Sweet idea lands on City Hall’s roof

CITY Hall is the first building in central Geelong to host a working bee hive on its rooftop.

The city is working with Surfcoast Honey owner Tony McNamara, who is launching the Geelong Rooftop Honey Project to raise awareness and educate the community about the importance of bees to our environment and their role in pollination and agriculture.

About 30,000 European honey bees will call City Hall home using the green oasis of Johnstone Park and nearby streets to find food and nectar to create organic honey, which will be sold by Surfcoast Honey.

The honey bees are expected to start producing honey for harvest this spring and it is hoped they will produce between 10–25 kilograms of honey per year.

Known for their flying skills, honey bees can fly at speeds of up to 25 km/hr while beating their wings 200 times per second and will travel up to five kilometres in one round trip to source food.

Bees play a critical role in our agricultural system. If they were to stop pollinating, about onethird of all human food staples would no longer be available.

“There has been a dramatic decline in global bee populations over the past decade, so this is a great initiative by the City to help the community understand the value of bees and the things we can do to ensure the survival of bees,” Cr Sarah Mansfield, who chairs the council’s environment and sustainability portfolio, said.

“By placing hives on the rooftops of buildings near cafes and restaurants, we can reduce the distance from production to plates.

“In our own homes, we can create bee friendly back yards with flowers and herbs and even look into becoming a beekeeper.”