Time for plan bee

A beehive on the roof is often the cherry on the cake of a corporate ESG strategy, communicating a developer’s clear concern and care for maintaining biodiversity. On top off that, the preservation of biodiversity is one of 17 sustainable development goals set out in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, which was ratified by member states in 2015.

Beehives are also a rather egalitarian construction since they can be placed both on top of large prestigious developments as well as those with smaller budgets. Hives can be found on the roofs of many of Skanska’s buildings, for example. They can be found on top of Zielony by Synergia in Łódź, on the construction site of Fabryka Porcelany in Katowice, in the Bronowice Business Center in Kraków and also on the roof of the Royal Wilanów centre in Warsaw. We should also add Saski Crescent in Warsaw to the list, where beehives were installed on its roof two years ago.

“ESG plays a major role inf our strategy and requires us to invest responsibly and manage such issues as environmental conservation. Putting beehives on the roof of Saski Crescent is just one of the many activities we have undertaken in CA Immo’s developments aimed at improving the health of the ecosystem,” explains Kamila Piekarska, an asset manager at CA Immo. “Last year, when the first full cycle was completed for our hives, we managed to harvest 60 kg of mixed-flower honey from four hives. The bees had been gathering nectar from the local area throughout the entire season. The honey was later given to the employees in our office,” she adds.

What kind of bee?

Office beehives (as well as those located in other types of real estate) provide a home for relatively harmless honey bees, which, according to studies, produce a substance that is healthy and pollution-free. Companies hand the stuff out to office workers or auction it off for charity, which also chimes in well with their CSR policies. And it is in everybody’s interest to look after honey bees because the species plays an enormous role in pollinating crops.

“According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, bees play a vital role in 75 pct of the world’s food production, when you take into account both the crops needed as animal fodder as well as those grown to feed us. Every forecast and study by analysts gives mankind no more than ten years without bees,” points out Ewa Łydkowska, the marketing manager of Vastint.

Nevertheless, honeybees are just one of a few hundred bee species native to Poland. Most of these are wild bees that don’t have complex social structures and don’t produce the kind of honey that can be kept in jars. These species are facing extinction to a greater extent as their habitats continue to shrink, due to the over-use of pesticides, and as their food sources become more limited. So the question is, what effective support can we give to the bees that need our help the most?

From hive to meadow

Installing beehives on rooftops could turn out to be more problematic than was previously thought. In June, an open letter was sent to the mayor of Gdańsk as well as to the city council by a group of Polish scientists voicing their scepticism about plans to increase the number of urban beehives. They pointed out that honeybees are often in direct competition with the wild species that are also found in cities. Supporting one species bred en masse could be harmful to the other insects that form part of the urban ecosystem. And it’s not only local authorities that need to take heed of these arguments – developers need to listen too.

“Hives are often installed on the roofs of office blocks out of concern for bees and the environment, but setting up such hives doesn’t help and can even be harmful,” argues bee expert Dr Justyna Kierat, the main author of the open letter. “Over 470 species have been found to inhabit Poland, many of which can also be found in our cities. Unlike honey bees, wild bees don’t live in hives, so setting up apiaries won’t help them. Bringing extra bees into the environment means that those bees already living in the area suddenly have more competition for food. Of course, you shouldn’t expect setting up a single hive to have any noticeable detrimental impact, but you also have to take into account that beehives are being set up everywhere in cities,” she explains.

Bee hotels with pollinator restaurants

It’s also nothing new for developers to support wild bee populations – many developments include pollinator houses and flower meadows. The goal is the same: to support biodiversity and pollinators, but it’s only the means that differ. An insect house should be constructed the right way and made out of safe materials. The Polish Association of Developers (PFZD) promotes the best practices in this field as part of its Eco Avengers project. It has built insect houses designed in collaboration with designer Paweł Wołejszą and naturalist and educator Igor Siedlecki that can provide shelter for many different species of invertebrates, including bees and other pollinators.

To promote the idea, PZFD set out to break a Guinness world record. In the spring of this year, the association built the world’s biggest insect hotel, comprising many insect house modules. Developers can take these houses and relocate them to their own projects free of charge. Already companies such as Robyg, HB Reavis and Vastint have done so.

“We took part in the campaign for the sake of the undoubtedly good cause of conserving the environment,” explains Ewa Łydkowska, the marketing manager of Vastint. “Three of the modules from the record-breaking construction found their way into the Business Garden complex, where together with the honeybee hives already on site, they provide a welcoming home where winged insects can flourish,” she adds.

Wild bees don’t fly great distances, which means that the surroundings of their homes are all the more important. These insects need access to flowering plants, while trees and bushes – such as limes and climbers like Virginia creepers – can also provide food.

“We shouldn’t use pesticides in the places where we want to nurture wild bees,” insists Justyna Kierat. “It’s also worth bearing in mind that only a few species of bee can live in an insect house. An even greater number of species boreholes in the ground instead, so they won’t even use an insect house,” she adds.

Developers need to talk to the scientists

Office roofs can also be a test site for scientists studying bees. At the top of the EQ2 building in Warsaw, the developer of the building, Waryński, has created a special garden for mason bees in partnership with the University of Life Sciences in Lublin. The inspiration for this was the perennial flowerbeds created by Dutch designer Piet Oudof. The insect hotels, which can accommodate around 1,400 bees, are positioned between fruit trees planted in crates as well as both wild and cultivated strawberries. “The main purpose of this project is to give genuine support to the bee population by creating a home for wild pollinators and particularly for the red mason bee,” explains Jarosław Kozak, the chairman of the management board of Waryński. “Humans are destroying their natural habitat, but we can do something positive through artificial intervention. By filling this niche with pollinators introduced by humans, pollination rates can be improved and, as a result, so can biodiversity. By installing the first breeding facility in Poland for red mason bees on our roof we have established the right conditions for improving pollination rates in other areas into the future. One tangible result will be the possibility of carrying out scientific research to find out the answers to many of the mysteries that still surround the biology of this insect,” he adds.

Scientists are also studying the beehives on the roof of the GPP Business Park in Katowice. The purpose of this research, which is being carried out by the University of Silesia, is to examine the effects of environmental stress on insects. Meanwhile, the centre’s management makes a point of ensuring that the grounds of the office park are not only suitable for people but also for bees.

The office meadow

Sometimes the best way to support pollinators is not more activity but less, which (paradoxically) sometimes proves to be more difficult.

“If a company seriously wants to help bees, it’s a good idea to take care of their food supply, and that means the flowers from which they gather nectar and pollen,” insists Justyna Kierat. “Cities lack flowers and, in particular, they lack wildflowers, which are the most valuable food source for wild bees. It’s worth following the principle of first protecting what we already have and, only then, improving what can be improved. If beautiful wildflowers are growing on the company lawn, then we should put off mowing it so that they have time to form seeds rather than ploughing it all up in order to plant a flower meadow with seed we’ve bought in,” she says.

According to the Barometer report prepared by the Polish Chamber of Commercial Real Estate, real estate companies need to include sustainable development goals in their strategies, as doing so should increase the value of their businesses and projects. Looking after bees might seem a less significant part of such a strategy, but such activities have the same requirements as larger schemes: you have to listen to the experts and see the results of your actions to find out their true worth.