The £61m Curve theatre in Leicester has opened its doors after three years of construction. Based in the St George’s Conservation Area in the heart of the city’s cultural quarter, the building was designed by the Uruguayan-born, New York-based architect Rafael Viñoly and is his first completed project in the UK. Curve, which replaces the Haymarket Theatre, boasts two auditoriums – the 750-seat main theatre and a 350-seat studio –

Operator Edinburgh Leisure has released detailed designs of the £2.5m redevelopment of its Craiglockhart Tennis & Sports Centre in Scotland. The upgrade is part of the City’s Sport and Physical Recreation Strategy, which is intended to make Edinburgh the most physically active city in Europe by 2020. When complete, the centre will be extended by one storey and will feature squash courts, a new reception area, a fitness studio and

The Lune Aqueduct in Lancaster is to receive a £3m facelift. The plans, drawn up by British Waterways North West, involve relining the canal channel; repaving both sides of the canal along the aqueduct and rebuilding walls along the turning basin among other restoration work. However, British Waterways also held a public consultation at Lancaster’s Maritime Museum to discuss further plans to be included. Some of the ideas discussed included

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has unveiled its plans for the London 2012 Olympic Park. Designed by LDA Design and Hargreaves Associates, the 100-hectare park, to be set on former industrial land, has been inspired by the Victorian and post-war pleasure and festival gardens. The park will be home to the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Velopark, multi-sports arena and the Eton Manor outdoor sports complex. It will boast lawns, footpaths

Leeds City Council (LCC) has announced that a new multi-million pound entertainment arena is to be built at a site in the city centre. The council's executive selected the 5.1-acre (2.06-hectare) Claypit Lane site for the new 12,500-seat venue, which is part owned by Leeds Metropolitan University. Council land at Elland Road will be retained as a back-up option for the development after it was adjudged that the city centre

A £115m golf course on the outskirts of Aberdeen has been given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government, less than 48-hours after Donald Trump’s £1bn Balmedie golf resort was also approved. The course, designed by former Open champion Paul Lawrie and being developed by the Muir Group, will also boast a hotel and housing. The proposal was previously okayed by Aberdeenshire Council and the government has decided not to call

The proposed health centre for the London 2012 Athletes’ Village has reportedly been shelved. The Architects’ Journal said that the project, designed by Penoyre & Prasad, could be scrapped and the healthcare facilities could now be housed in a temporary building during the Games. Lend Lease, the developer, is struggling to raise its contribution to the £1bn required for the village due to the global credit crisis, which has also

The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) has launched a fundraising appeal to help finance a new £22.5m arts training and performance complex in Cardiff. Cardiff Council approved planning permission for the scheme in September, and the college is now seeking to raise £3.5m from donors with 80 per cent of the project's funding already in place, including a £10m contribution from the Welsh Assembly Government. Plans for

Work has begun on the £5m redevelopment of the University of Bradford Leisure Centre. The university is working with Cambridge-based architects Saunders Boston and Lotus Construction to revamp the sports and recreation facilities on its city centre campus. Chris Spargo, head of commercial services for the university, said: “This significant investment into new and redeveloped sports facilities not only provides a fantastic opportunity for the current and future student community,

A 400m (1,312ft) stretch of Brighton's seafront is set to be given a heritage-style makeover as part of a £300,000 improvement project along the city's Madeira Drive. New bollards and railings will be installed and the pavement widened, as part of work to protect seafront arches underneath the thoroughfare which can no longer take the weight of heavy vehicles parking on top of them. In September, a £250,000 scheme to

Draft plans for the redevelopment of Potters Field on the South Bank, which include a new cultural centre, are currently being drawn up following consultation with local residents. The 3-acre (1.2-hectare) site, situated opposite the Tower of London, has been disused for a number of years, and now a joint project between Southwark Council and residential developer Berkeley Homes is set to transform the area. London-based architect, Squire and Partners,

The designs for Panama City Centre in Panama City, Panama, have been unveiled by design firm WATG. The project consists of two towers that will feature a conference centre, a casino, a spa, a fitness centre with pool, food and beverage units and retail outlets. One of the towers will house a 397-room hotel with a fine-dining restaurant on top, while the other will have office space with a nightclub

The £250m Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre has opened in Bern, Switzerland. Designed by New York-based architect Daniel Libeskind, the new complex boasts 55 shops, 10 restaurants and bars, a 144-room hotel, a multiplex cinema, a fitness centre and a fun pool. Libeskind’s concept was to “create a public space with day and night facilities, a self-enclosed district offering endless amenities and services, almost like a city within a city”.

A three-year fundraising appeal to secure the future of the Watermill Theatre in Berkshire has reached its target of £3m. The campaign to save the Grade-II listed theatre in Bagnor, near Newbury, was launched in June 2005 and attracted more than 4,000 contributions from individuals, trusts, foundations and businesses, including £200,000 from Arts Council England. By January 2007, campaigners had already raised the £1.8m needed to acquire the theatre premises,

Developer Dubai Properties is building a £255m museum, dedicated to Middle Eastern modern art as the centre piece of its £8bn Cultural Village project in Dubai, UAE. The 25,000 sq m Museum of Middle East Modern Art (MOMEMA), designed by Amsterdam-based architects UN Studio, will include exhibition spaces, art galleries, leasable workshop spaces, an auditorium and an amphitheatre for live performances and international festivals. MOMEMA will also feature a 60-room

Work has commenced on the £7.6m remodelling of a large two-storey Marks & Spencer retail unit, which had been vacant for over three years, on High Road in Wembley, London. Designed by Brimelow McSweeney Architects for Dukelease Properties, the scheme will provide a leisure centre and two retail units while existing offices on upper floors will be converted into residential accommodation. The 1,345 sq m health club will be operated

The birthplace of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas has been turned into an 'experiential self-catering holiday home' following a refurbishment project. Guests staying at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in the Uplands area of Swansea will be given the chance to experience life as it would have been in 1914, the year in which the property was first bought the property. In order to replicate conditions from nearly a century ago, the house

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (THFC) has announced plans to move to a new 60,000-seat stadium in north London. The club has outlined the proposals as part of its Northumberland Development Project, which will also incorporate new facilities including a museum and a new base for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. Plans for the new stadium cover an area around 20 acres (8.1 hectares), and include the site of the current 36,000-seat

The first phase of the £8m Pier Head redevelopment project in Liverpool has opened to the public. Work started on the three-stage scheme in December 2006, which will see the area in front of the city's iconic Three Graces – the Liver, Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings – transformed into a new public space incorporating a canal. The project, which is expected to be fully completed in Spring 2009,

A £2.68m artificial surf reef which is currently under construction at Boscombe, near Bournemouth, may not be completed by the end of the year. Poor weather has been blamed for delays to the scheme, which will create the first artificial reef in the northern hemisphere 225m (738ft) off the Dorset coast. Work started on the project at the end of August as part of the wider £9.66m Boscombe Spa Regeneration

Leeds United Football Club (LUFC) has revealed plans to redevelop its Elland Road stadium. Proposals do not involve increasing the stadium's capacity from 40,000, but will see a new 350-bedroom hotel complex being built in the south east corner of the ground and the creation of a new arcade running along the back of the East Stand. The arcade will incorporate shops, bars and restaurants, as well as the extension

Warwickshire County Cricket Club (WCCC) has unveiled detailed plans for the £30m revamp of Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham. The project will see the ground's capacity increase by around 4,000 with the construction of a new stand, as well as a wider redevelopment of the site. The new stand will provide improved facilities for both fans and players, including new changing rooms, bars and restaurants. Edgbaston's corporate hospitality and events

Work has started on a £1.46m refurbishment project at the Grade-II listed Battle Library in Reading. Reading Borough Council has appointed the South London company, Mansells Construction Services, to carry out the transformation of the library. A new community garden, an exhibition space for a community art gallery and a refreshment point will be created as part of the project, which has been part-funded by a grant from the Big

Tower Hamlets Borough Council has granted permission for a 170m (558ft) super-yacht hotel to be moored permanently in London's Docklands. The proposals for Thames Quay in West India Dock were put forward by the Dubai-based developer, Aquiva, and the project is now set to go before the Greater London Authority for final approval. Located adjacent to Canary Wharf, the floating hotel will feature up to 180 staterooms and suites, as

Argent, the developers leading the £2bn regeneration of London's King's Cross area, will need to use its own money to fund the next phase of the project after talks with a consortium of international banks fell through. Negotiations over the £400,000 financial package ended as conditions in the financial market deteriorated. Argent needs to start the next phase of work this month in order to finish the first buildings in

The Kewford Eagles Football Club in Staffordshire has announced details of its proposed £1.2m sports park after seven years in the planning. The club recently secured a 30-year lease for a 30-acre site next to Dudley Kingswinford Rugby Club in Wall Health, which will host the facility if plans are approved by Staffordshire County Council. The proposed facility will boast 11 football pitches, varying in size for all ages, including

The first phase of the construction of the i360 observation tower, to be located at Brighton's West Pier in south-east England, is underway. Steelwork fabrication of the tower is currently in progress at a factory in Maastricht, the Netherlands, where a total of 660 tonnes of steel plate is currently being rolled into a 3.9-metre wide tube, which will form the 158m-high core of the tower. The team building the