Wrexham signals approval for drug manufacturer’s expansion

The county council has moved to sign off on Ipsen BioPharm’s proposals to build a 120,600 sq ft facility on the city’s industrial estate.

Wrexham County Council signalled its approval for the biopharmaceutical manufacturer to deliver the warehouse next to its existing buildings off Ash Road North at a planning committee meeting yesterday afternoon.

This decision was made in line with officer recommendations for the meeting, which took place in the week after the judge ordered the authority to adopt its twice-refused local plan. At the meeting, chief officer David Fitzsimon said that the LDP should “carry significant weight” in future decisions.

At the same meeting, two major industrial schemes were deferred – Net World Sports’ hybrid plans to deliver up to 1.5m sq ft of employment space and FIREM’s 1m sq ft warehouse, both also proposed as an extension to Wrexham Business Park.

Designed by Lovelock Mitchell Architects, Ipsen’s approved facility will sit on four acres off Ash Road North to provide a three-storey facility where the company can develop its products that provide unique therapeutic indications for severe diseases.

Plans for the warehouse accessed off Ash Road North include open-plan offices, a large plant room, and air-handling units.

Ipsen owns the four-acre site, previously home to a now-demolished warehouse.

The firm has been based at the Wrexham site since 1995 and currently employs more than 400 people there, with the approved scheme able to accommodate an addition 24 employees.

Plans were submitted for the project in August. The project team includes Axis Transport Services, Land Studio, Cambrian Ecology, and Envirocheck.

Want to learn more about the development? Search for application number P/2023/0482 on Wrexham County Council’s planning portal.