scheme, which will create a new commercial centre for the town over a 12-year period, will form the first phase of Project Taunton – one of the largest town centre regeneration schemes in south west England, covering a

Delegates at the Russia-Great Britain Olympic Partnership conference, held in Moscow recently, were told that UK business and investors were in prime position to benefit from the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014. Dmitry Chernyshenko, president and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, highlighted the committee's commitment to work with best-in-class partners in all aspects of 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games delivery. The conference - which coincides with

The National Children's Museum (NCM) - formerly the Capital Children's Museum in Washington - is set to reopen at its new home in Maryland, US, in 2013. Part of the National Harbor development in Prince George's County, the 150,000sq ft (14,000sq m) building will represent six core content areas: the environment, health and well being, play, civic engagement, the arts and world cultures. Designed by Connecticut architect Cesar Pelli, it

St Helens Council has approved designs produced by architects Pozzoni for a new leisure centre in Merseyside. The £3.6m project will demolish all but the existing sports hall at Queens Park Leisure Centre to make way for a completely new facility on the same site, considered by the council to be more cost-effective than a full refurbishment of the 118-year-old building. The new facility will house a five-lane, 25m swimming

Lord’s Cricket Ground in north London is on track to introduce permanent floodlighting in time for the opening ceremony of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 tournament in June. After two and a half years in the planning, the second of four telescopic floodlighting masts, which are being supplied by Nottingham-based Abacus Lighting, has now been erected. Paul Wilson, a director at Abacus, said: "If someone had said to

The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Centre has opened in Skokie, IL, US. Around 12,000 people attended the US$45m (£30m, 34m euro), 65,000sq ft (6,040sq m) museum, which features 2,000 survivor testimonies. The museum – designed by architect Stanley Tigerman – houses artefacts such as Simon Wiesenthal’s eyeglasses, an original volume of the Nuremberg Trial transcripts, Kindertransport lists and artwork made in the concentration camps. Its Room of Remembrance honours

Adverse weather conditions and bad light at this year's Wimbledon are set to become less of an issue after it was confirmed that testing of Centre Court's new retractable roof is nearly complete. The All England Club has revealed that final testing of the 5,200sq m (55,972sq ft) roof and air-management systems at the venue are now underway ahead of a ceremony to be held on 17 May in order

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