Get Bristol Buzzing – At-Bristol Gets a Live Beehive on the Green Roof!

Monday 10 August 2015

At-Bristol Science Centre, the harbourside science centre, has recently welcomed a host of fuzzy little guests to its green rooftop, in the form of a hive of European Honey bees or ‘Apis mellifera’.

Philanthropically supported by a grant-making trust, At-Bristol have been working closely with BeeBristol, to get things ready for the bees, who moved in to their new penthouse hive on the weekend. The bees will be able to gather pollen from At-Bristol’s wildflower rooftop garden, as well as neighbouring green spaces such as Brandon Hill and At-Bristol’s own community gardens out on Millennium Square, and will hopefully be able to produce their first honey this year.

The hive will be tended by BeeBristol beekeepers in the first 12 months, as well as 2 newly appointed in-house beekeepers from At-Bristol, who will be trained by BeeBristol and will eventually take over looking after the hive themselves. The new urban bee hive will be used both as a learning tool for both school and general visitors, as well possibly providing honey for At-Bristol’s café and shop.

Linking in with At-Bristol’s most recent exhibition Food!, the new beehive complements the Honey Factory exhibit – where little ones can learn through play by dressing up as bees, playing the pollination game, and find out about the bees’ waggle dance.  A webcam will be installed by the hive to broadcast images of the bees live to the Greenhouse in the Food! exhibition, as well as on the Big Screen on Millennium Square.

At-Bristol is committed to sustainability, and has reduced its energy consumption by 27% in the last 5 years.  At-Bristol currently holds a range of green awards including a Green Tourism Business Scheme Gold Award, Soil Association Food for Life Gold Catering Mark, and won the Bristol Tourism and Hospitality Awards in 2012 for sustainable tourism and bronze Sustainable Tourism Award at the VisitEngland Awards for 2014. In this important ‘green’ year for Bristol, At-Bristol continues its focus on community and city initiatives; it is currently playing host to an ‘Energy Tree’ outside on Millennium Square and the Bristol Whales, both part of the European Green Capital project, as well as the Tap Into Bristol free water fountain in partnership with Bristol Water.

Chris Dunford, At-Bristol’s Sustainability Engagement Manager said:  “In At-Bristol we believe that the best way to engage the public and schools with the subject of sustainability is through working to become more sustainable ourselves. Over the last five years we have worked to reduce our energy consumption and adopt green technologies whilst also sharing this with the public through various installations, talks and workshops.  Our fantastic new hive will enable us to do this with the important area of bees, pollination and nature, as we share its story with our visitors so they can learn more about this fascinating topic. It has been exciting working with Bee Bristol to bring the hive onsite, as well as planting wildflowers on Millennium Square and our green roof, and creating the wonderful bee mural painted on the front of our building.”

Tim Barsby, Founder and Director of BeeBristol added:  “We are really excited about the educational value of hosting bees on the At-Bristol roof and emphasising the importance of pollinators in this critical time. We hope to inspire a new generation of conservationists to be more aware of the role of bees in the natural world.”

For further information, please contact Jen Forster, PR Manager for At-Bristol, on 0117 9157 152/07967 334 152 or jen.forster@at-bristol.org.uk.