Alexander Stadium
Alexander Stadium is an international athletics stadium located within Perry Park in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England. It is the main athletics venue of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. It has hosted Diamond League known as the annual British Grand Prix events since 2011 and is due to hold the 2nd series of Diamond League in May 2022, the Amateur Athletics Association Championships, and was the venue of the 1998 Disability World Athletics Championships. It hosted one England Monarchs game in 1998 with an attendance of 8,000. It frequently hosts the English Schools' Athletics Championships, alternating every few years with  Gateshead, however 2019 was last year the Championships were held there due to its demolition and rebuild for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The construction of the original stadium began in 1975 and it opened in 1976. It is the home of Birchfield Harriers, one of the best known athletics clubs in the United Kingdom, replacing their former home at Alexander Sports Ground. The redevelopment of the stadium started in Autumn 2019 and is due to be completed by Spring 2022 in time for the Commonwealth games. Structure. The stadium has an eight-lane synthetic surface track with a ten lane  straight. Before redevelopment, there were 7,000 covered seats in three separate stands called Main, Knowles (after Dick Knowles) and Nelson (after Doris Nelson Neal OBE), and a 5,000 seater stand on the rear straight. Diamond League. Since 2011 Alexander Stadium has hosted the prestigious world athletics Diamond League tour until 2019 ahead of the redevelopment. Birmingham is due to hold the 2nd series of the 2022 tour in May 2022. Music event. The stadium has held many music events, including a one-day festival called Party in the Park run by BRMB (now Free Radio Birmingham) radio that featured acts  like Nelly Furtado, Westlife, Natasha Bedingfield, Blue, Sugababes, Girls Aloud and The Calling. The event was later moved to Cannon Hill Park where it was in a more central part of the city and so made it easier for people from south Birmingham to attend. Expansion. 2011. In 2011 Alexander Stadium underwent a £12.5 million expansion and refurbishment, including the building of a 5,000 seater stand opposite the current main stand. This took the capacity to 12,700. The new stand has also become home to the offices of UK Athletics. The stand was completed in June 2011, in time  to host the Diamond League British Grand Prix in July 2011. 2017–present. In June 2017, during the preparation of the Birmingham bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Birmingham bid committee proposed to renovate the Alexander Stadium and use it for hosting the athletics and ceremonies of the Games. On 11 April 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that £70 million (approx. USD $90 million) of investment will be earmarked to transform the Alexander Stadium into a world-class athletics venue for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, during which it will seat 40,000 spectators. In October 2018 , British engineering and designing firm Arup was chosen by the Birmingham City Council to redesign the stadium. British construction firm Mace was chosen to manage the stadium renovation project. On 21 June 2019, Birmingham City Council released the images and plans for renovating the Alexander Stadium and claimed that it would create a legacy asset for the Perry Barr area. On 30 January 2020, Birmingham City Council's planning committee approved the renovation plans of the Alexander Stadium which would cost £72 million. After the games, the temporary stands around the track bends will be removed, leaving the two  permanent stands seating 18,000, with the option of extending to 40,000 for major events. In March 2020, the city council chose the Northern Irish firm McLaughlin & Harvey to redevelop the stadium. Crime. On 22 March 2016 fell-runner Lauren Jeska from Lancaster attacked UK Athletics official Ralph Knibbs at the stadium, stabbing him multiple times. Jeska had feared her records in women's events would be quashed due to transphobia. She later pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.