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At the Regional Investment Summit on Tuesday (October 21) Blues owner Tom Wagner revealed the new stadium will be created by British designers Heatherwick Studio and Kansas based architects MANICA. They had been supported by film director and writer Mr Knight, who is also a lifelong fan of the club. He only found out they had been successful on the morning of the summit – resulting in him forgetting to bring the suit he intended to wear and instead having to raid his props department for a jacket. He talked about the project at his Digbeth Loc. Studios where he was joined by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker. There, they revealed two ambitious projects for the city, the first of which, the Warwick Bar Prospectus, sets out a vision of an area covering the size of 22 football pitches with the potential of 1,700 new homes and 110,000 sq ft of creative workspaces. And the second project saw the announcement of Production Central WM, which is a new film production office to connect producers with set locations, local crew and suppliers needed to bring more big and small screen blockbusters to the region. Mr Knight said: “As a Blues fan, it means an enormous amount. Funnily enough Thomas Heatherwick approached us about Digbeth Loc. because he was interested in what was going on. “And then the competition was announced for building Birmingham City stadium and Thomas Heatherwick wanted to take part. “So I spoke to him and we got together and I fulfilled the role of representing the culture of the club, the history – all of that stuff. “We talked about design and how to reflect the history of where we’ve come from, what’s happened in the 150 years since Birmingham City was formed. “We’ve come up with a stadium design. We were up against the best architects in the world but Thomas Heatherwick is also one of the best architects in the world and we won. “We just found out this morning. I was getting ready to come [to the Summit] and I had my suit and tie on a hanger. Someone phoned up and said 'you better get here earlier because there is going to be an announcement'. “But I got to the M5 and realised I forgot my suit. I’m actually wearing props – this is a prop jacket.” Birmingham City FC said the partnership would deliver a project that would be “truly extraordinary, recognisable around the globe, yet rooted in the history of Birmingham”. Further details including design imagery of the stadium will be released in the coming weeks.
