City Bee paradise on Princesshay rooftops

The Princesshay Shopping Centre in Exeter has created a rooftop garden paradise for honey bees as part of a new environmental initiative championed and funded by landlord Land Securities. Forming part of a biodiversity strategy, one hive has recently been installed in the rooftop garden with another due to arrive in May and a third later in the year. The aim is to have five hives thriving in their new city location by the end of 2014. Princesshay is the first shopping centre in the Land Securities portfolio to launch a City Bee project.

Andrew Littlejohns, Princesshay Operations Manager investigated the idea of housing ‘City Bees’ in Princesshay after watching a television programme on the decline of the honey bee and subsequent impact on the environment. After contacting Exeter Bee Keepers Association for advice and a site meeting, plans progressed quickly from inception in February 2012 to the arrival of the first Princesshay bee colony in April 2013.

Specialist advice on ‘bee friendly’ plants and features was sought before the rooftop garden was created by Mitie Landscaping, consisting of several raised flower beds and an irrigation system to ensure the bee friendly plants thrive. Several metric tonnes of top soil were transported by hand via the service delivery lifts from the shopping centre’s basement to the roof top! The garden was then left to mature over the autumn/winter of 2012 ready for the arrival of the first colony of over 10,000 bee’s who arrived in April 2013.

Andrew Littlejohns, Princesshay Operations Manager said, “This is such an exciting project and as a centre team we’re delighted to have received such support from Land Securities in turning the idea of housing City Bee’s into a reality. As a team we have training each Thursday with Bee Keeping enthusiast Jason Wallis from WeeTree Nurseries.

We have contacted all our retailers and restaurants to invite them to take part in the training and our plan is to have a core team of Princesshay Bee Keepers to manage and care for the project in the next 12 months.

It has been fantastic to meet our Queen Bee and her subjects and wonder at the mechanics of the hive and the way the bees operate, it’s fascinating! ”

Princesshay has invested in professional Bee Keeping equipment for the team and created a storage area on the rooftop for the kit. The centre management team has now had 4 training sessions and will continue to receive guidance from Jason Wallis of WeeTree Nurseries for the next year.

Jason Wallis from WeeTree Nurseries started keeping bees 8 years ago to help with flower production at his nursery and it fast became a hobby and passion. Jason said, “I must applaud the centre team for their initiative and enthusiasm in making the City Bee project happen. The environment created by Princesshay on their sheltered roof top is fantastic. The first colony of bees has settled in well and we’re ready now to help establish the second colony in their new hive. The decline of the honey bee is a well documented problem and projects like this all help to keep this important species part of the UK habitat.”

The centre team has already been in touch with Chandos Deli located on Roman Walk about stocking Princesshay Honey and Beeswax later this year. All trainee Bee Keepers will be eligible to receive free honey. The project has been well received by occupiers of Princesshay and the centre team is determined to make it an overall success with further improvements for the rooftop garden already in the pipeline.

An online logging system for trainee Bee Keepers keeps a record of all activity and operations allowing everyone to keep track on the progress of the colonies.