How a century-old landmark is now helping build Birmingham City’s new £3bn Powerhouse stadium

Bricks from a Birmingham hospital that served the city for more than 130 years are being given a new purpose as part of the ambitious £3bn Powerhouse stadium project.

Around one million reclaimed bricks from the former City Hospital will now form part of Birmingham City's new 62,000-capacity home.

Birmingham's Powerhouse stadium to use bricks from former hospital

Specialists have cleaned, sorted and restored around one million bricks recovered from the former City Hospital after it closed in 2024, following more than a century of service.

The bricks will be incorporated into Birmingham City's planned Powerhouse stadium in the city's Sports Quarter, with developers intending to use them on 12 chimney-style towers designed to reference the city's industrial heritage.

The hospital originally opened in the late 19th Century as the Birmingham Workhouse Infirmary before becoming Dudley Road Hospital in 1912. It joined the NHS in 1948 and provided medical, dental and nursing care until its closure.

The bricks were originally produced at Adderley Park Brickworks, meaning their reuse will effectively return them to the area where they were first manufactured.

A record of their manufacturing, storage and transportation is also expected to be documented and displayed as part of the new development.

Birmingham City unveiled plans for the 62,000-capacity Powerhouse last year, with the stadium set to form part of a wider Sports Quarter designed to host football, sporting events and entertainment.

FGG says: Reclaimed bricks give the Powerhouse a genuine link to the city's history

Using material from a landmark that played such a significant role in Birmingham's history gives the Powerhouse something that cannot simply be designed into a new stadium.

The bricks provide a physical connection between the city's industrial and social past and its next major regeneration project.

For the Blues, it is also a thoughtful way of making the new stadium feel connected to its surroundings rather than simply dropping a huge new arena into the Sports Quarter.