Birmingham will have a new £500,000 under-soil heating system in place for life in the Premier League next season.

Work on 18 miles of undersoil piping is well under way at St Andrews and manager Alex McLeish has praised the club's board for backing the project.

He told the club's official website: "It's great to see work on the pitch coming on so well and that the infrastructure of the club is moving forward thanks to continued investment by the board.

"It will be of great benefit to the first-team squad to be able to play on an improved surface."