HoneyBees
2013
Live hives established
8+
Offices & Yards with hives across Australia
2
Tonnes of honey produced annually
The declining bee population is a global crisis and is something we at Hutchies feel very passionately about.
Honey bees and native bees around the world have been dying in catastrophic numbers due to colony collapse disorder, triggered by multiple factors including pesticides and the loss of habitat, brought forth by urban sprawl. Hutchies has been creating the structures in which people live, work and play for more than a century, now we’re stepping up and becoming committed to creating homes to help save our most vital insect.
At Hutchies we know a bee’s work extends past simply pollinating the beautiful flowers that line the gardens of our developments. Bees play an integral part in the agricultural industry, responsible for pollinating about one third of the food we eat. We recognise and encourage our hard workers at Hutchies and the bees are just that: the world’s hardest working volunteers.
Their task of foraging and pollinating doesn’t come easy, bees work hard to travel great distances to collect pollen and nectar and return it to the hive. The work they do in the agricultural sector is believed to be valued at $US168 billion, since we can’t pay them we feel the least we could do for these little creatures is ensure their survival.
ScottHutchinson,Chairman/HutchiesBees are critical to environmental and ecological systems. So it is important. There’s thinking that if something is not done to stop bees disappearing, it could be the end for the Earth.
Hutchies is the only company in Australia promoting the establishment of urban bee hives on a national scale. It’s a bold step to take action of this scale on an environmental and social responsibility issue — especially in the construction industry which is often regarded as a poor corporate citizen in this regard. To us, sustainability is key and we’re stepping up to take responsibility for the social, economic and environmental implications of our work.
We love our urban hive program because we believe in looking after the environment, giving back and doing the right thing. It is for these reasons that we will never sell our honey. We offer the fruits of our bees labour as gifts to company members and clients, or as donations to support events and charities.
Through our honey and the presence of Hutchinson Honey Bees we have created awareness to the importance of bees, pollination and the threat that declining bee populations poses on society.
#Bee One Third
We thank local apiarists and urban rooftop hive specialists Bee One Third for helping make Hutchinson Honey Bees a reality.
Bee One Third is an urban and regional beekeeping organisation working to increase local bee populations within the urban and peri-urban landscape. Jack and his team have helped us establish thriving colonies on six of Hutchies’ Queensland offices, as well as in Hobart, and Sydney. Each colony acts as a refugee to around 150,000 to 200,000 bees across three or four hives.
Together, our passion is pushing us to ramp up hive capacity and expand to new locations across Australia. It is our dream to have a colony on every Hutchies office and yard. Bee One Third have been the support we need throughout our Honey Bee journey. With their help we’ve been able to educate our employees and the local community about declining bee colonies and what people can do as individuals to improve the environments in which bees collect pollen.
We encourage everyone to join the fight to save the bees. Bee One Third offer beekeeping courses on how to create and manage your own hive, or they can arrange to help you establish and manage urban hives in your business or local community.
