Video: Look inside new Llay police HQ – town police to operate from Crown Buildings on temporary basis

North Wales Police have taken control of their Eastern Command and Custody Facility this week, which will be the new base for Wrexham and Flintshire policing.

The multi-million pound development, based on the former Sharps site on Llay Industrial Estate, will replace the current police tower in the town centre.

Below we have three videos from a trip to Llay earlier today, showing inside the huge new building plus two quick chats with the new Chief Constable Carl Foulkes and the Police and Crime Commissioner, Arfon Jones.

The first is a quick collection of video from around the new Eastern Command and Custody Facility, starting with a view outside and from the roof looking around at the Llay industrial estate.

There are 243 solar panels on the top of the building helping with its green credentials, that include ‘grey water’ for vehicle washing as well as intelligent lighting.

The 10.1 acre site has 4,646 square metre of office space, with 2,000 square meters of custody space that includes the affray and van dock. There are 32 cells with 4 dedicated holding cells.

250 staff are due be based in Llay, with staff shifting boxes and furniture around today as we were there, with full decant completing towards the end of the month into the top spec new office space.

The view also shows the interview space and custody suite. First guests are expected in late November or early December.

North Wales Police also has a new Chief Constable, Carl Foulkes, who only started the job on Monday. Below he has a quick chat to give his thoughts on the building, and as a local lad how it feels to have the top job in a brand new facility close to home. We also clear up if he is from Wrexham or Flintshire…!

Arfon Jones, the Police and Crime Commissioner of North Wales, was also in attendance. As a former officer we asked him about the new facility compared to the old station in the town centre, and if he would miss the iconic tower.

Mr Jones also told us his thoughts on town centre response times with the new out of town base, and also revealed that town police will be operating out of Wrexham Council’s Crown Buildings by Waterworld on a temporary basis until the new smaller station at the library is complete (details on that here from last year).

Today police said the handover of the Llay facility formally took place on the 6th of November and is thought to be fully operational by the end of this month, and has a total cost of £17m.