Perfect Match For ‘Blues’ At St Andrew's Stadium

A heating system upgrade at Birmingham City Football Club has achieved the winning goals of improved efficiency and reliability. Baxi’s Director of Building Solutions James Matthews reports that visitors to Birmingham City FC’s hospitality suites are benefiting from warm, comfortable surroundings, thanks to Ignis Group and Baxi.

A reliable, efficient heating and hot water system is central to delivering high building comfort levels while helping avoid unnecessarily high energy bills and reduce environmental impact.

Certainly, for a football club like Birmingham City (BCFC), ensuring optimal comfort is a key priority throughout its stadium and training facilities. When the decision was taken to refurbish the main Kop plant room at its St Andrew's stadium, specialist mechanical service and maintenance contractor Ignis Group was appointed to design and install the new system.

The plant room serves BCFC’s hospitality suites, Legend’s Lounge and catering kitchens, making reliability, improved efficiency and quality top of the Club’s list of requirements. Space constraints within the plant room were an added consideration for Ignis Group when proposing replacement boilers and water heaters. They recommended installing Remeha and Andrews products as the best solutions within the project parameters.

Ignis Group Director John Mackin explained: “We are very familiar with Remeha products, having used them extensively over the years and been impressed with their proven high performance, energy efficiency and reliability.

“To meet the heating demand within the space limitations, we proposed installing three Remeha Quinta Ace 90 boilers on a Remeha cascade system.”

He continued: “For the washrooms and kitchens in the hospitality area, which have high hot water demand, we recommended two Andrews ECOflo condensing water heaters due to their high efficiencies and reduced maintenance.

“Baxi being a local supplier was an added advantage to reduce the environmental footprint of the project.”

Once the recommendation had been approved, temporary plant was installed in the Kop plant room to ensure continuous heating and hot water service while the works took place.

Early Engagement

Baxi provided support throughout the project, from discussions pre‑sales to final commissioning.

Early engagement with manufacturers can bring multiple benefits to a project. First, many manufacturers will accompany you on free site surveys to understand the project requirements and limitations and propose the most appropriate solutions. This can be a great opportunity to tap into their specialist product and technical knowledge.

Not only this, but they can offer specific advice on how to optimise whole‑life boiler performance on a particular project – from water treatment and hydraulic separation, to controls and system design.

Where manufacturers can supply complete heating and hot water solutions, this helps to simplify the delivery process. When working on projects with tight timeframes, as was the case at BCFC, a conversation at the outset to check product availability can also be helpful, as John explained: “This project needed to be completed within a fixed four‑week period, so the ready availability of the Baxi products was a major bonus, helping keep the job on schedule.”

One consideration when moving from non‑condensing to condensing technology is the new flueing requirements which in this instance were carried out by flue specialists Midtherm Flue Systems.

The project also involved the fitting of new pipework as well as a new controls philosophy to ensure maximum efficiency from the new Remeha boilers and Andrews Water Heaters. All products were supplied through the local merchants P & R Edmonds.

John said: “It went brilliantly. We had great support from the Baxi technical sales team – they really know their stuff and are always great to use as a sounding board! Their engineers are very competent too and did a great job at the commissioning stage.”

More Efficient, More Reliable

With the project now successfully completed on schedule, BCFC is delighted with the result.

Ignis estimate that the old system had been operating at a seasonal efficiency of around 65‑70%. With the recent upgrade to more energy‑efficient condensing boilers and water heaters, the Club stands to reduce energy consumption from heat by upwards of 20%. Added to this is the improved overall efficiency of the building, the reliability of the service and the enhanced comfort levels for the Club’s hospitality guests.

John concluded: “The Club is very happy with the outcome which couldn’t have come at a better time. Having more efficient and reliable heating and hot water during the recent colder months is certainly very welcome!”

Energy Efficiency Is Crucial

Ultimately, the goal is to decarbonise heat in buildings. But irrespective of the low‑to‑zero technology that may eventually be used in a building, energy efficiency is crucial – especially when it comes to the heating and hot water system which is typically a large user of energy. The cheapest energy is, after all, the energy we don’t use.

In plant rooms where renewable technologies are not currently a feasible option, refurbishing these vital services with a plant upgrade is a win‑win solution. As an affordable, strategic step on the pathway to longer‑term sustainability goals, it can deliver operational and carbon savings, enhanced reliability, increased control capabilities, and improved energy efficiency. The project at BCFC is the perfect example of how small steps can lead to big wins.