Lancaster City Council has given the go ahead for a new £20m sports centre to be built at the Lancaster University. To be built on the university's pavilion near to the rugby pitches, the new centre will be accessible to staff, students, schools, and the local community. Construction work is to begin in September 2008 with an opening date planned for spring 2010. Facilities at the centre include a 25m,

Aylesbury Vale District Council has appointed Willmott Dixon to construct the £35m Aylesbury Waterside Theatre. The new theatre, designed by architects RHWL, is due to open in 2010 and will replace Aylesbury Civic Centre. Facilities will include a 1,200-seat main auditorium which converts into a 1,800-capacity hall and a 220-seat suite for smaller events Funded by the district council, the theatre will be operated by a commercial operator, to be

BRC Imagination Arts has been chosen to design a new sports experience centre in Heerenveen, Friesland, the Netherlands. BRC will work together with the client Sportstad Heerenveen BV, to design the centre, with the intention of engaging visitors through interactive and multi-media experiences. Called Sport Experience Heerenveen (SEH), the attraction will illustrate the history of sport with a particular emphasis on Friesland's sporting culture. When complete, SEH will feature themed

Australia-based theme park operator Village Roadshow has secured the long-term management rights to Phoenix Waterworld Safari water park in Maricopa County, Arizona, US. The company will operate the property, a 14.5-hectare site located within the 600-hectare Adobe Dam Regional Park, on behalf of Maricopa County Parks & Recreation Department. Village Roadshow will take control of the park on 1 October this year and plans to invest in the region of

Merlin Entertainments Group is to unveil a US$55m (£27.6m, AUD$56.4m, 37.4m euro) Madame Tussauds wax museum in Hollywood, USA, next spring. The three-storey, 40,000sq ft property has been designed by Michael Rotondi of JAG/RoTo Architects and will be the ninth museum in the Madame Tussauds worldwide portfolio. It will be located on Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive and is the first time a new-build property has been specifically created for

From 26 July, once the last housemates have been evicted, the Australian Big Brother house will be available for corporate rentals and parties. The house is located at Dreamworld theme park on Queensland's Gold Coast. "Having an event at the Big Brother House is like holding a function at Australia's most well known address," said Deborah Holland, Dreamworld's National Sales Manager - Groups & Events. "The only other house in

A plan to revive Durham's historic Riverbanks Gardens will be put forward at a public meeting later this month. Durham City Vision has drawn up proposals for the restoration of one of the city's most iconic landmarks, situated on the banks of the River Wear. A bid is being prepared to secure funding support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the ambitious landscaping project, which will be fully revealed

Plans have been announced to build a new £70m world wildlife reserve in Bristol, south-west England. The proposed 55-hectare National Wildlife Conservation Park (NWCP) will be situated on the outskirts of the city, and is scheduled to open in 2012 providing the "first conservation-led visitor attraction of its kind in the UK." Bristol Zoo Gardens, which is behind the plans, hopes to "establish a more influential position in the global

The Arena Leisure Centre in Camberley, Surrey, is to undergo a £1.7m refurbishment. The project is the result of a partnership between the centre's owners, Surrey Heath Borough Council, and management company DC Leisure, which operates the site on behalf of the council. Work on the four-phase refurbishment will begin at the end of the summer, and includes the updating of centre's fitness facilities, as well as improvements to accessibility.

Village Hotels is to open its Village South Leeds hotel in Tingley, Yorkshire, this September as part of its £60m investment strategy. The £20m property is currently under construction and is the second of the company's UK properties to be developed using a new, modern design blueprint. Speaking about the development's progress, Village CEO Gary Davis said: "Work is now well under way to ensure this magnificent new hotel becomes

Three historic attractions have received a major funding boost after the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) confirmed over £16m of grants. The announcement was made as part of a £23m package pledged by the HLF for the repair and restoration of historic landmark buildings across Britain. Watts Gallery, home to the works of Victorian painter and sculptor, GF Watts, will receive £4.3m of HLF cash to put towards a £10m renovation

Work on the £4m refurbishment of William Penn Leisure Centre in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, has been delayed due to a dispute between the client - Three Rivers District Council - and Gee Construction. The aim of the project, which began in March 2007, is to expand and revamp aging facilities to cater for rising visitor numbers. The improvements to the centre were expected to be completed by summer 2008, but the

Quintain Estates and Development (QED), the firm behind the new Wembley City urban regeneration scheme, has forced several publications to withdraw stories that speculate the firm has stopped working on its regeneration masterplan. Nick Shattock, deputy chief executive of QED, told Leisure Opportunities "The scheme is entirely on course," and that a two-week pause was necessary to review the design work on the emerging phase II masterplan, to accommodate a

Spanish health club chain Metropolitan has opened a new 4m euro (US$6.3, £3.2m) sports, health and wellness centre in the city of Vigo in the Spanish region of Galicia. Located on the top floor of the new A Laxe Shopping Centre, facilities at the 2,000sq m (21,528sq ft) club include a 500sq m (5,382sq ft) fitness suite equipped by Life Fitness, a swimming pool and a spa area offering a

Leisure trust Tone Leisure has appointed Alliance Leisure to fund and project manage the redevelopment of three of its managed sites. The regeneration work will see facilities improved at the Wellington Sports Centre in Wellington and the Wellsprings Leisure Centre and Blackbrook Pavilion in Taunton. All three sites are expected to reopen to the public later this year. Wellington Sports Centre will be the first project to finish at the

The Art House, a £3m centre for visual artists in Wakefield, Yorkshire, will be formally opened by culture secretary Andy Burnham on Monday 7 July. The centre's aim is to support the artists from across the UK by offering them studios, technical support, workspaces and accommodation for short-term residencies. Liz Whitehouse, Director of The Art House, says: “It has taken 14 years of dedicated hard work to make this centre

Plans for Liverpool Football Club’s new 60,000-seat stadium in Stanley Park have finally got the go-ahead following five-years in the planning. The £350m development, which includes other sports facilities, is expected to open in time for the 2011-2012 season. Lang O’Rourke has been appointed as the development’s engineers and has already begun to prepare the site for construction, which is due to begin this September. The stadium is designed by

Plans to build a £25m rugby stadium in St Helens, Merseyside, is due to receive approval from the Government Office for the North West this month following unanimous support from the St Helens Council Planning Committee. Langtree, the project’s developer and the site’s owner, proposes to construct an 18,000-capacity stadium with mixed seating and standing facilities, to replace the existing home for the St Helens Rugby League Club as part

Broxbournebury Mansion in Hertfordshire could be converted into a luxury hotel. The privately owned building is the subject of a revised planning application, already approved by Broxbourne Borough Council, which has now been forwarded to the office of the deputy Prime Minister for consideration. If successful, the property will undergo a £16m conservation and restoration project. The 37,000 sq ft, 16th century, Grade II-listed mansion is located on a Jack

The proposed Peak Resort development in Unstone, Derbyshire, has finally been given the go-ahead by Chesterfield Borough Council after 19 years in the planning. The project, estimated to cost around £300m to complete, is headed by Birchall Properties and is to be located within 121-hectares (300-acres) of green belt land adjacent to the River Drone. The development’s centerpiece will be a 312-metre domed structure, housing a 26-room hotel with spa

X Leisure, owner of Fountain Park leisure and retail complex in Edinburgh, has been granted planning permission for a new budget hotel with three restaurants by the city council. The development, designed by architects SMC Hugh Martin Partnership, will consist of a 2,545 sq m, four-storey, 181-room, budget hotel with three family restaurants on the ground floor. The hotel will join the existing 13-screen Cineworld cinema, casino, restaurants and Mecca

X Leisure, owner of Fountain Park leisure and retail complex in Edinburgh, has been granted planning permission for a new budget hotel with three restaurants by the city council. The development, designed by architects SMC Hugh Martin Partnership, will consist of a 2,545 sq m, four-storey, 181-room, budget hotel with three family restaurants on the ground floor. The hotel will join the existing 13-screen Cineworld cinema, casino, restaurants and Mecca

Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer has donated £3.3m towards the restoration of the London, UK-based tea clipper Cutty Sark, devastated in a fire in May 2007. It is the second major donation made this year by Ofer. In April, Ofer gave £20m to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich for the creation of a major new wing. Cutty Sark, considered one of London's iconic visitor attractions, was undergoing a £35m

Plans to build a museum of Middle Eastern modern art in Dubai have been revealed by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. Designed by Amsterdam, Netherlands-based architects UNStudio, the museum will be located within the proposed Culture Village in the city-state's Jadaf district. The UAD50bn (£6.91bn, US$13.6bn, 8.7bn euro) project will include a large centrepiece museum, an amphitheatre, an exhibition hall and smaller museums displaying local

New £4bn plans for Battersea Power Station in London have been revealed. The disused, Grade II-listed building has been the subject of redevelopment schemes since 1984, but none of the plans have come to fruition. Now, details of yet another new project – the brainchild of Irish group Treasury Holdings, which bought the site in 2006 for 595m euro (then £400m) – have been announced. Real Estate Opportunities (REO) –

Construction has begun on the new £3.8m sports hall at Sportspark, the swimming and sports centre based at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich. The new building – to be built in addition to the existing three-hall Barclays arena – will feature eight badminton courts, four basketball courts and four volleyball courts, as well as two lecture rooms for use by UEA, which is funding the project. The

Public voting for the National Lottery Awards, an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects, is now open until 4 July. The awards are split into seven categories – arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sports and charity – and each category features 10 projects. The three projects that receive the most votes, either online or by telephone, will progress through to the final round of voting, which will