The completion of the controversial £300m Caltongate development in Edinburgh is now in doubt after developers Mountgrange Capital went into administration. The developer collapsed after HBOS withdrew its financial support for the scheme, which was given planning approval in September 2008. The project, designed by Allan Murray architects, was to include a new public square and a five-star hotel with a restaurant, a health spa and a café at a

Perth and Kinross Council have approved plans for the development of a £20m sailing resort on the banks of Loch Tay at Croft-na-Caber, near the village of Kenmore, mid-Scotland. Architect Eric Strickland, the senior partner of McKenzie Strickland Associates, is behind the proposals, which have been developed in partnership with business partner Paul Sale through their Strathtay Developments vehicle. PKC's development committee voted in favour of the scheme on 18

A gala event has been held to mark the closure of the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, Kent, which is set to undergo a £25.6m revamp after the local authority approved plans for the redevelopment of the venue. Canterbury City Council (CCC) voted in favour of the proposals on 19 March, which will include a new 1,200-seat auditorium with improved acoustics and sightlines, as well as a second, smaller performance space

Repair work has got underway in Reading, Berkshire, at the site of one of the town's most historic monuments, Abbey Ruins. Health and safety concerns had been raised about certain parts of the site last summer following a detailed inspection of the monument, undertaken by Reading Borough Council (RBC). IJP Building Conservation has been appointed by the council to carry out the repairs, which have initially focused on the Cloister

St Modwen, the developer behind the proposed £100m regeneration of Bognor Regis, West Sussex, has been granted permission to put the scheme on hold for three years due to the economic downturn. Arun District Council approved a request from the company to delay the submission of a planning application for the project until the property market improves, although all other elements of the scheme will remain the same. Initial plans

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has confirmed that the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south east London, will remain as the host venue for shooting events at the 2012 Olympics. Both the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the National Shooting Centre at Bisley, Surrey, had put themselves forward as alternative venues for the events, but the ODA has now decided that it will pursue a planning application for

Portsmouth Football Club (PFC) has announced that its plans for a new stadium have been put on hold due to the economic downturn and will instead extend its existing Fratton Park ground as a short-term solution. The club has been working in partnership with developer Sellar and Portsmouth City Council (PCC) on the proposals for a new 40-45,000-seat stadium at Horsea Island near Port Solent, Hampshire. But PFC has now

Leicester Tigers Rugby Football Club (LTRFC) has been granted conditional planning approval for the £100m redevelopment of the former Granby Halls and Fosse Day Centre sites. The project, which was given the green light by Leicester City Council, will be situated on land adjacent to the club's Welford Road stadium, and includes the construction of a new four-star hotel. New facilities for the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) and the

Manchester City Council has made a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in order to secure funding towards the restoration of the historic Heaton Hall. The council has earmarked the restoration of the hall as the final part of a three-phase programme of improvements at Heaton Park in North Manchester, which has already seen the renovation of four of the park's other historic listed buildings including the Dower House

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) has put forward its case to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to host shooting events at the 2012 Games. Rising costs have cast doubt over whether the ODA will continue with plans to build a temporary 7,500-seat venue at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, with LBBD arguing that the development of a venue at Barking Riverside would save £10m. The borough

Designs for the new London 2012 basketball arena, which is to be the third largest venue on the Olympic Park site, have been approved by the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) planning committee. Plans for the temporary 12,000-seat arena, which will host basketball and handball events during the Games, as well as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby, will now be referred to the Government Office for London. The venue, which will

Chesterfield Football Club's (CFC) plans to build a new £13m stadium at Whittingham Moor have taken a step forward after the club acquired 10 acres (4.05 hectares) of land from Wilson Bowden Developments (WBD). The new 10,500-seat stadium forms part of a wider regeneration scheme, which also includes a Tesco superstore and a mixed-use retail and business development on the the former Dema Glass industrial site. Planning permission was granted

The University of Worcester (UW) has announced that it has acquired a 47-acre (19-hectare) site on the outskirts of the city, which it intends to transform into a new business, science and sports park. An indoor sports complex and playing fields is included in the 10-year scheme, which will be situated at Grove Farm in St John's, more than a mile from the university's St John's campus. Former landowner Tesco

Ian Simpson Architects has been selected as the winner of an international Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) design competition for a new complex for the National Wildflower Centre (NWC) in Knowsley, Liverpool. The company is working with engineers Adams Kara Taylor and Hoare Lee on the project, which will see the construction of a new building incorporating education, conference and seed production facilities. Consultant Cyrial Sweett also supported the

Plans for the construction of a new book storage facility near Swindon, Wiltshire, have been unveiled by Oxford University as part of a new modernisation scheme at the Bodleian Library. The university has already acquired a 15-acre (6.1-hectare) site at South Marston on the outskirts of the Wiltshire town for the new high-density facility, which will house eight million volumes of low-demand items. It is expected that work on the

SMG Europe is to take over the management of the Whitley Bay Playhouse theatre after North Tyneside Council (NTC) approved plans to enter into an operating agreement with the company. It is hoped that the deal will secure the future of the venue, which has been closed since August 2007, although will reopen in the autumn following an extensive £8m refurbishment programme. The revamp of the Playhouse theatre has included

Plans for the £180m transformation of a historic market in Canning Town, east London, have been given the green light by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC). The 680,000sq ft (63,174sq m) regeneration of Rathbone Market will be one of the first projects as part of a wider redevelopment masterplan for the Canning Town area, incorporating a new market square and 49,000sq ft (4,552sq m) of retail space and

Blackpool Council has announced that it has signed a deal with Muse Developments for a £220m mixed-use scheme that is set to transform the famous Lancashire seaside resort. The Talbot Gateway development agreement is centred on a 10-hectare (24.7-acre) site around Blackpool North railway station and Talbot Road, and is designed to create a new business district in the town. Plans include a new pedestrianised square, a supermarket, hotels, shops,

Italy's newest art gallery, Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo (MAXXI) in Rome, is set for a 2009 launch. Zaha Hadid Architects have designed the museum to be reminiscent of an ‘urban campus’, a building that goes beyond interior spaces to include the entire city. The project includes two museums – MAXXI art and MAXXI architecture – which will revolve around a full-height grand hall that connects with a

Work is set to get underway on a new £21m pavilion at Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground in Leeds after Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) and Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) signed-off the scheme. BAM Construction has been appointed to build the new 4,000sq m (43,056sq ft) facility, which has been designed by architect Will Alsop to comply with the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) requirements for Test match venues. Plans

The historic Govanhill Baths in Glasgow may be transformed into a £12.5m Wellbeing Centre, following its closure by the council in 2001 owing to its deteriorating condition. Since its initiation in 2004, Govanhill Baths Community Trust has campaigned Glasgow City Council for permission to refurbish the B-listed Edwardian building into a cohesive leisure and community hub to help improve the lives of those living in the surrounding socially disadvantaged area.

The redevelopment of Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre and the construction of a new facility in London Colney, Hertfordshire, are now underway following the appointment of a design team. Developer Drivers Jonas has selected S&P Architects, landscape architects CBA and consultants Strategic Leisure to move the project forward. Stephen Jepson, a partner in Drivers Jonas’s specialist DJ Sport team, said: “We are delighted to have won this commission. We put a

The Peter Perkin's Swimming Pool at the Fitzalan High School has opened following a £300,000 revamp. Work on the pool facility, which is open to both pupils and the general public, included the refurbishment of the 20m pool and the transformation of a disused classroom into a fitness suite and multi-gym facility. The new fitness suite has been fitted with a selection of CV stations – including treadmills, cross trainers

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced that it is to open a new 192-bedroom property in Edinburgh, Scotland, after signing an agreement with developer Tiger Developments. The 17-storey hotel will form part of the developer's plans for the £250m transformation of the city's Haymarket area, which has been called in by the government despite being given the green light by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) in June 2008. BDL,

Genr8 Developments has been selected from a shortlist of three companies to lead the regeneration of the 1.2 million sq ft (111,484sq m) Central Business District in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. International urban designers Gehl Architects and RHWL were appointed by Genr8 to draw up plans for the scheme, which includes 60,000sq ft (5,574sq m) of leisure and retail space, 250 hotel bedrooms and 230,000sq ft (21,368sq m) of public space. The

Demolition work has got underway at the Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester in preparation for the first stage of Lancashire County Cricket Club's (LCCC) £200m redevelopment of the venue. The initial phase of the project, which has been designed by BDP Architects, includes the creation of a new £12m glass-fronted conference and events facility overlooking the cricket pitch, which will be able to cater for up to 1,000 people.

An appeal has been launched by the Nant Gwrtheyrn Trust (NGT) to raise a further £200,000 in order to complete a six-phase restoration scheme at the former quarrying village in Gwynedd, North Wales. The village, which is located on the northern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, near Pwllheli, is home to a Welsh language and heritage centre, and includes an education centre, accommodation and conference facilities. Funding worth £3.5m has