Bees<\/a> in Crewe, where they learn beekeeping and how to construct hives. \u201cWhen we\u2019re qualified, we\u2019ll bring the hives we\u2019ve built back to our offices,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will be a magical moment.\u201d<\/p>\nEmma Buckley, the chief executive of Buckley\u2019s Bees, has about 24 UK clients and more than 10 international ones. Business has grown so quickly that she is now recruiting additional staff.<\/p>\n
While the trend of office apiaries is growing, beekeeping providers say they are also conscious of the potential impact on local biodiversity. Photograph: Allan Bentley<\/p>\n
\u201cOur motivation is improving people\u2019s mental health, which employers increasingly understand is closely linked to nature,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see the engagement on people\u2019s faces as soon as we start talking about bees: they get completely lost in the world of bees and forget all about their troubles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckley runs lunchtime workshops for employees and installs cameras inside hives so they can observe the bees from their desks. \u201cWe even have one company that livestreams into their break room,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mark Gale, the founder and managing director of BeesMax Ltd, said the experience was calming, educational and oddly bonding: a rare opportunity for employees to step away from screens and care collectively for something fragile and alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like nothing else you could possibly experience during a working day,\u201d said Gale, who rents out and manages hives at sites including the QEII Centre in London, the video games developer Codemasters and the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel chain. \u201cOne minute employees are eating their sandwiches at their desk \u2013 and the next, they\u2019re in full body suits with 10,000 bees flying around them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gale said demand had increased so much that he was taking on new, full-time staff. \u201cThe increase is entirely organic,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all word of mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters of office apiaries say the appeal goes beyond novelty, pointing to workplace wellbeing, team building and tangible evidence of environmental commitment that companies can showcase to clients and staff alike.<\/p>\n
Some teams report that the bees have become a source of camaraderie, and that in a workplace culture where perks often consist of gym subsidies or free snacks, nature-based experiences feel refreshingly purposeful and even quietly radical.<\/p>\n
Beehives have been installed in the rooftop garden of Park House on Oxford Street in London. Photograph: REM Limited<\/p>\n
\u201cA gym discount or fruit bowl is nice, but the bees create a shared story and a sense of stewardship,\u201d said Phillip Potts, the general manager of Park House, on London\u2019s Oxford Street, which has seven floors of office space.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur tenants say it is the most unusual and memorable workplace perk they have experienced \u2013 and our queen bee has developed something of a cult following in the building,\u201d he added. \u201cWe call her Philippa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damson Tregaskis, the founder of Hive5 Manchester, has also noticed an increase in demand. \u201cEmployers want to encourage workers to connect more with nature,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But as the trend spreads, so do questions about its environmental impact. Ecologists and conservation bodies warn that the rapid growth of managed honeybee colonies \u2013 particularly in towns and cities \u2013 may not be the unalloyed good it appears to be, when viewed through a biodiversity lens.<\/p>\n
The concerns apply across the UK, from regional cities to market towns. Any place with limited green space risks putting additional pressure on already declining wild insect populations.<\/p>\n
Tregaskis is conscious of this. \u201cI know really big companies who have been interested but their motivation has been, for want of a better word, greenwashing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in these cases, though, you can connect with the people on the ground and make sure you make a real difference,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Buckley is also keenly aware of these issues, pointing to research suggesting that in areas with high density of hives, honeybees can compete with native bees, butterflies and hoverflies for limited nectar and pollen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re careful not to take on any business in locations that are densely populated or already have a lot of beekeepers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Office apiaries stem from two modern anxieties: the scramble to improve workplace wellbeing, and the need to be seen acting as nature declines. In a single lunch break, the bees\u2019 quiet hum can offer a moment of both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a growing number of workplaces, the soundtrack of the lunch break is no longer the rustle of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-414800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}