Currently, the site is occupied

Currently, the site is occupied by warehouses and workshops. It is separated through the centre via a road creating two thin strips of land which are bounded to the east by a canal.

The entire 60-acre (240,000 m²) site is contaminated as a result of heavy industry in the past and many of the buildings are derelict. Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAB Battery

It is believed the cost of decontaminating the land would be at £1 million an acre.^[4]

The new stadium will be a multi-purpose 55,000-seater stadium^[5] which can host cricket, football, rugby and concerts. It is proposed to include moving tiers of seating. It was planned for a supercasino to be built on site, Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAH Battery

however, after the council backed a separate bid at the National Exhibition Centre in Solihullwhich consisted of an 85,000 seater stadium to replace the former Wembley Stadium.^[6] Amongst other sites campaigning for the National Stadium were Coventry.^[7]However, London remained the preferred location for the Wembley replacement. Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/P Battery

The bid for the sports village was pulled out by the council and it appeared dead.

The initial designs showed a stadium with an elliptical footprint and a sloping roof. This stadium was proposed to be built on green belt land known as theMeriden Gap, and not on the later chosen Wheels' Adventure Park. Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/S Battery

When the plans developed into more serious proposals, images of the new proposed stadium showed a stadium with a rectangular footprint and a large external framework.^[9][10] It was the only part of the sports village to have had a detailed design as the other buildings had not had full consideration. Sony VAIO VGN-SR49VN/H Battery

The sports village would include numerous facilities for sports as well as Birmingham's first Olympic size swimming pool, however there are plans for an Olympic size swimming pool to be built at a site in Aston University near the Eastside.^[11] As well as this, 9 acres (36,000 m²) of the development could form a new community sports campus, Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/P Battery

on top of a 200-bed hotel, an outdoor theatre, approximately 2,500 new residential properties, a 170,000 square foot (15,793 m²) entertainment complex and large retail space.^[12][13] An estimated total of 6,000 jobs will be created.

Plans for a new stadium were aired as early as 2001 and it gained support from many football managers. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/S Battery

Sven-Göran Eriksson gave his support and the then-current chairman of Aston Villa Football Club, Doug Ellis, announced that 47 of England's 92 league club chairmen had written to him backing the stadium.^[14] However, Ellis' support was subject to the venue becoming England's new national stadium. It was eventually overlooked for this honour in favour of a re-built Wembley Stadium in London. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF Battery

It was revealed in late 2004 where the sports village would be located, however, not what the proposal would look like.^[15] Immediately, David Gold, chairman of Birmingham City F.C., submitted his support for the stadium.In March 2005, Birmingham City Council had a meeting to seek authority for the City Council to enter into an exclusivity agreement. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/P Battery

Those at the meeting decided to implement the plan.^[18] In May 2005, an image of the stadium was released however the full plans were not.^[19] The council again held a meeting to answer and questions and to ease any concerns people had over the proposed stadium. There was confusion over whether this plans were for a new Birmingham City Football Club stadium or for a stadium for the city in general. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/S Battery

Plans for two separate stadiums were even considered; one at the NEC and another on the Birmingham Wheels site.^[20] The ambitious plans, designed by Populous, a branch of HOK International, were unveiled in October 2005 after talks between the council and Las Vegas Sands.^[21][22]

In November 2005, a campaign for support for the stadium and super casino on site was launched. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/W Battery

An opinion poll revealed that over 80% were in favour and supportive of the project in the area. This came two months after local councillors said they would object the plan on moral and religious grounds.

However on 20 March 2006 it was announced that the move would be unlikely to happen after Birmingham City Council announced plans to back the bid for a rival casino at the National Exhibition Centre, Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MR Battery

and not the one at the City of Birmingham Stadium. This was partly as a result of a petition handed to the council with 6,000 signatures from people in Saltley and Washwood Heath.^[26][27] This backfired and claims from local councillors in 2005 that 84% of residents were supportive of the proposals. Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG Battery

However, it was revealed that the majority of the city were supportive of the proposals.^[29] Rumours of the Birmingham City board trying once again to get the backing of the council have been spreading in the press, however nothing has been confirmed at this time.

For twelve months, there was little news of the plans except for Birmingham City Football Club saying there were still in talks with the council over the prospect of the Sports Village and stadium. Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG/H Battery

One year later, after a period of little news, it was revealed that the late regeneration councillor at Birmingham City Council, Councillor Ken Hardeman (Conservative councillor for Brandwood), was to campaign to investors at the MIPIM show at Cannes, France as part of Team Birmingham in March 2007.^[32] Sony VAIO VGN-SR70B/S Battery

Following the MIPIM show, Ken Hardeman announced that the plans for the stadium were alive and that investors were interested in the stadium. However, there was no mention of the plans for a sports village raising uncertainty over whether they were no longer being assessed. Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/P Battery

Hardeman also revealed that the council were prepared to give 30 acres (120,000 m²) of land they already own around the Birmingham Wheels site towards the project, creating an 80-acre (320,000 m²) site.^[4]

The 55,000-seater stadium would become the fourth largest football stadium in terms of capacity in England, behind Wembley Stadium, Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/S Battery

Old Trafford and Emirates Stadium. It would be the largest football stadium in the city and the West Midlands county.

The sports village proposed for the city which will surround the stadium is similar to the Olympic Village proposed for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, however on a smaller scale. Sony VAIO VGN-SR73JB/S Battery

The supercasino which was proposed for the site along with the stadium was to become the first in the country. There had been mixed views over the submission of the bid for permission to build the casino on the site and it faced competition from other locations such as Blackpool, Manchester and The O2 in London with Manchester being the city selected to construct the supercasino. Sony VAIO VGN-SR74FB/S Battery

The stadium would be one of the most expensive developments in the city at an estimated £300 million. This is rivalled by the Bullring Shopping Centre,Snowhill, Gateway Plus, Arena Central and Martineau Galleries.

St Andrew's is an association football stadium in the Bordesley district of Birmingham, England. It has been the home ground of Birmingham City Football Club for more than a century. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90FS Battery

Constructed and opened in 1906 to replace the Muntz Street ground, which had become too small to meet the club's needs, the original St Andrew's could hold an estimated 75,000 spectators, housed in one grandstand and a large uncoveredterrace. The attendance record, variously recorded as 66,844 or 67,341,^[A] was set at a 1939 FA Cup tie against Everton. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90NS Battery

During the Second World War, St Andrew's suffered bomb damage and the grandstand, housing a temporary fire station, burned down in an accidental fire.^[2] In the 1950s, the club replaced the stand and installed floodlights, and later erected a second small stand and roofed over the open terraces, but there were few further changes. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90S Battery

The ground became dilapidated: a boy was killed when a wall collapsed during rioting in the 1980s.^[3] When new owners took the club out of administration in 1993, they began a six-year redevelopment programme during which the ground was converted to an all-seater stadium to comply with the Taylor Report into safety at sports grounds, Sony VAIO VGN-SR90US Battery

and all areas apart from the Main Stand were completely rebuilt. The seating capacity of the modern stadium is just over 30,000. It has function rooms suitable for business or social events and a club store selling Birmingham City merchandise. A 2004 proposal that the club should sell the ground and move into a multi-purpose City of Birmingham Stadium remains speculative. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91NS Battery

St Andrew's has been the venue for England international football matches at all levels below the senior national team, and for semifinal matches in the FA Cup and finals of lesser competitions. It has played host to events in other sports, including rugby union and professional boxing, and more recently has staged music concerts. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91PS Battery

Small Heath Alliance – the original name of Birmingham City Football Club – played their first home games on waste ground off Arthur Street, in the Bordesley Green district of Birmingham, very near the site where St Andrew's would be built.^[B] In 1876, they made a temporary move to a fenced-off field in Ladypool Road,Sparkbrook, with an estimated capacity of 3,000 spectators; Sony VAIO VGN-SR91S Battery

because the field was enclosed, admission could be charged. Interest in the team grew, and a year later they moved again, this time to a rented field in Small Heath, situated on the eastern edge of Birmingham's built-up area, just north of the main road toCoventry.^[4][B] This ground, which became known as Muntz Street, had four sides of open terracing, Sony VAIO VGN-SR91US Battery

a small covered wooden stand, and a changing-room for the players. When first opened it could hold approximately 10,000 spectators.^[4][5] Over the years the height of the terracing was raised, which increased the capacity to around 30,000, but this became insufficient to cope with the demand. The attendance at a match in 1905 against local rivals Aston Villa was officially recorded as 28,000 spectators, Sony VAIO VGN-SR92NS Battery

but several thousand more climbed walls or forced turnstiles to gain entry.^[5][7] The landlords refused to sell thefreehold of the ground, nor would they permit major extensions to be made. As the board of directors estimated that staying at Muntz Street was costing the club £2,000 a year (£159,000 at today's prices),^[8] they began the search for an alternative site. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92PS Battery

Director Harry Morris identified a site for a new ground in Bordesley, some three-quarters of a mile (1 km) from Muntz Street towards the city centre. Covering an area of 7.5 acres (3 ha), bounded by Cattell Road, Coventry Road, Tilton Road, Garrison Lane and the railway, and near St Andrew's church, the site was where a brickworks had once operated. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92S Battery

Though Morris described the land itself as "a wilderness of stagnant water and muddy slopes",^[5] the Sporting Mail considered it "very favourably situated for obtaining easy communication with the city and many of the suburbs, and will be served by an excellent service of electric cars, while the provision of a railway station close at hand is also considered as within the bounds of possibility." Sony VAIO VGN-SR92US Battery

The club took the land on a 21-year lease, and entrusted the role of surveyor and engineer to a local carpenter, Harry Pumfrey, who despite a lack of qualifications produced plans "which would have done credit to the most expensive professional architect".^[7] Club director Thomas Turley, a builder, acted as clerk of works, Sony VAIO VGN-SR93DS Battery

and it is estimated the club saved more than £2,000 in professional fees by keeping the work in-house.^[7] Tradition has it that gypsies, evicted from the site before work could begin, laid a 100-year curseon the club;^[10] although gypsies are known to have camped nearby, there is no contemporary evidence for their eviction by the club, and construction began in February 1906. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93JS Battery

Artesian springs, which kept the land flooded, had to be drained and blocked off with tons of rubble before soil could be laid on top.^[5] To create height for the terracing on the Coventry Road side of the ground, the club offered the site as a tip, local people paying a total of £800 (£63,800 today)^[8]for dumping an estimated 100,000 loads of rubbish. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93PS Battery

This embankment was known from the beginning as the Spion Kop, stood 110 terraces high at its highest point, and had a reported capacity of 48,000 spectators, each paying 6d (£1.99 today).^[8] The Grandstand, on the Garrison Lane side of the ground, was 123 yards (112 m) in length. It held 6,000 seats divided among six sections, priced from 1s to 2s (£4.00 to £8.00 today),Sony VAIO VGN-SR93YS Battery

and all accesses were lit by electricity. In front of the stand was space for 5,000 to stand under cover.^[5][12] Beneath the stand were refreshment rooms, changing rooms, a training area with plunge bath, a billiard room donated by brewery magnate Sir John Holder, and the club's boardroom and offices, which hitherto had been maintained in premises in Birmingham city centre. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94FS Battery

Behind the goal at the railway end of the ground was space for a further 4,000 standing spectators, and access to the ground was gained via turnstiles on three sides of the ground.^[14] Total capacity was estimated at 75,000, and construction cost at £10,000 (£800,000 today).The playing surface, at 115 by 75 yards (105 m × 69 m), was one of the largest in the country, had a four-yard (3.7 m) grassed border, and was surrounded by a cinder running track. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94GS Battery

St Andrew's was officially opened by Sir John Holder on 26 December 1906, when Birmingham played Middlesbrough in a First Division fixture. There had been heavy snowfall overnight, and dozens of volunteers, including members of the club's board, worked all morning to clear the pitch. The game finally kicked off an hour late, finishing goalless in front of 32,000 spectators. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94HS Battery

The Birmingham Daily Post editorial next day suggested that "the fact that so many spectators attended under such adverse conditions augurs well for the step that the directors have taken", and that the directors were "to be congratulated in having provided their supporters with a ground second to none in the country".^[15] Sony VAIO VGN-SR94VS Battery

The Football Association chose St Andrew's to host the 1907 FA Cup semifinal between Sheffield Wednesday and Woolwich Arsenal; Wednesday won 3–1, and went on to win the tournament. This was the first FA Cup tie to be played at the ground, as Birmingham had lost their opening match away from home. Sony VAIO VPC CW2MFX/PU Battery

Three more semifinals took place at St Andrew's before the Second World War, in 1911, 1924 and 1934.^[16] The club bought the freehold of the ground in 1921 for a price believed to be less than £7,000 (£558,000 today).In the 1930s, roofs were erected over the Kop and Railway End terraces,^[2] and in February 1939, Sony VAIO VPC S11V9E/B Battery

the ground attendance record, variously recorded as 66,844 or 67,341, was set at the fifth-round FA Cup tie against Everton.

During the First World War, the club supported the war effort by allowing the ground to be used as a rifle range for military training.^[18] Sony VAIO VPCB119GJ/B Battery

On the outbreak of the Second World War, all outdoor sport was banned by the Government until safety implications could be assessed. When football resumed a few weeks later, Birmingham's Chief Constable ordered the ground's closure because of its proximity to probable air-raid targets such as the BSA munitions factories. Sony VAIO VPCB11AGJ Battery

The matter was first raised in Parliament in November 1939, but the Home Secretary felt unable to intervene.^[21] By March 1940, when St Andrew's had for some time been the only football ground in England still closed, the Chief Constable bowed to public pressure, and a crowd of 13,241 witnessed Birmingham's first home game in more than six months. Sony VAIO VPCB11AVJ Battery

In 1941, St Andrew's suffered 20 direct hits from Luftwaffe bombing, which destroyed the roof of the Kop, badly damaged the Railway End, and forced the team to play elsewhere.It was therefore a surprising choice of venue for a wartime international match between England and Wales; on safety grounds, spectators were required to purchase tickets in advance, and numbers were limited to 25,000.Sony VAIO VPCB11V9E Battery

Three months later, the Main Stand, which was being used as a temporaryNational Fire Service station, burned down, destroying the club's records and equipment – "not so much as a lead pencil was saved from the wreckage"^[25] – when a fireman mistook a bucket of petrol for water when intending to damp down a brazier.^[2][14] The team returned to the ground in 1943. Sony VAIO VPCB11X9E Battery

The replacement Main Stand, built in the early 1950s, used a propped cantilever roof design, which meant fewer pillars to block spectators' view of the pitch.Floodlights were installed, and officially switched on for a friendly match against Borussia Dortmund in October 1956.By the early 1960s, a stand had been built at the Railway End to the same design as the Main Stand, Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/P Battery

a new roof erected over the Kop, and the Tilton Road end covered for the first time.^[16] A scoreboard and clock were installed at the City end of the ground in memory of Birmingham and England player Jeff Hall, who died of polio during the 1958–59 season.Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/R Battery

In the 1970s, the Asda chain proposed to share the cost of a new stand as part of a supermarket development on land behind the Kop made vacant byslum clearance; in the face of opposition from commercial rivals, the proposal fell through. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/W Battery,Sony VAIO VPCCW19FJ/W Battery,Sony VAIO VPCCW1AFJ Battery