HIAB headquarters approved in Wrexham

The Swedish on-road load handling equipment company will relocate its UK headquarters from Shropshire to Wrexham Industrial Estate, following a county council vote to approve the development.

FI Real Estate Management is the developer for the HIAB headquarters project, which will see a 55-acre unused site on the southern edge of the Wrexham Industrial Estate redeveloped into a 45-acre eco-heritage park and office block.

The headquarters will be built on nine acres of land, totalling 77,300 sq ft across two floors. It would provide HIAB with a more modern facility for its 218-UK staff, compared to the company’s existing home in Shropshire, which it has occupied for more than 20 years.

There are 82 car parking bays proposed for the site and 70 for HGVs. The designs also include provision for 10 cycle storage spaces. Access to the scheme would be from Oak Road.

The eco-heritage park would create and enhance habitats for a wide range of animals, including great crested newts, clouded daisy flies, red-girdled mining bees, and spider-hunting wasps. It would be managed by a local wildlife organisation, according to FIREM.

A report by Metro Dynamics puts the scheme’s gross economic value over 30 years at £167m.

While the project easily secured approval during the vote, its future seemed up in the air at one point during the Monday evening meeting – with committee chair Cllr Mike Morris accusing FIREM of starting work on site without the proper licenses or permission. “It’s not becoming of a major organisation,” he told those in the council chambers.

“It really rattles me when somebody of [FIREM’s] calibre, of their size and expertise, have gone down that route – it saddens me more than anything,” he continued.

A FIREM representative denied that they had done work without the proper licenses at the meeting. The company also spoke to Place North West about the allegations.

“At the meeting, the chair of the committee raised concerns that we had undertaken work on the site without permission,” a spokesperson said. “The only activity undertaken to date has been vegetation management works, which does not require planning permission, carried out under the guidance of NRW and the Council. No other works have commenced at The Oaks site.”

To review the application search reference P/2025/0430 on Wrexham County Council’s planning portal.