The venues for the 2022 Commonwealth Games were based in Birmingham, Cannock Chase, Coventry, Royal Leamington Spa, Sandwell, Solihull, Warwick, Wolverhampton, and London.

Venues The following venues were used for the Games:

Venue Image Location Facility Status Year opened Ticketed Capacity Events Ref. City of Birmingham Alexander Stadium Perry Barr Stadium Renovated 2022 32,000 Ceremonies Athletics Arena Birmingham Westside Main Arena Existing 1991 15,800 Artistic Gymnastics Rhythmic Gymnastics Edgbaston Cricket Ground Edgbaston Stadium Existing 1886 25,000 Women's T20 Cricket Smithfield Southside Beach Volleyball Arena Temporary Arena – 4,000 Beach Volleyball 3x3 Basketball Arena Temporary Arena 2,500 3x3 Basketball – – – Marathon (start) Sutton Park Sutton Coldfield Open Water Pool – – – Triathlon Park Trails Temporary Grandstand 2,000 University of Birmingham Edgbaston Hockey Pitches Upgraded / Temporary Arena 2017 6,000 Field Hockey Squash Centre Upgraded / Temporary Arena 2,000 Squash Victoria Square City Centre Main Square Existing – – Marathon (finish) West Midlands Region Cannock Chase Forest Cannock Chase Mountain Bike Trails Upgraded 2005 – Mountain Biking Coventry Stadium and Arena Coventry Stadium Existing 2005 32,609 Rugby Sevens Arena 8,000 Judo Wrestling Victoria Park Leamington Spa Bowling Greens A–E Upgraded – 5,000 Lawn Bowls Sandwell Aquatics Centre Sandwell 50m Swimming Pool New-build 2022 4,000 Swimming Diving Pool Diving National Exhibition Centre Solihull Hall 1 Existing 1976 4,500 Weightlifting Para Powerlifting Hall 3 3,500 Table Tennis Para Table Tennis Hall 4 12,000 Boxing Hall 5 8,000 Badminton NEC Arena Solihull Main Arena Existing 1980 15,685 Netball Myton Fields Warwick Grassed area and adjacent road Existing – – Cycling Road Race West Park Wolverhampton Park Pathways Existing – – Cycling Time Trials Greater London Lee Valley VeloPark Stratford, London Velodrome Existing 2011 6,750 Track Cycling

Newly constructed and renovated venues

Alexander Stadium, Birmingham

Alexander Stadium is an international athletics stadium located within Perry Park in Perry Barr, Birmingham. It will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, as well as the Games’ athletics programme.

The stadium was first opened in 1976 and became home to Birchfield Harriers, one of the best known athletics clubs in the United Kingdom. In 2011, it underwent a £12.5 million expansion and refurbishment, including construction of a 5,000-seater stand opposite the main stand, taking the total capacity to 12,700. The new stand also became home to the offices of UK Athletics. Since the expansion, the stadium has hosted annual British Grand Prix events, the Amateur Athletics Association Championships, the 1998 Disability World Athletics Championships and, until 2019, regular English Schools' Athletics Championships.

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. However, UK Athletics Chief Ed Warner argued that the London Stadium, built to host the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, should be used to host the athletic events instead, with the rest of the sporting events being held in Birmingham and the West Midlands, to reduce the cost burden of the Games. Warner's position was not supported by the UK Government, or anyone else, and on 11 April 2018, then Prime Minister Theresa May announced that £70 million of investment would be earmarked to transform the Alexander Stadium into a world-class athletics venue for the 2022 Commonwealth Games to seat 40,000 spectators. In October 2018, British engineering and design firm Arup was chosen by the Birmingham City Council to redesign the stadium and construction firm Mace chosen to manage the renovation project.

In February 2019, Birmingham City Councillor Paul Tilsley claimed that the refurbished Alexander Stadium would become a white elephant after the Games as no long-term tenant for the stadium had been identified. He was also concerned about the funding arrangement of the Games and claimed that spending funds in organising the Games could put the council into heavy debt. Nonetheless, 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 surrounding Perry Barr area. The council suggested that the stadium could become the permanent home for the UKA and host major athletics events including the annual Diamond League meet, which is currently held at the London Stadium. On 30 January 2020, Birmingham City Council's planning committee approved the renovation plans for Alexander Stadium at a cost of £72 million.

In March 2020, the city council appointed the Northern Irish firm McLaughlin & Harvey to redevelop the stadium. The redevelopment was completed by spring of 2022, in time for the Games. The stadium's seating capacity was increased permanently from 12,700 to 18,000 and will accommodate around 32,000 spectators during the Games, with the installation of additional temporary seating. 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 the stadium for major events such as the Diamond League and UK Championships.

On 22 May 2022, the newly renovated stadium played host to its first event, the Birmingham meeting of the Diamond League series, with around 16,000 spectators in attendance. Considered a test event for Birmingham 2022, the meeting was staged successfully and the upgraded stadium received positive reviews from spectators and athletes alike, with Olympic pole-vault bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw describing it as the "most beautiful" track and field venue in the United Kingdom.

Smithfield, Birmingham

Smithfield is a vacant site in Birmingham City Centre, bounded by St Martin in the Bull Ring and the BullRing Shopping Centre to the north west, Birmingham's Chinese Quarter and Gay Village to the south west, and Digbeth to the east. Originally the site of the Birmingham Manor House, Smithfield was established as a trading district by the Birmingham Street Commissioners with the opening of Smithfield Market on 29 May 1817. Predominantly a livestock market at first, Smithfield was expanded throughout the nineteenth century and continued to trade in produce and second-hand goods until the 1960s, whereupon the land was purchased by Birmingham City Council and the majority of the site subsequently repurposed as Birmingham Wholesale Markets, the largest in the UK at the time. In 2018, the wholesale markets were relocated to a purpose-built hub in Witton and the entire Smithfield site cleared in preparation for a huge £1.9 billion city centre regeneration project.

Smithfield will be transformed into a multi-use venue for the duration of the Games. It will host the beach volleyball and basketball 3x3 competitions, for which temporary stadia of 4,000 and 2,500 spectators respectively are being constructed, and will also be the start point for the men's marathon, women's marathon and men's and women's T53/T54 wheelchair events. In addition, it will host one of two planned city centre Festival Sites, with giant screens, live and digital performances, and food and beverage outlets, which will be open to the public.

Sandwell Aquatics Centre

Sandwell Aquatics Centre is the only permanent venue built specifically for Birmingham 2022. It is an indoor facility located in the Londonderry district of Smethwick, Sandwell, containing an Olympic-size swimming pool, a 10-metre diving board with 25-metre pool, a community swimming pool and permanent seating for 1,000 spectators with expanded seating capacity during the Games.

British firm Wates designed the centre and is building it at a cost of £73 million. Funding has come from several sources. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council is contributing £27 million, with £38.5 million coming from the overall Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games budget. A further £7.6 million has come from Sport England, Black Country LEP, Sandwell Leisure Trust (SLT) and University of Wolverhampton. Construction began in January 2020 and will be completed in time for the Games.

After Birmingham 2022, the centre will undergo redevelopment and will officially open for public use in May 2023 when it will be operated by the Sandwell Leisure Trust. During the redevelopment, seating used for the Games will be removed and new facilities created, including two 4-court sports halls, a 108-station gym, a 28-station ladies-only gym, three activity studios, an indoor cycling studio, a sauna, a steam room, a football pitch with changing facilities, a dry diving area, an urban park and children's playground, and a café.

Existing venues

Arena Birmingham

Arena Birmingham is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Westside district of central Birmingham, with a capacity of up to 15,800. When it opened in 1991 as the National Indoor Arena, it was the largest of its type in the country, and is currently the third-largest indoor arena in the United Kingdom by capacity. Each year the venue hosts over 100 events and welcomes around 700,000 visitors through its doors.

The Arena is located alongside the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line's Old Turn Junction, opposite the National Sea Life Centre in Brindleyplace, and close to the International Convention Centre (ICC) and Birmingham Symphony Hall, which are also owned and operated by the Arena'a parent company, NEC Group. Between June 2013 and November 2014, the Arena underwent a £26 million redevelopment, designed by the architecture practice Broadway Malyan, which included creating a showpiece entrance from the canal-side, three "sky needle" light sculptures, a new glazed facade fronting the canal and new pre-show hospitality elements.

Since 15 April 2020, the Arena has been known as the Utilita Arena Birmingham, although it will revert to its unsponsored name for the duration of the Games. It will host the Artistic Gymnastics competition from 29 July to 2 August and the Rhythmic Gymnastics competition from 4 August to 6 August.

Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham

Edgbaston Cricket Ground is a world leading cricket ground located in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham. Home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club's eight-time winning and reigning champion County Cricket team, its T20 team the Birmingham Bears, and the Birmingham Phoenix men's and women's teams in The Hundred competition, Edgbaston is also the venue for Test matches, One-Day Internationals, Twenty20 Internationals, and hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. With permanent seating for approximately 25,000 spectators, it is the fourth-largest cricketing venue in England. The South Stand (Pavilion), rebuilt in 2011 as part of the Edgbaston Stadium Masterplan, is a multi-tiered structure which holds the Press Box, hospitality suites, players changing rooms, administration offices, Visitor and Learning Centre, the Club shop and banqueting halls, with a seating capacity of over 4,000 spectators, while the Eric Hollies Stand, with a capacity of 5,900 seats, is traditionally the most raucous area of the ground. Edgbaston is reputed to generate the best atmosphere in England for visiting test cricket teams and the men's team's record is the best of any home ground in the country.