Green light for £30m Edgbaston revamp
Detailed plans for the £30m redevelopment of Edgbaston cricket ground, home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club (WCCC), have been given the go-ahead by Birmingham City Council (BCC).
MCD Developments has already been appointed to deliver the scheme, which includes a new hotel, a housing development, offices, and a new stand and pavilion designed to increase the venue's capacity to more than 25,000. The new stand has been designed to provide improved facilities for both spectators and players, with new changing rooms, bars and restaurants planned, as well as an upgrade of the stadium's corporate hospitality offering and media centre.
It is hoped that the redevelopment will reaffirm Edgbaston status as an international cricket venue. WCCC chief executive Colin Povey said: "It would be difficult to overstate the importance of redeveloping Edgbaston to the club, Birmingham and wider region. Our plans will enable to us to provide world class sporting facilities for players, fans and the thousands of young people that use our ground every year.
"Our new ground, and the enabling development, will generate thousands of new jobs and help to secure international cricket for the next generation." In November, the scheme took a step forward after BCC approved in principle an application for compulsory purchase orders on a number of buildings situated on the adjacent Pershore Road.
Architects Broadway Malyan, planning consultants Turley Associates, urban design consultants Urban Initiatives, property and construction practice Ridley Levett Bucknall and marketing consultants Golley Slater have also been involved with the project.