Birse pulls out of £60m Coventry stadium

Birse has stunned Coventry City Football Club by withdrawing from its £60m new stadium project at the last minute.

The contractor was selected as preferred bidder for the 32,000-seater stadium last summer, and has spent the last six months working up final designs and costings. Work was due to start on site in April.

But last night (Thursday), Birse informed Arena Coventry, the jv between the football club and city council which is driving the project, that it would be unable to proceed with the construction phase.

The eleventh hour volte-face was described as "a bolt from the blue" by Paul Fletcher, chief executive of Arena Coventry.

He added that the contract would be re-tendered immediately, with the aim of finding a replacement within 10 weeks, and beginning construction in June.

It is thought that Birse's £5.5m loss on Leicester City's new stadium may have influenced its decision to withdraw.