There has been a hive of activity in West End this week with 160,000 workers moving into new rooftop premises at the West Village development. Brisbane bee man Jack Stone from Bee One Third has installed four hives atop the Westpac Bank building in Boundary Street as part of the greening phase of the West Village development.
The $1 billion project recently received the highest rating for master-planned precincts in Australia, earning World Leadership status with the achievement of Six Star Green Star – Communities certification. West Village Project Director Andrew Thompson said many of the project’s green innovations were inspired by world leading practices used by the project’s developer Sekisui House in Japan. “Sekisui House embraces the philosophy of satoyama, meaning ‘ribbons of green’,” Andrew said. “It speaks to the Japanese belief that humans and nature benefit each other and, on the ground at West Village, this will see more than 10,000 plants installed in our parks, gardens and rooftops.”
Sekisui House has been building sustainable, innovative communities for decades and has constructed more net-zero-energy homes than any other company in the world. At West Village the four new bee hives, which will each house about 40,000 bees, contribute to a suite of “green installations” that will take place over the next few months. The first West Village honey harvest is expected in October this year and the project hopes to collect a total of about 160 kilograms from three harvests every year. The bees will eventually visit the gardens throughout West Village, but will fly up to five kilometres in search of food.
Other green initiatives in place at West Village see organic food waste being diverted from landfill and recycled into biofuels and compost. A food rescue partnership and cold room will see excess perishable food donated to local charities and 1600 bike racks line the premises, as do electric vehicle charging stations. All lighting surrounding the venue will use LEDs, while a shared community garden will grow herbs, bush foods and native plants.
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