Birmingham’s Edgbaston Stadium has unveiled its new Plaza and stadium entrance, which features one of the largest outdoor community spaces in Birmingham.
With 14,800 sq m, the Edgbaston Plaza offers more space than both Centenary Square and Victoria Square in Birmingham city centre and the new community space is the first stage to complete within the new Edgbaston Stadium Masterplan. This includes PATRIZIA’s development of 375 build-to-rent apartments and units for a new retail and leisure destination.
The development of the Edgbaston Plaza has seen the previous brick walls along Edgbaston Road, and the building within the former car park, demolished to open up access and views to the stadium. There are new disabled parking bays and charging points for electric vehicles through Edgbaston Stadium’s official energy partner, Drax, which will be installed shortly. The project has also seen the relocation of 229 car parking spaces to behind the stadium’s Birmingham End.
Craig Flindall, Chief Operating Officer at Edgbaston, said: “When we started this latest phase of the Edgbaston Stadium Masterplan, we had a clear focus on ensuring that the new Plaza would be the first stage to complete in order to bring forward the benefits for our community as soon as possible.
“Now that it’s part of the stadium footprint, we want to make the Plaza one of the beating hearts of Edgbaston. Alongside improving the experience for spectators attending our many high-profile cricket fixtures, we want the space to host cultural festivals and events that bring people together from across the city and local community.
“We’re very excited about what will follow today’s opening of the Edgbaston Plaza. Cricket remains central to our offer, but conversations are already underway about several other events that could be staged here in the summer and autumn, whilst the new retail opportunities could transform the local food and drink experience. We hope to announce further information on our masterplan in the coming months.”
The Edgbaston Plaza and PATRIZIA’s Edgbaston scheme have been constructed by Winvic Construction Ltd. The Plaza has been unveiled ahead of a huge summer of cricket at Edgbaston, which includes England’s men’s LV= Insurance Test match and Vitality T20 International versus India, Vitality Blast Finals Day, the eight-day women’s T20 programme in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and The Hundred and domestic programme of Warwickshire games.
Mark Jones, Director for Multi-room at Winvic said: “We’re delighted to have achieved completion of the Edgbaston Plaza on time, in readiness for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and other key cricket fixtures this summer. I’d like to thank the team for their hard work over the past year to meet this important project milestone, exceeding our client’s expectations along the way. Work continues on site constructing the adjacent 375-bed built-to-rent apartment scheme for PATRIZIA and we look forward to handing it over in summer 2023.”
Richard Scutt, Director, Real Estate Development at PATRIZIA, comments: “The opening of the Plaza marks an exciting milestone in delivering our vision for a thriving year-round destination around Edgbaston stadium together with our partners at Warwickshire CCC, Winvic, CRTKL and Arcadis. We want to ensure each of our new residents as well as the wider Edgbaston community enjoys a happy, healthy and sustainable lifestyle and this attractive new landscaped outside space is a fundamental part of our wellbeing offer.”