A new 21.7m euro (£18.8m, US$28.8m) thermal spa and hotel called Toskana Therme Bad Orb is to open this week in the town of Bad Orb in Germany.

Located north-east of Frankfurt, Bad Orb is the sister property to the Toskana Therme Bad Sulza Kurhotel and thermal springs, which launched in 1999 and is situated south of Berlin.

Designed by Ollertz & Ollertz architects, the 2,300sq m (24,757sq ft), purpose-built Bad Orb spa sits next to the refurbished 100-bedroom Kurhotel an de Therme. It will be operated by Tuscany World Consulting, which is owned by Marion Schneider and Klaus Dieter Böhm.

With a total water surface area of 8,611sq ft (800sq m), the majority of the pools at Bad Orb are filled with saline water. Other facilities include Liquid Sound(r) pool featuring a series of underwater speakers and floodlights as well as 10,764sq ft (1,000sq m) thermal area.

Janice Gronvold, director of consultancy Spectrec, co-ordinated the alliance with Green Globe International and Toskanaworld's Bad Sulza and Bad Orb projects. Both are believed to be the first German thermal spring spas to go through the Green Globe auditing process. Details: toskanaworld.net