When William Ball, Portfolio General Manager at BNP Paribas Real Estate, was first approached by his client Grosvenor Group about installing a roof garden on its Belgrave House property in Victoria, six years ago he was concerned over the practicality of managing such a project with limited knowledge.

“The roof isn’t accessible and I thought the tenants would not be able to see the benefits to the property of investing in it,” he explains.

Benefits outweigh costs

Fast forward to today and William says the tenants and Grosvenor now fully support the biodiversity project on the Buckingham Palace Road office block.

 “The benefits outweigh the costs one hundred fold. And it’s the right thing to do for the environment. The roof garden and the bees are one element of promoting environmental best practice. It’s one of the reasons Belgrave House has retained its BREEAM excellence rating and its ISO14001 year after year.”

William has more than 35 years’ experience in the property and facilities management industry. In 2018, he was awarded the national BNP Paribas CSR Award and in 2019, his team won the Professional Facilities Management Award for CSR.

Introducing bee hives

The same year, he contacted Urban Bees Ltd to install and maintain bee hives on Belgrave House. Grosvenor, whose own staff Urban Bees had trained as beekeepers a few years earlier, paid the initial start-up costs.

He proudly hands me a jar of 2021 Belgrave House honey with a pretty label designed by the receptionists. The bees are a great way to bring together his 21-strong team of security staff, cleaners, receptionists and engineers, he says.

“We all take great pride in the bees”.

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William believes the bees have contributed to a string of environmental awards, including five Green Apples, three of them gold. They adorn his basement office, along with trophies and photos of him and his team collecting them.

Honeybees will easily fly a mile or two in search of an abundant food source. And William, who is the property site representative for the hives, has tracked the Belgrave House bees to the Queen’s gardens at the end of the road. But he wanted to create a bee-friendly garden on the roof for wild bumblebees and solitary bees.

Steps to creating a bee-friendly garden

William called on the expertise and goodwill of colleagues to help achieve his vision. The building consultancy surveyor advised that the roof was strong enough to hold a few planters filled with wet soil and flowers and shrubs, his engineers agreed to make planters out of wooden planks that William sourced, and the Grosvenor gardeners ordered extra lavender and other bee-friendly plants recommended by Urban Bees from its Plants for Bees list.

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There are now four planters, one full of lavender and others planted with a mixture of perennial summer-flowering alliums, foxgloves and harebells (pictured above), as well as early-flowering hellebores and late-flowering echinacea.

Observation nesting box for solitary bees

Wind can be a problem for bees eight storeys up. “You could see the honeybees were really struggling getting to and from the hives,” recalls William. So, his engineers put up trellis against which 2ft high Ceanothus ‘Skylark’ bushes (pictured below) act as a windbreak. And their electric blue flowers are buzzing with all types of bees in late spring. Urban Bees added an observation bee box (pictured below right) for solitary bees to nest in.

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Bee visitors

William spends many a summer lunch hour inspecting the small, 12 square metre, bee oasis, breathing in the flowers’ perfume and spotting different bees. He’s photographed many wild bee visitors including bumblebees with white tails (below left) and red tails (below middle), as well as some honeybees (below right).

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Education

Each June on World Ocean’s Day, his team has a stand in the reception of Belgrave House to raise awareness about environmental issues. They work with a school in the Philippines to tackle the huge problem of plastic ocean pollution.

“We have honey and leaflets about our rooftop bees on the stand as the bees can really engage people in the bigger picture.”

Staff who want to know more are given a copy of The Good Bee, by Urban Bees founders, Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum, showcasing the world’s 20,000 solitary and social bees and how we can help them. 

“’We never knew there were so many bees’, is most people’s response.”

A webcam of the Belgrave House bee hives keeps staff up to date on the honeybees. In 2022, William plans to have a screen in reception live streaming the three hives. And he hopes to introduce a small water feature on the roof for bees to drink from and other wildlife to visit.

William’s advice to other facilities managers

For parts of London not able to sustain honeybee hives because there isn’t a plentiful supply of forage. (Afterall, not everyone has Buckingham Palace gardens on their doorstep), William’s advice for facilities managers is to look at their ESG strategy.

“Do a biodiversity plan for your property. Look at the bigger picture. Make sure you have a well thought our process and escalate it. Start small and grow as the tenants come on board. The cost is a miniscule part of their service charge. Start with plants and see what bees come without installing honeybees. Work with people like Urban Bees, who know which are the best bee plants in these windy, exposed conditions to ensure there’s food year-round for all different kinds of bees. Food is essential, along with creating places for wild bees to nest.”

“You do have greater output [jars of honey] with honeybees so there can be greater interest and support from tenants. But honeybees aren’t integral to having a roof garden on an office.”

All photos taken by William Ball.

• For more information about how Urban Bees can work with your company, contact Alison Benjamin at Urban Bees alison@urbanbees.co.uk 0788 4054150