With east London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to fully open to the public for the very first time tomorrow (5 April), Prince Harry and Boris Johnson stopped by this afternoon to ensure the play equipment was up to scratch. The London Mayor and the fourth-in-line to the throne joined local school children for some fun on the tyre swing and rope bridge ahead of the official opening tomorrow (see video

Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) has appointed construction group Laing O'Rourke to build the expansion of its Etihad Stadium. The extension works, designed by architects Populous, are expected to cost £50m and will be undertaken in two phases. The work will result in the venue having a capacity of 60,000 (up from the current 48,000) - making it the second largest in the English Premier League behind Old Trafford (capacity

David Beckham and his partners have released images of the proposed US$200m (€145m, £120m) football stadium they are hoping to build in Miami, Florida, US. The conglomerate of investors - Miami Beckham United (MBU) - is hoping to establish a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in Miami with the view of having the team and stadium ready for the 2018 season. Designed by Arquitectonica and 360 Architecture, the stadium is

Super League rugby club Castleford Tigers has revealed detailed plans for a new 10,000-capacity community stadium in the town. To be located close to the Junction 32 of the M62 motorway, the stadium will form part of a £135m mixed development project proposed by London-based developers Lateral Property Group (LPG). The stadium would also be funded in its entirety by the retail development. Designed to meet Super League requirements, the

Plans have been submitted for a mixed-use scheme in Chipping, Lancashire, which will include two new hotels, a spa, a cricket pavilion and a trailhead centre on the site of a former mill. The Grade II listed Kirk Mill – to be operated by Living Ventures – will be converted into an 18-bedroom hotel with a restaurant and gastro pub, while the existing barn will be turned into seven holiday

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has been given planning permission for a new 2,922-capacity stand at Lord's Cricket Ground in north London. Designed by Populous, the new £21m structure was given the green light by Westminster City Council and will replace the historic but ageing Warner Stand, built in 1958. The innovative design has a number of eco-friendly aspects, including solar panels and a waste water collection system. The stand will

Construction is to start next month on the University of Birmingham’s new £55m red brick and copper-clad sports centre on its Edgbaston campus. Designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, the university hopes the 13,200sq m (142,083sq ft) sports development will reaffirm its status as one of the UK’s leading institutions for sport and nurture the next generation of Olympic talent. The new sports centre, which is being built on a former

Following Chancellor George Osborne’s weekend announcement that the UK’s first garden city for 100 years would be built in Ebbsfleet, ukactive CEO David Stalker has called on developers to ensure spaces for physical activity are high on the planning agenda, saying a successful outcome could provide a breakthrough in reducing the UK’s inactivity crisis. The garden city concept – small, self-sufficient cities of 30,000 people that are ringed by an

The transformation of Hampden Stadium in Scotland has reached a landmark, as the raising of the playing surface to accommodate a competition-standard running track has been completed. Scotland's National Stadium will act as the centrepiece of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games later this year, hosting 48 Athletics events over seven days. To meet IAAF standards for international competition, a revolutionary solution has raised the stadium surface by almost two metres.

Northern Irish football club Crusaders FC has drawn up proposals for a new 4,000-capacity sports and educational facility to be shared with Newington Youth FC. The proposed site, close to Crusaders’ current home Seaview Stadium, is owned by Belfast City Council, meaning the authority would have to agree to be part of any development. A number of preliminary discussions about the project are already underway, according to Crusaders, involving the

Non-league football side Worcester City is planning to build a new £2.1m stadium capable of holding 4,130 spectators, should plans for a supporters trust to take over the club come to fruition. The new ground, which could be ready by the end of 2015, would include a 500-seater stand and a 3G all-weather floodlit surface. It would be built alongside a proposed new swimming pool and gym on land next

Boston United chair David Newton says he is looking to fund the club's new stadium project by securing loans from local and central government and hopes to submit a planning application in March. The non-league football side will gain a new 4,000-seat community stadium as part of a £100m mixed-use project which will also feature an all-weather 3G pitch for community use, plus educational facilities, conference and banqueting facilities. There

Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) has secured approval for an extension of its Etihad Stadium, which will see capacity at the venue increase from 48,000 to 62,000. The expansion is expected to cost £50m and when complete – in time for the 2015-16 season, will make the Etihad Stadium the second largest in the Premier League, behind rivals Manchester United's Old Trafford (capacity 75,811). Formerly called the City of Manchester

London Welsh says it is hoping to end a ground share deal with Oxford United and move to the redeveloped home of now-defunct football team Witney Town. The rugby union side has been playing at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium since September 2012 and wants to redevelop the disused Polythene Stadium into a 10,000-capacity ground with 6,000 temporary seats. Welsh moved from London to Oxford in 2012 and is currently exploring

Paris’ 16 “ghost stations” which have been disused for decades could have new life breathed into them as leisure spaces, if ideas put forward by a politician come to fruition. As part of her election campaign, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, of the UMP Party, has commissioned Oxo Architects and Laisné Architects to come up with designs for alternative uses for these redundant spaces. The designs show how Arsenal station – a disused

Bristol Rovers FC’s hopes of landing a new 21,000-seater stadium are heavily reliant on whether or not a supermarket chain can win a legal challenge against them going ahead with a new store. The club needs funding from selling its existing ground to Sainsbury’s to help pay for the new £40m stadium on the northern edge of the city. A Bristol Rovers fans' petition in support of a Sainsbury’s supermarket

Bristol City has vetoed plans to move to a new stadium in favour of a £40m revamp of its current home at Ashton Gate. Bristol Sport, which owns the football club, wants to replace two of the existing stands to increase ground capacity from 21,500 to 27,000. As part of the redevelopment of Ashton Gate, the club intend to install the new seating in two stands, with the areas initially

Swansea Bay could soon boast a tidal lagoon featuring an international watersport centre and oyster hatchery as part of radical redevelopment plans. London 2012 Olympic Park designer LDA Design has released its masterplan for Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, featuring the world’s first, man-made energy-generating lagoon, which would provide clean, renewable power for over 120,000 homes and could be connected to the national grid by 2018. Inspired by traditional fishing warehouses

The American University of Notre Dame’s 80,000-seater football stadium is to undergo major work following the announcement of a US$400m (£242m, €295m) expansion. The development will create 4,000 new seats and three large buildings will flank the arena sides, with the buildings adding about 750,000sq ft (69,677sq m). It will also house a student centre, the University's anthropology and psychology departments, its digital media centre, plus a variety of music

Oldham Council has unveiled plans for a new £15m flagship leisure facility in its town centre, with hopes the complex could attract major televised sporting events. The new Oldham Sports Centre, at the junction of Manchester Street and St Domingo Street, would replace the existing Lord Street facility in 2015 if planning is approved. Oldham’s council leader Jim McMahon says the centre would represent a significant upgrade to current sporting

Barcelona FC’s board of directors has rejected the option of building a new stadium and instead has approved a £495m (US$821, €602.2m) redevelopment of its iconic Nou Camp stadium. The proposal would see the capacity of Europe’s biggest stadium increase from 98,000 to 105,000 with work starting in 2017 to be completed in early 2021. Also planned for the remodelled stadium, which originally opened in 1957, is a new roof,

Scunthorpe United Football Club (SUFC) has revealed plans for a new 12,000-capacity stadium in the town. To be located close to the club's current Glanford Park ground, the stadium is set to be developed as part of a mixed-use project which will also include a 120-room hotel, a multi-use indoor arena, community sports pitches and a new transport hub for the town. The initial designs and masterplan have been created

The Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre, used during the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, will open to the public on 1 March. The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) – which operates the park – said the relaunch of the centre will be a major landmark as it prepares for the full opening of the southern section of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, due to take place in early April. The opening day

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, has re-opened to the public after a 23-month transformation costing approximately $61m (£37m, €44.6m). Overlooking Lake Geneva, the Olympic Museum documents the complete history of the Games, spanning from ancient Athens to the present day. A major renovation of the original 1993 building, by Swiss architects Brauen & Wälchli, has virtually doubled the display areas, as well as creating new exhibition space totalling 3,000m²

Plans have been unveiled for a progressive SkyCycle network, designed to give cyclists a dedicated commuter route, as its developers seek to transform cycle transport in London. Designed by Norman Foster + Partners with Exterior Architecture and Space Syntax, the 135-mile network of routes is planned for construction above existing suburban railway lines. The plans come in the wake of a number of deaths of cyclists experienced on the capital’s

Sheffield has edged closer to realising its Olympic legacy programme after plans were unveiled for a new £7m sports centre and swimming pool. The proposed centre would be built on the Thorncliffe Recreation Ground in High Green and help fill the gap left by a £50m programme of cuts which has seen many existing facilities close, including Stocksbridge pool in April. It is expected to feature a 25m six-lane pool,

The organising committee for next year's football world cup in Brazil is coming under increased pressure to come up with a 'plan B' for some of the intended tournament venues. A number of stadium construction projects are badly behind schedule and the flagship project - Arena Corinthians in Sao Paolo, due to host the first game of the World Cup - suffered a tragic blow on Wednesday (27 November) when