To celebrate World Bee Day, Bentley announced the expansion of the Excellence Centre for Honey Production in Crewe, now hosting one million bees.
In partnership with ‘Buckley Bees’, Bentley installed a colony of 120,000 indigenous honey bees as part of the British marque’s (#GOTOZERO) sustainable strategy.
The expansion increases the colony size of the famous ‘Bentley Bees’ from 600,000 to over 1 million through the installation of seven new bee hives, with a total of 17 active bee hives now calling home at the company’s headquarters.
The Crewe-based manufacturer hopes that in 2023 Bentley can surpass last year’s record honey harvest, where the bees produced over 1,000 jars of honey whilst helping to pollinate the on-site flora and bring wider benefits to the surrounding Cheshire countryside. The Excellence Centre for Honey Production is just one of many initiatives in place to improve site sustainability at the Crewe campus.
As part of the company’s Beyond100 strategy, Bentley is also encouraging its employees to enhance local biodiversity by handing out wildflower seeds for them to plant in their communities.
Welcoming the new bees into the Bentley team, Andrew Robertson, Head of Site and Facilities Planning, comments: “Our Bentley Bees have been at our site for almost five years, producing over 2,000 jars of honey for our extraordinary colleagues and customers.”
“We hope that by installing seven new hives, in addition to ten hives already in place at our Excellence Centre for Honey Production, we can further enhance our positive impact on the local environment as part of a wider sustainability programme. This is to ensure Bentley remains a significant contributor to local biodiversity and adds to our ambition to be the leaders in sustainable luxury mobility.”
Other activities include handmade bird and bat boxes dotted around the campus by Bentley colleagues, hedgehog highways, our expanding colleague allotments and much more.
These initiatives help Bentley to support local wildlife and enhance the natural beauty in local areas, whilst also boosting employees’ mental wellness through the provision of sufficient green spaces.
Check out what BMW is doing to reduce CO2 through power-to-heat technology here!
