WMCA partial bankroll Edgbaston hotel project

Article posted by Coliseum, March 22^nd, 2024

Image: Warwickshire CCC

The Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham, England (UK) has received a major funding boost in its bid to develop an onsite hotel and new spectator stand.

‘Warwickshire County Cricket Club’ stated that a loan facility of up to £18 million pounds has been approved by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) which will cover a substantial part of the club’s plans to redevelop the Raglan and Family Stands alongside a new four-star hotel.

The 25,000-capacity Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or the Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England (UK). It is home to the Warwickshire County Cricket Club and its T20 team Birmingham Bears.

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The Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales (UK). It represents the historic county of Warwickshire.

Birmingham (UK)-based the West Midlands Combined Authority is a combined authority for the West Midlands Metropolitan County in the United Kingdom. It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, or LDEDCA, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The legislation places a duty on the local authorities to promote understanding of the functions and democratic arrangements of the authority among the local people.

‘Warwickshire County Cricket Club’ further stated that it paves the way for Edgbaston to work with the other partners to secure the remaining funding with a view for construction to begin – subject to planning approval – in September 2025.

Detailed consultation with the stakeholders, including the residents and the Warwickshire Members, will take place over the next six months ahead of a proposed planning application to be submitted in Autumn.

If granted, the project is expected to be finished by Spring 2027 with the hotel opening in time for that year’s Men’s Ashes Test Match against Australia.

The proposed hotel will include a rooftop terrace, pitch-view rooms with balconies and other rooms that can be converted into hospitality boxes with small external terraces to watch the match action.

And the redeveloped stand – which will have the same capacity as the old Raglan and Family Stands – will include a new concourse with enhanced food and drink options, plus improved facilities for the disabled spectators.

Stated Stuart Cain, Warwickshire County Cricket Club Chief Executive, “Getting the funding in place is crucial. We’re grateful to the WMCA for making this contribution and backing our ambition to continue bringing major economic and social benefits to the region through international sport. Once the remaining funding is secured, we will consult with the local community and the Members on our plans. Cricket will always stay at the heart of our thinking, but it’s important we develop a stadium that brings new jobs to this part of the City and creates wider community opportunities through the hotel and an expanded conferencing and events business that sits alongside world class sport.”

The project is the latest development in the Edgbaston Masterplan to transform the stadium into a multiuse sports, residential, commercial, and community complex.

It’s expected that the project will create more than 376 jobs during the construction period and another 100 post completion, adding to the 1,000 jobs the stadium already supports locally.

The Edgbaston Stadium currently contributes approximately £35 million to the local economy and projections from the new hotel development increase that to £40 million.

Asserted Andy Street, Mayor of West Midlands and Chair of WMCA, “The upgrade plans for the Edgbaston Stadium will take a globally recognized cricket stage and provide it with the world-class facilities it needs to continue thriving in the future. That’s important because Edgbaston attracts tens of thousands of fans to our region from around the world, boosting our economy and especially our hospitality sector. The improvements to the stadium will elevate their experience while directly creating hundreds more jobs for the local people. So, I’m pleased that the WMCA has agreed to support the scheme. It builds on the wonderful legacy of the Commonwealth Games and will help maintain the West Midlands as a key destination for global sporting events in the decades ahead.”

The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multisport event among the athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which mostly consists of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, has successively run every four years since.

Edgbaston’s Masterplan has recently seen the opening of the Corkfield apartment complex opposite the stadium and the launch of a new hospitality centre of excellence.

Corkfield consists of 375 apartments, underground parking, 14,000 sq ft of retail space, a rooftop terrace overlooking the stadium, and landscaped courtyard. The club’s works as part of the Masterplan included a new entrance piazza and car parking zones, totaling over 15,000 square meters.

The new catering and hospitality centre of excellence at Edgbaston promises exciting career opportunities at the stadium for the residents.

Xcelerate with Edgbaston (the first state-of-the-art regional community skills and learning center for training and excellence) – operated by the stadium catering partner Levy UK + Ireland – is situated behind the Wyatt Stand and offers apprenticeships, career development and skills training for the people wanting to work in the sector.

The apprenticeships will range from Level 2 through to degree level and spanning culinary, operations, information technology (IT), human resources (HR), event management, procurement, and finance roles.

Chertsey (UK)-based Levy is the leading sports and entertainment caterer in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It creates bespoke F&B concepts, service standards and pioneering design, implementing a guest-first approach and data-driven innovation.

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