Work is expected to get underway on the new £31.4m Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in North Lanarkshire early next year after a ceremony was held to mark the cutting of the first turf. The facility, which is scheduled to open in May 2010, will include a full-sized indoor football pitch, an athletics track, a nine-court sports hall, a full-sized outdoor football pitch and six five-a-side pitches. It is also set

The €40m (£35.9, $53.4m) development of the Hermitage Amsterdam (HA) museum, located within the restored 17th century Amstelhof building, has entered the final phase of construction. Due to open in June 2009, the museum will become an exhibition venue for Russian art, displaying over 1,800 artifacts brought over from the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia. The 9.925sq m (107,000sq ft) Amstelhof, a former listed nursing home, is being

Celtic Crusaders Rugby League Football Club (CCRLFC) has unveiled plans for a new 15,000-capacity stadium in Bridgend, south Wales, as part of the proposed new £40m Island Farm Sporting Village. A planning application for the new stadium has been submitted to Bridgend County Borough Council this week, which will also include bars, corporate hospitality suites, media suites and large indoor training facilities. The club was recently awarded a three-year licence

Calderdale Council has appointed the Hertfordshire-based construction company, Willmott Dixon, to build two new swimming complexes in West Yorkshire. The £10.5m project will see new pools for the towns of Sowerby Bridge and Brighouse, which will be part-funded by the sale of Leeds-Bradford International airport in 2007. Architect Saunders Boston were behind the designs for the two new sites, both incorporating a 25m, six-lane swimming pool, a learner pool, and

Pure Leisure Group (PLG) has unveiled its proposals for a new £9.5m leisure complex at the 240-acre (97.1-hectare) Billing Aquadrome holiday park in Northamptonshire. The park has already undergone widescale upgrade works since it was acquired by PLG two years ago, and it is now hoped that the first phase of the new facility will be ready to open in September 2009 subject to planning consent. Under plans outlined by

A three-storey, 50,000 sq ft restaurant with 300 covers has opened in Bahrain’s capital city, Manama, thanks in part to the contribution of a British architectural firm that designed the striking building. London-based architects and designers SHH were appointed to design and brand the venue, named Nu Asia, on behalf of the Al-Hilal Enterprises Group, which is located in the Seef district, to the west of the old city. The

Health club operator The Club Company has completed a £2m redevelopment of the Tytherington Club in Macclesfield. The nine-month project has added a third dance studio to the site, which will host mind-body classes, such as yoga and pilates. The most significant aspect of the project is the introduction of a poolside spa facility for adults. The spa, designed by interior designers Douglas Wallace, incorporates four treatment rooms, a large

Plans for the redevelopment of the 104-year old Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare have been submitted to North Somerset Council (NSC), five months after the attraction was severely damaged by fire. Bristol-based architect, Angus Meek, was appointed in October by pier owners, Kerry and Michelle Michael, following a design competition for the new pavilion, which will replace the one destroyed in July's blaze. Since the original concept design was unveiled, several

The city council of Mobile, Alabama, US, has announced plans to build a new museum in the city. The US$36m, 90,000sq ft National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico will include exhibits on local history, marine archeology, deep sea exploration and modern shipbuilding. City governors have appointed Hoar Construction to oversee construction of the attraction.

A new community sports facility is set to be built in Woodston, Peterborough, after the city council agreed to invest the remaining £800,000 required to fund the project. The remainder of the funding for the 500sq m (5,382sq ft) pavilion, which has been designed by Capita Architecture, is being contributed by Barratt Homes, as part of its plans for a new housing development nearby. Facilities at the pavilion will include

Councillors have voted against proposals, put forward by developer Ynys Mon Estates, for a new £100m shopping and leisure complex at Ty Mawr on Anglesey, north Wales. Plans for the 55-acre (22.3-hectare) development near Llanfairpwll were rejected by Anglesey Council last week despite planning officers recommending the scheme for approval. As part of the project, Ynys Mon Estates intends to create 98,000sq ft (9,105sq m) of leisure space, including a

A new £12m music, cinema and arts venue is to be established on the Shetland Islands after the project secured investment worth £2.8m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It is hoped that the Mareel centre, which will be situated on Lerwick's waterfront, will become a centre of excellence for "international creativity", as well as driving Scotland's cultural and economic development. Led by Shetland Arts Development Agency (SADA), the

A £450m mixed-use redevelopment project in the centre of Birmingham has been granted outline planning permission by the city council. Proposals for the 13-acre (5.26-hectare) Eastside Locks scheme were put forward by the property group Goodman as part of a joint venture with Advantage West Midlands (AVM) and Birmingham City Council (BCC). A detailed planning application is expected to be submitted within the next six months for the first stage

Designs for the first mixed-use scheme in a new town south of the Korean capital, Seoul, have been revealed by Dutch architects MVRDV. The Gwanggyo Power Centre, one of two envisioned developments in the town led by developers Daewoo Consortium and the municipality of Gwanggyo, consists of hill-shaped buildings and will feature 200,000sq m of leisure space including a three-storey spa, a seven-storey multiplex and a building dedicated to entertainment

Plans for a new 116m tall mixed-use tower have been revealed for Copenhagen, Denmark. The 21,688sq m (233,447sq ft) Rødovre Skyscraper will include a 2,000sq m hotel, a public park and a plaza, restaurants, 970sq m of retail space, offices and apartments. A public park adjacent to the 'sky village' is part of the project and will be refurbished to feature public paths, a playground, a picnic area and exercise

Nottingham City Council (NCC) has confirmed that a project to establish a new art gallery in the city centre is to cost £3.25m more than had been previously expected. Nottingham Contemporary, which is set to be one of the largest contemporary arts centres in the UK, will now cost £19m to complete, compared with an initial estimate of £13.9m. Facilities at the 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) site will include four

Designs for the redevelopment of Gwyn Hall in Neath, South Wales, which was severely damaged by fire, have been unveiled by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (NPTCBC). A public consultation has now been launched by the council to allow local residents to have their say on Holder Mathias Architects' proposals for the venue, which was undergoing a £4m refurbishment at the time of the fire on 18 October last

Entrepreneur Mark Fuller has announced that his latest hotel venture, Sanctum Soho, will open in March 2009. The £10m, 30-room hotel will include a 60-cover restaurant and resident-only bars and is marketed as a "sin worthy of an affair". The hotel's signature feature is a number of "crash pads" – private spaces which can be rented by by the hour. The hotel also houses a private cinema on the ground

Whitbread's flagship 'green' Premier Inn opens today (8 December) in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The 20-bed property is part of the hotel operator's plans to minimise its impact on the environment and is designed to reduce energy consumption by up to 80 per cent. The hotel includes ground-source heat pumps, which use the earth's natural energy to cool and heat the hotel, as well as providing hot water throughout. Grey water recycling

A historic market in Canning Town, east London, is set to receive a £180m transformation under plans unveiled by the English Cities Fund (ECf), a joint venture between Muse Developments, English Partnerships and Legal and General. The 680,000sq ft (63,174sq m) regeneration of Rathbone Market is to be one of the first projects of a wider redevelopment masterplan of the Canning Town area. At the centre of the proposals for

Developer Minerva has been given the go-ahead to redevelop Young's Ram Brewery in South London. The 1.3 million sq ft (120,773sq m) Ram Brewery scheme will combine a 12,204sq m (131,36sq ft) dedicated area for bars, restaurants, retail units and commercial developments. There will also be 2,673sq m (28,771sq ft) for community and leisure uses as well as a micro-brewery and 1,036 apartments. Salmaan Hasan, chief executive of Minerva, said:

Plans to regenerate some of London's most famous shopping streets are set to include play provision after the chief executive of London Play, Ute Navidi, was appointed to the project's seven-person Inclusive Design Panel (IDP). The refurbishment of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street is to be carried out in time for the London 2012 Olympics, and the IDP has been tasked to ensure that the area is transformed

Yorkshire County Cricket Club (LCCC) has been given the green light for plans to build an iconic new £20m pavilion at the Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The 4,000sq m (43,056sq ft) building has been designed by the London-based architect, SMC Alsop, which will operate as a cricket pavilion during summer months, and as a teaching facility for Leeds Metropolitan University throughout the academic year. When complete,

Theatre company Mind the Gap has opened its £2.1m performing arts workspace in Lister Mills in Bradford. Mind the Gap Studios boasts three fully-equipped studio spaces for rehearsals, workshops, training and dance. The organisation aims to help people with learning disabilities to become professional actors. Designed by Allen Todd Architecure, the project was delivered in partnership with Bradford Council, and funded by £1.25m from Arts Council England, Yorkshire as well

Plans for a £700,000 junior football club pavilion and pitches in north London has been granted planning permission by Harrow Council. The 380 sq m scheme is a joint venture between Harrow-based Belmont United Football Club and the council, and is part-funded by the FA's Football Foundation. The plans, designed by London-based architects Spacelab, includes changing facilities, physiotherapy rooms, function rooms and catering facilities. There will also be a new

Plans to establish a showcase eco-park at Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea, Essex, have received a boost after the government committed £1.6m towards the project. Basildon District Council (BDC) is leading the project, which has already secured £5.3m to fund improvements to the park, as well as transforming a former explosives factory into a new heritage centre powered by renewable energy. New trails will be created using the latest

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club (NCCC) has announced that improvements to the outfield at the Trent Bridge stadium in Nottingham are progressing ahead of schedule. New turf, drainage and sprinklers are being installed at the ground as part of a £600,000 project, which is being carried out by Grantham-based sportsturf contractor, Steven Pask. Funded by an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) grant, the work also includes the extension of the