Machinery firm abandons Wolverhampton factory plans for Shrewsbury relocation

Morris Site Machinery was to have moved from its current base at Four Ashes, north of the city, to the 67,000-sq-ft factory on the flagship i54 business park.

Instead it will be relocating its Staffordshire operation to Shrewsbury in March next year when its current lease at Four Ashes Industrial Estate, Station Road, comes to an end.

“It has been our long-held ambition to bring the business closer to our family group headquarters in Shrewsbury and into one of our own buildings," said chief executive Chris Morris.

Morris Site Machinery’s sister business Morris Property has a number of properties and options which are currently being considered on the north side of Shrewsbury for the relocation.

There are no redundancies planned and the company hopes to retain all its staff in the move which is 30 miles from the current Four Ashes site. The move will take place next spring and the new premises will house the service, assembly and sales distribution for its robust range of generators, welder generators, pumps and pressure washers.

Mr Morris said that in response to Pandemic induced challenges, the group had been right sizing the Morris Site Machinery business over the last 12 months.

"We have sold a significant amount of our lighting tower stock to an Italian company so reducing our requirement for storage space and creating an opportunity to relocate to a smaller, group-owned premises," he added.

Work on the new factory for the manufacturer began in November 2019 after Morris Property was appointed to deliver the £6 million building close to Jaguar Land Rover.

The original plan was to move to the i54 to allow the business to expand, but the lighting towers sale meant it was decided MSM would not need the extra space.

The factory has been completed by Morris Property had now been made available to let instead.

MSM had planned to create new jobs in Wolverhampton if the move into the city had gone ahead.

Morris Property and Morris Site Machinery are part of 152-year-old Shrewsbury fifth-generation family business group Morris & Company.

The property construction arm works in property investment and management, new build residential and commercial developments as well as restoration schemes.