Honey, I Re-Homed The Bees!

Hughes and Salvidge regularly find some weird and wonderful things during our demolition activities.

On occasion, nesting birds or bats are discovered which leads to works being halted and ecology experts being brought in. Last week, at our flagship project in Southampton at the Bargate Shopping Centre, we halted works when a hive of around 70,000 bees were found in the ceiling of one of the buildings.

Our Site Manager, Chris, called in the Bee-Man to assist in removal. The Bee-Man informed us that he would take away the hive and contact the British Beekeepers Association in order to locate someone with space for the bees.

Luckily for these 'Bargate Bees', a member of our Health and Safety team, Lori Noble, already had two hives in her garden with space for a third. After a few frantic phone calls back and forth, when we found out that the original Queen Bee had absconded, a new Queen was quickly located and the bees were installed in their new home.

We always try to minimise the impact our activities have on the environment. Although a little different from our usual procedures, it is great to know that we have had a hand in saving this hive. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a few months before we can officially have some honey from the Bargate Bees!