Knighthead promises another £15 million following its £18.5 million investment in Birmingham City

Head of infrastructure Nick Smith has revealed the projects Knighthead are bankrolling at Birmingham City

Knighthead has offered additional £15 million in investment to upgrade Birmingham City’s existing facilities before the Sports Quarter is finished.

The American investment business, led by Blues chairman Tom Wagner, recently unveiled intentions to develop a Sports Quarter in the heart of Birmingham. Wagner intends to develop a stadium, training facilities, and an academy all on the same 48-acre property that was previously known as Birmingham Wheels.

Plans are in place for the future, but Knighthead wants the Blues’ current home, St Andrew’s, as well as their two training fields, the Elite Performance and Innovation Centre (EPIC) in Henley-in-Arden and Wast Hills, to match the necessary criteria. That is why Knighthead plans to spend an additional £15 million on St Andrew’s and the club’s training grounds over the summer.

The majority of that money will be used to build two fan parks at St Andrew’s: a temporary pop-up in the Kop car park and a permanent one in the Main Stand car park behind the Royal George. It is hoped that Blues fans will be able to gather at the latter to watch England in the Euros.

At last week’s Open House, head of infrastructure Nick Smith told a group of Blues fans: “Over the summer, we will deliver a further 22 projects with a £15 million investment.” Obviously, some of that investment is going into the training field, but I want to focus on the fan experience sections.

“When you return to St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park next season, there will be two new fan parks that are free to use. One will be in the Kop, serving as a pop-up fan park. On to the Main Stand car park, which will be our second and permanent fan park. This fan park will be open to more than 1,000 individuals on match days. We welcome families and offer a children’s play area, five-a-side football, and teqball. We have an adults-only area with food and bars, as well as a stage where we will showcase local bands, performances, and comedians.

“We’ll have a hospitality section with a television studio. We’ll have an area for match days, and hopefully, if everything goes well and I finish everything by the end of the Euros, you’ll be able to come and watch the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final as England wins the Euros.”

Smith has spearheaded Knighthead’s redevelopment of St Andrew’s, Wast Hills, and EPIC, where major work has been done in the previous year to convert a rugby-specific facility into one that can accommodate a top football club.

EPIC only had one training pitch when the Blues’ first squad moved there in March 2023 following the fire at Wast Hills. A second grass field was installed at the start of the year to allow Gary Rowett and his successors in the Blues’ hotseat to alternate.

“In the summer when we moved the first team across to EPIC there was only one pitch and it was a rugby pitch, not a football pitch,” Smith recalled. “They’re distinct structures, and it took a lot of battering through studs, scrums, and everything else. We have a terrific grounds team over there, and they got it football-ready for the summer.

“But we knew that when we reached the winter season, we would have difficulties using this surface because it was not built like a football stadium. The plan was to start cultivating a pitch on a turf farm in northern England. As winter approached, we harvested that pitch and built a new pitch on top of the artificial pitch at EPIC.

“Harvesting a pitch in winter – if any of you have tried growing grass in your gardens in the winter – shipping it across the country and putting it on top of a synthetic surface is really ambitious. Today, the first team has two pitches to train on. I believe this is a great accomplishment and a clear demonstration of how we want to function at Birmingham City.”

Smith was also able to reveal the dramatic transformation at the lesser-known Wast Hills, which houses Blues women and the academy. The changing rooms and canteen that were destroyed by the fire have since been rebuilt and refurbished.

“Last summer, we entered a period known as evidence of life inside our leadership team, which was about establishing the club’s strategic direction and ambition. Smith stated that they have led 52 projects with a total investment of more than £12.5 million.

“Some of it you’ve seen a lot of on matchdays: new pitch, new branding, and new changing rooms. The stadium has been completely rebuilt.

“In the previous six months, we have gone into a fix-it phase, completing 34 projects at a cost of an additional £6 million. I could tell you many anecdotes about the fix it phase, which has been extremely difficult, but I’d like to focus on a few.

“One is in Wast Hills. These are the identical rooms you saw during the fire. These are the dining room, kitchen, and changing rooms where the women will now change. We are ecstatic about what we have accomplished. Phase one is finished, phase two will be completed in two weeks, and step three, which will take us to Category One academy, will be completed before the start of the next season.”