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The Kop Lower stand at Birmingham City’s St. Andrew’s stadium will be open to fans for the first time since March 2020 on Sunday.
The Championship club has announced that its women’s team’s fixture against Durham will serve as a test event for the planned reopening of the stand, which has been closed due to structural issues.
Birmingham said that “significant progress” has been made on the remedial work since the summer. Initially, blocks 20 to 30 will be open for Sunday’s Women’s Championship fixture.
In order for the tests to satisfy local authority measures, the club needs as many fans as possible in the Kop Lower. Fans who have season tickets for the men’s team will be able to attend for free, while non-season ticket holders can buy tickets for £8.
Should the blocks successfully pass the test event, they will be on sale for the men’s team’s home match against Sheffield Wednesday on November 25, and all future men’s fixtures.
Season ticket holders who had a seat in the Kop Lower during the 2019-20 season will be contacted by the club in due course regarding their relocation back to their previous seat.
In September, Birmingham appointed Mace as the construction manager for the ongoing project to upgrade the lower Kop and Tilton stands. Mace was already part of the project team and stepped into the role following the collapse of Buckingham Group into administration.
The Lower Tilton safe-standing area will be able to welcome more than 3,000 fans, while the Kop Lower will accommodate an additional 3,600 supporters. Following completion, the stadium’s overall capacity will be nearly 30,000.
Birmingham announced back in April that repair work in the lower sections of the two stands would be completed during the 2023-24 season. The closure of the stands has led to a significant reduction in the capacity of St. Andrew’s. The attendance for the club’s most recent home match against Ipswich Town was 20,940.
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