Scotland’s largest business estate is home to up to 200,000 honeybees that travel as far as three miles each day to collect, forage and pollinate meaning they could be regular visitors to parks and gardens across the west of Glasgow and Renfrewshire.
The initiative came about from the BREEAM Very Good accredited West 100 & 200 industrial development completed in April this year. Four nearby green spaces on the estate were chosen for bio-diversity offsetting with wild-flower meadow planting, bird and bat boxes installed as well as a secure compound for beehives.
Fiona McLelland, Asset Management Assistant at Hillington Park said: “We’re delighted to be working with The Good Bee Company to provide homes and a habitat for bees at Hillington Park! We have five individual hives located in their own designated area at the heart of the estate, surrounded by wildflowers and pollinator-friendly plants. Each could have up to 50,000 honeybees at their busiest time of the year! They play a vital part in the health and sustainability of the planet and we’re happy to provide an ideal location for them to live and thrive.
“Environmental considerations are important in everything we do at Hillington Park. New developments are designed using the highest possible environmental standards and where older properties are redeveloped we’ll insist that those standards are also adopted.
“Another benefit from having our own honeybees is that at certain times of the year our beekeepers present us with jars of delicious Hillington Park honey.”