Birmingham City issue update on St Andrew’s stadium repairs

Frustration has been building amongst Blues fans with part of St Andrew’s stadium being closed for more than a year.
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Birmingham City have provided an update on the structural issues with St Andrew’s stadium.

Sections of St Andrew’s have also been shut for more than a year, with the club being forced to close the lower sections of the Kop and Tilton Road End due to structural issues.

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The closure of the tiers has been a source of frustration for supporters, who have cited it as one of the reasons for the #BSHLOUT protests against the club’s owners - Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd - in recent months.

The club has now confirmed that it needs to conduct a site investigation to establish the exact method of repairing the lower tiers.

St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images)St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images)
St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images)

What has the club said?

As it stands, the work that needs to be completed in order to open up the lower tiers involves refurbishment of the steel rakers and dealing with the corrosion that has incurred dating from the original build.

The club revealed back in January that it was left with three options to progress with the stadium repairs. They were:

  • Concrete encasement of steel rakers: this would include removing the current precast concrete terrace units, encasing the steel rakers in concrete to reduce ongoing maintenance and meet the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations and reinstating the terrace units.
  • Refurbishment of current beams: this would be the quickest solution if suitable access was available to work under the stadium. With that not being the case, the precast concrete terrace units will still need to be removed to facilitate the works. However, the problem of poor access for future maintenance and inspection will remain which is in contravention of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations.
  • Ground bearing stand replacement: this option would consist of removing the current stands and rebuilding them to comply with the Green Guide. This option would take much longer than the previous two and would require pitch access, however, would be more cohesive to facilitate safe standing in the future.
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To determine which of these methods is best, Blues said the ground beneath the stands must now undergo a period of testing.

The testing will look to establish the “quality of the ground beneath the stands”, with preparation for the testing scheduled to begin on Monday 28 March and completed in mid-April.

As a result, seats will be removed in sections of the lower Kop and Tilton stands, to allow contractors to begin core drilling into the concrete and gain access to the ground below.

A statement from the club, read: “We are keen to reiterate that over recent weeks we have been planning, liaising and meeting on a daily basis with third parties to ensure that this complex issue is resolved in the quickest and safest way possible.

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“Whilst it may appear from the outside that little progress is being made, rest assured that Club staff are working tirelessly to ensure that this, the most important of issues for our supporters, will be resolved at the earliest possible time.

“The Club will issue another update on the lower tier repairs once we have more information on the outcome of the testing.”

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