Knighthead begin £15m revamp to Birmingham City stadium and training grounds

In the off-season, Birmingham City intends to make a variety of changes to St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, and construction has already started.

During Sunday night’s awards ceremony, Chief Executive Garry Cook informed the crowd that Nick Smith, the team’s head of infrastructure, and the diggers could now roll in and get back to work. Over the past twelve months, Smith has overseen all of Knighthead’s operations on St Andrew’s and its two training grounds.

Smith disclosed that Knighthead intended to complete 22 renovations this summer at an estimated cost of £15 million during the Open House event in April.Before and after games when the League One season kicks off in August, two fan parks will be constructed to accommodate supporters.

With space for 1,000 fans, the first fan park will be located in the Main Stand parking lot behind the Royal George. By early July, Smith aims to have this permanent fan park operational, allowing Bluenoses to gather and watch the European Championship knockout stages on home ground.

“This fan park will be open to over 1,000 individuals on match days,” Smith stated. Families are welcome, and we offer teqball, five-a-side, and a kids’ play area. We have a stage where we will be hosting local bands, performances, and comedians, as well as an adults-only section with food and bars.

“There will be a TV studio and a hospitality area. If all goes according to plan and I can finish this by the end of the Euros, you will have a place to go watch the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final if England wins the competition. We will have a space for match days.

Beside the Kop, next to a renovated club store, will be a temporary fan park. The goal is to design areas that supporters desire to hang out in, which will encourage them to spend more money.

The club’s management group understands that finding alternate parking options will be necessary in order to repurpose the Main Stand parking lot. The possibility of using a portion of Knighthead’s newly-owned Birmingham Wheels property for safe parking for fans is one of the things under consideration.

Additionally, Smith is developing more upscale “eatertainment” options for the stadium. One of Knighthead’s top priorities is renovating the suites within the Gil Merrick.

So is enhancing the annoyance system. The outmoded technology meant that those of us inside St Andrew’s on the last day could hardly hear what the stadium announcer was saying. That was one of the season’s annoying themes.

The men’s training ground at Henley-in-Arden is now undergoing renovations to enhance the quality of its warm-up area. Before the season’s last game against Norwich, the grass was removed.

Since the installation of a second pitch in the middle of the previous season, the Blues first team now uses two pitches at the Elite Performance and Innovation Centre (EPIC). The goal of the club is to maximize the utilization of the spacious warm-up space located behind the main building.

GET MORE NEWS HERE