The revamped Alexander Stadium will deliver a Commonwealth Games legacy after it emerged the venue will be the new base for Birmingham City University’s sports students.
A £72million project is underway to ready the facility for the 2022 showpiece
An agreement has now been reached which will see 1,000 students accommodated once the games have taken place.
The university will move into three storeys in the redeveloped Western Stand
Cllr Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “For decades, the Alexander Stadium has had a deserved reputation as a first-class athletics venue, but we have never fully realised the potential of the site.
“It is crucial we create an enduring legacy beyond the summer of 2022.
“This exciting new partnership with Birmingham City University brings a new and meaningful purpose for the stadium.
“We need it to operate 365 days a year, rather than on limited number of occasions it currently does.
“This deal lays the foundations for further investment to make the revamped stadium the focal point for community, leisure, sport, health and well-being activity in a regenerated Perry Barr.”
“World-class facilities”
The site will include sporting equipment such as environmental chambers and anti-gravity treadmills, providing elite level training for students on courses such as sports nutrition and physiotherapy.
Professor Philip Plowden, Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham City University said: “Our sport programmes are some of our fastest-growing, and we are delighted that we will be making world-class facilities available for our students.
“Alexander Stadium is an iconic part of Birmingham’s sporting offering, which will take centre stage in the coming years, and it will make a fitting home for our sporting staff and students.
“It is also very pleasing that we are maintaining our strong links with Perry Barr, which, for so long was our main site.
“Birmingham City University is hugely excited about the Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham and the opportunities which they will afford to residents, businesses and visitors including our staff and students.
“Working closely with the council in this way will help secure the legacy of the Games, and to ensure these opportunities will continue beyond 2022.”
