Laing O’Rourke and Mace mulling moves to bid for Birmingham City stadium

The two firms behind the most recent new build stadia in the Premier League are both weighing up whether to price the scheme to build a new ground for Birmingham City.

The Blues’ US billionaire owner Tom Wagner last week unveiled plans by Heatherwick Studio for a 62,000-seat stadium in the city surrounded by 12 chimneys.

The club, which sits mid-table in the Championship, is hoping the scheme will be ready in time for the start of the 2030/31 season.

Laing O’Rourke completed Everton’s new ground at Bramley-Moore Dock in time for its opening in August while Mace built the Tottenham Hotspur stadium which opened in 2019.

Both firms are mulling a move for the job which is part of planned wider £3bn sports campus at a former industrial site called Bordesley Green.

In a statement, Laing O’Rourke, which has also expressed interest in rebuilding Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground, told Building: “We were pleased to see the release of Birmingham City’s vision [last week]. We are very proud of the work we did to deliver Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium – using digital design and off-site manufacturing to provide our client with certainty and quality.

“We look forward to hearing more about Birmingham City’s plans for the future.”

Meanwhile, Mace is also understood to be looking at the work but Building understands any bid would only be done if the scheme was let as a CM deal.

The Spurs stadium was let as a CM job and most UK-based contractors would be unlikely to take on a project of Birmingham’s size as a fixed price contract.

Mace’s consulting arm already has a relationship with the Blues, having stepped in to complete work at the club’s existing St Andrew’s ground when Buckingham went into administration more than two years ago.

As well as Heatherwick, US practice Manica, which worked with Fosters on the stadium used to host the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, is also on the job.

The design includes brick-faced chimneys which are intended to be an homage to the city’s industrial past and the proposed site’s longstanding history of brick manufacturing.

They would serve multiple purposes including supporting the roof structure, housing stairwells and lifts, ventilation and channelling sound from the stadium bowl upwards to prevent noise pollution.

Meanwhile, Karen Hirst has been named project director for the planned regeneration of the area around Old Trafford. Hirst was previously managing director of Maple Grove Developments, overseeing major commercial projects in the North-west, including industrial, logistics and town centre regeneration. She is also a former group board director of Preston contractor Eric Wright Group.