Birmingham University Sports Centre 

From Concept to Commonwealth Games: A Premier Sports Facility for 3,000 Athletes and Community Engagement.

The University of Birmingham appointed SPACE & PLACE (S&P) to lead the design and delivery of a £55M sports centre. This state-of-the-art facility replaced the old Monrow Centre and now stands prominently at the corner of the University’s Edgbaston campus. The sports centre is fully accessible, serving students, staff, and the broader community. 

S&P, in collaboration with façade architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, won a public tender to oversee the project from the initial concept to its completion in 2018. The University used the NEC contract form and directly appointed the Design Team. During early-stage consultations, we involved the estates, sports, and maintenance teams to ensure we thoroughly considered all project needs. Interserve managed the construction under a design and build contract, with S&P novated to this phase. 

The new facility demonstrates the University’s commitment to supporting athletes in physiotherapy, sports psychology, nutrition, and strength training. The sports centre, designed for both the local community and elite athletes, was the Jamaican Olympic Team’s training venue during the London 2012 Olympics.

Key features of the facility include: 

• Birmingham’s first 50m competition swimming pool, which can be divided into two 25m pools, with a movable floor for variable depths.
• The Munro Arena, a 12-court sports hall that can also be used for archery.
• A hybrid hall, six glass-back squash courts, and five versatile activity rooms.
• Ergo and spin studios, a martial arts Dojo, and a climbing wall.
• A spacious two-level gym with over 200 stations, along with separate dry and wet changing facilities. 

A specialized floor for elite athletes features a Wellbeing and Sports Performance Centre, complete with sports medicine, treatment, and assessment rooms, as well as a sports science lab. The facility also supports elite swimming and squash programmes. 

Sustainability was central to the project, aiming for an EPC A-rating. We achieved this by using high-performance materials, maximizing natural daylight, and connecting to the University’s low-carbon district heating network. As a result, the project received an EPC A-rating of 22 and a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent.’

Results

The University was an official partner of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. We designed the enhanced facilities to accommodate nearly 3,000 athletes, coaches, and staff, with plans to transform the hockey pitches into a 6,000-seat stadium.

September 2018