Alexander Stadium is an athletics stadium in

Perry Barr Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is also the name of a Government of Birmingham, England#Council constituencies, council constituency, managed by its own ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is the largest athletics stadium in the United Kingdom. The stadium has four stands with a total seated capacity of 18,000. The stadium site has four buildings which include the Gymnastics and Martial Arts Centre (GMAC), High Performance Centre, East Stand and newly built West Stand. Original construction began in 1975, and the stadium opened in 1976. It is owned and operated by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

. In May 2020, the stadium underwent a £72 million redevelopment which was completed in April 2022 ahead of the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

. The venue hosted the

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and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics and

para-athletics Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practiced by people with a disability as a disabled sports, parasport. The list of athletics events, athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, w ...

competitions of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The main stadium has a nine lane category 1 IAAF certified track. The stadium has an additional 6 lane warm up track and separate throws field. The West Stand offers 6 hospitality boxes, hospitality lounge with a capacity of 450 with track views and a multitude of track level spaces for hire. Other events held there include the annual

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between 2011 and 2019 and in 2022, the Amateur Athletics Association Championships, the 1998 Disability World Athletics Championships, and the English Schools' Athletics Championships. The Stadium also hosts

Midlands Hurricanes The Midlands Hurricanes are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. They were founded in 2021 and took over the professional franchise owned by Coventry Bears previously entering the third tier of th ...

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team from 2023. It is the home Stadium of Athletics Club

Birchfield Harriers Birchfield Harriers is an sport of athletics, athletics club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, England. As well as welcoming recreational runners they cater for all levels of experience up to and including Olympi ...

replacing their former home at Alexander Sports Ground.

Capacity

The stadium currently has a seating capacity of 18,000. Seating capacity is split between Lower, Upper and VIP Box Level seating of the West stand, Lower and Upper seating in the East Stand and Lower Seating stands in the North and South. Before redevelopment, there were 7,000 covered seats in three separate stands called Main, Knowles (after Dick Knowles), and Nelson (after Doris Nelson Neal OBE), and a 5,000-seater stand on the rear straight.

Commercial Venue

Since May 2023 Alexander Stadium has offered a wide range of rooms to hire for corporate, community and sporting events. Private Hire is available for the following spaces: Hire can be organised by via th
Stadium Website

Leisure Facilities

Alexander Stadium is open to the public as a Birmingham City Council run Leisure Centre. Alexander Stadium offers a range of activities such as Fitness Classes, Martial Arts, Athletics and Gymnastics. Leisure access is available: Monday to Friday: 7:00am to 9:00pm Saturday and Sunday: 8:30am to 5:00pm Classes can be booked via th
website
or contacting the Stadium directly. Birmingham City Council also offer a variety of memberships and free activity sessions inline with government initiatives such as Be Active and Passport to Leisure for lower income households within Birmingham

Diamond League

Since 2011 Alexander Stadium has hosted the prestigious world athletics

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

tour until 2019 ahead of the redevelopment. Birmingham held the 2nd series of the 2022 tour on 21 May 2022.

Music events

The stadium has held many music events, including a one-day festival called Party in the Park run by

BRMB BRMB is a British radio station based in Aston, Birmingham, which is owned and operated by Murfin Music International. It broadcasts on 89.1FM in Aston and surrounding areas, on DAB throughout Birmingham, and online via the station's website a ...

(now Hits Radio Birmingham) radio that featured acts including

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, Natasha Bedingfield,

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, Debbie McGee,

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and The Calling. The event was later moved to Cannon Hill Park where it was in a more central part of the city and so made it easier for people from south Birmingham to attend.

Expansion

2011

In 2011 Alexander Stadium underwent a £12.5 million expansion and refurbishment, including the building of a 5,000-seater stand opposite the current main stand. This took the capacity to 12,700. The new stand has also become home to the offices of

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

. The stand was completed in June 2011, in time to host the

in July 2011.

2017–present

In June 2017, during the preparation of the Birmingham bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Birmingham bid committee proposed to renovate Alexander Stadium and use it for hosting the athletics and ceremonies of the Games. On 11 April 2018, British Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

announced that £70 million (approx. USD $90 million) of investment would be earmarked to transform the Alexander Stadium into a world-class athletics venue for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, during which it will seat 40,000 spectators. In October 2018, British engineering and designing firm Arup was chosen by the

to redesign the stadium. British construction firm Mace was chosen to manage the stadium renovation project. On 21 June 2019,

released the images and plans for renovating the Alexander Stadium and claimed that it would create a legacy asset for the Perry Barr area. On 30 January 2020, Birmingham City Council's planning committee approved the renovation plans of the Alexander Stadium which would cost £72 million. After the games, the temporary stands around the track bends were removed, leaving the two permanent stands seating 18,000, with the option of extending to 40,000 for major events. In March 2020, the city council chose the Northern Irish firm McLaughlin & Harvey to redevelop the stadium.

2022 Commonwealth Games

Alexander Stadium was the main venue for athletics, para-athletics as well as holding the

and closing ceremonies of the

. The redeveloped stadium included temporary seating and facilities to accommodate the Games.

2026 European Athletic Championships

Following the awarding of the 2026 European Athletics Championships to Birmingham, Alexander Stadium will serve as the venue for the championships.

Incidents

On 22 March 2016 fell-runner Lauren Jeska from Lancaster attacked UK Athletics official Ralph Knibbs at the stadium, stabbing him multiple times. Jeska had feared her records in women's events would be quashed due to her transgender identity. She later pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. She was also convicted of causing actual bodily harm to two bystanders who tried to defend Knibbs.

References

External links

Birmingham City Council page on the stadiumRuntrackdir.com
{{Authority control Sports venues in Birmingham, West Midlands Athletics (track and field) venues in England Sports venues completed in 1976 Birchfield Harriers 1976 establishments in England Perry Barr American football venues in England Diamond League venues 2022 Commonwealth Games venues Athletics at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Rugby league stadiums in England