After more than seven years, Mayor Mario Schramm was finally able to announce the decision of the Haiger city council on the development plan on March 13, 2024. Following an exceptionally long planning phase, the city leader took the opportunity to finalize the necessary signatures and stamps at the headquarters of the company, established in 1815 on Hansastraße.

Together with Christian Dölle (Managing Director of Weiss Group), Sven Ringsdorf (Authorized Signatory, Legal, Personnel & Administration), and Technical Director Torsten Kerstein, as well as engineers Immo Zillinger (Gießen) and Thomas Lotter (Haiger), he expressed great joy and relief that two out of three procedural steps were now successfully completed. The building application and the subsequent building permit are the only items still pending after the water law approval and the decision on the development plan.

For Weiss, the decision means they have secured the company's traditional location in Haiger. As the oldest company in Haiger, Weiss now has legal certainty that it can continue to grow in the limited space between the Aubach, Haigerbach, and Dill rivers. Weiss CEO Dölle emphasized that operating in harmony with nature conservation, water protection, and species conservation is a given. Nonetheless, the years of processing time and changing responsibilities within the authorities have led to evolving requirements. German bureaucracy has made it challenging for a company so committed to its location to invest and secure jobs. "We believe in and rely on the Haiger site. We are in the midst of rebuilding and expanding this site with new technologies to make it the cornerstone of our internationalization. This means expanding our research & development capabilities and significantly enlarging our storage facilities to keep up with the growing complexity of the business, as well as customer and market requirements."

The success achieved is attributed to the perseverance, stamina, and determination of the team led by Sven Ringsdorf, Thomas Lotter, and Immo Zillinger. Dölle also expressed his gratitude towards the owners. The shareholders showed patience rather than frustration and continued to believe in the Haiger site.

Nevertheless, the lengthy processing time of seven years indicates that politicians at the federal and state levels should work to reduce bureaucratic hurdles as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the German location would not only be at a disadvantage but would also become non-competitive.

In the next few weeks, the commissioned engineering firm will finalize the remaining aspects of the building application. Plans include constructing a warehouse above the Aubach – internally named "Hall 11," where at least 1,000 storage spaces will be created. The minimally invasive construction project will be compensated by significant measures for the creatures living in the Aubach, such as the construction of a roughened ramp or fish ladder (colloquially known as a fish step).

Founded in 1815, the Weiss Group is a German family-owned business with three locations in Germany and branches/partners in the USA and China, among other countries. The company is an innovative leader in producing and selling modern adhesives and sealants, sandwich elements (for construction, for example), and cleaning solutions.