Birmingham City confirm ‘major’ change to £3bn stadium project

Birmingham City's head of infrastructure Nick Smith has confirmed a major change to their £3bn stadium project.

Smith has revealed that the Sports Quarter will no longer include training facilities for the men's, women's and academy teams.

Training centre to be relocated

Birmingham City initially planned to create a Sports Quarter complex that would include the proposed 62,000-seater stadium and training facilities for the men's, women's and academy teams.

The plan for the 135-acre site in East Birmingham also included restaurants, entertainment venues and workspaces, with the club's owners wanting to make it a site that is used 365 days a year.

Knighthead, the club's American owners, bought the Birmingham Wheels site two years ago and have subsequently purchased land around the area in order to build their Sports Quarter complex around The Powerhouse.

However, Smith, Birmingham City's head of infrastructure, recently confirmed changes to the plans at the club's latest Open House event.

The proposed training centre is estimated to take up around 80 acres, which has constrained the plans at The Powerhouse, leading to Smith announcing that the Sports Quarter will no longer house the training facilities.

Smith said “We are constantly reviewing what is in excess of a £3bn project.

“What we found over recent months is that our stadium, The Powerhouse, is starting to get constrained into this corner of the site and being trapped by the canal and the two trainlines.

“This is driven by the expanding needs of the training centre.”

The plan had been for Birmingham City to construct the world's leading training centre, which would include 20 pitches, but due to site constraints and other regulations, the training centre was estimated to cost three times the most expensive in Europe.

As a result, the club have opted to move the training centre, as well as the women's and academy stadiums, out of the planned Sports Quarter, although Smith did reiterate that the club are “still completely committed to the investment and creating a world-leading facility.”

Smith revealed that Birmingham City are still in the process of locating a new site to create their world leading training facilities, with the head of infrastructure subsequently estimating that the planning for the project will be finished by the end of the year, with the construction of The Powerhouse then estimated for 2031.

FGG Says: Moving closer to a new era

The plan to house all the facilities and other venues in the Sports Quarter was a unique idea, and although it is slightly disappointing that this will no longer be possible, the decision means that the club are moving one step closer to the start of their new era at The Powerhouse.