St Johns Shopping Centre installs rooftop beehives

St Johns Shopping Centre in Liverpool has installed a number of beehives on its roof as part of its efforts to become a more environmentally conscious organisation and to promote positive mental wellbeing among its employees.

The centre, which is once again welcoming shoppers to its 100-strong cohort of stores, has acquired two initial hives, with each containing approximately 20,000 bees which will pollinate within a three-mile radius of the site.

Bees play a critical role in preserving ecological balance and, as such, they are an important part of our wider ecosystem. Through pollination, bees have an impact on many parts of the environment, but particularly on the growth of crops, flowers and plants.

Each hive installed on St Johns’ rooftop will continue to grow, attracting up to 40,000 additional bees, and will positively contribute to the environmental generation of the local area in Liverpool.

This is the latest environmental initiative from St Johns since the installation of a living green wall on the exterior of the centre in June 2020. Spanning 65 metres in length, the wall is one of the longest of its kind in the UK and is part of a project to increase the city’s green spaces and support positive wellbeing.

As well as the environmental benefits of the rooftop beehives, St Johns also hopes that its new initiative will promote positive mental wellbeing among its employees, as minding bees has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety and depression.

Neil Ashcroft, General Manager at St Johns Shopping Centre, said:

“Caring for the environment and for our employees is really important to me, and this new initiative from St Johns will see us prioritising both in a new, forward-thinking way.

“After the last 12 months of uncertainty, I also want to make sure that positive mental wellbeing is promoted at St Johns, and I hope that our team will find great benefit in this initiative.

“We want to contribute to the wonderful green spaces we have here in Liverpool, and these bees will play a vital role in maintaining our ecosystem and keeping our city in bloom – and it hopefully won’t be long too before we can try some honey!”