The American owners of Birmingham City Football Club have unveiled designs for a new 拢1.2bn stadium that they hope to build in Bordesley Green.
Heatherwick Studio secured the design commission in collaboration with film writer/director Steven Knight and Manica Architecture.
Thomas Heatherwick is the sculptor/designer behind the 2012 Olympic cauldron, the B of the Bang sculpture for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the proposed Garden Bridge in London. Steven Knight is best known as the creator of Birmingham crime drama Peaky Blinders and is a Birmingham City fan.
Kansas City-based David Manica previously worked at sports architecture firm HOK Sport, where he was the lead designer on the O2 Arena, the new Wembley Stadium and the Beijing National Stadium.
Their creation is a 62,000-capacity bowl stadium nestled between 12 giant chimney towers that stand 120 metres high, echoing Birmingham's industrial heritage and the brickworks that once sat on the site. They will provide structural support for the roof while accommodating lifts and staircases and helping with ventilation. One chimney will include a lift to what will be Birmingham鈥檚 highest bar.
The designs also feature a retractable roof and moveable pitch, enabling flexibility for other sporting events and concerts.
Thomas Heatherwick said: 鈥淭oo often, stadiums feel like spaceships that could have landed anywhere, sterilising the surrounding area. This stadium grows from Birmingham itself 鈥� from its brickworks, its thousand trades, and the craft at its core.
鈥淚t's also a wholehearted place for the community. The stadium will truly come alive where it meets the ground; a place for play, gathering, and everyday life. The goal is to capture the spirit of the city and give it back to Birmingham.鈥�
Knighthead and the club have started a period of engagement and consultation before lodging a planning application in 2026. The ambition is for the new stadium to be completed in summer 2030, in time for the start of the 2030-31 season.
Birmingham City chairman Tom Wagner, who is also co-chief executive of Knighthead Capital, said: 鈥淭he stadium draws upon the proud heritage of the West Midlands 鈥� a heritage of industry, ingenuity and growth. I believe those same qualities can create a new era of success on and off the field and prosperity for local communities that have been starved of opportunities for too long."
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