Mace to complete Birmingham City FC’s stadium redevelopment after Buckingham Group collapse

Birmingham City FC’s St. Andrew’s stadium (Image: Birmingham City FC)

Mace is to take the role of construction manager to oversee the redevelopment of Birmingham City Football Club’s St. Andrew’s stadium redevelopment, following the collapse of Buckingham Group.

Buckingham Group, which specialises in stadium construction and has an annual turnover of £665 million (€773.7 million), ceased trading in August before entering administration at the start of this month with the loss of 450 jobs.

The employee-owned company had been redeveloping football stadiums including St. Andrew’s, Liverpool FC’s Anfield ground, and Sixfields at Northampton.

Mace, which built Tottenham Hotspur FC’s new stadium, was already part of the project team at St. Andrew’s and work recommenced at 9am yesterday (11 September 2023).

Birmingham City, which is managing the St. Andrew’s Master Redevelopment, will assume responsibility for the management of all subcontractors working on the remedial works to the lower Tilton and Kop stands.

The project is now expected to be completed before the end of November 2023.

The Lower Tilton safe standing area will be home to more than 3,000 Blues fans. The Kop Lower Stand will accommodate an additional 3,600 fans.

When completed St. Andrew’s capacity will be close to 30,000.

Birmingham City chief executive Garry Cook, said, “On behalf of all Blues fans I would like to thank the Mace team for stepping forward and helping us in our time of need. By appointing Mace to the construction management role we have ensured we will be in a position to achieve our goal of having close to 30,000 Blues fans, in person at St. Andrew’s, supporting the team later this autumn.

“Subcontractors who have worked so hard to get us to this point will now have the opportunity to finish the work they have started. More than 50% of our sub-contractors live in and around Birmingham so it is important that we have been able to get them back to work so quickly.

“I would like to thank the Buckingham Group team members for their commitment and passion to the Birmingham City project. They are professionals who find themselves in a challenging situation. Our hope is that they all find new and rewarding opportunities in the very near future.”