The UK’s leading open space management company, Meadfleet, has been awarded first place in the Pollinator category at CIRIA’s BIG Biodiversity Challenge Awards. Their Bee Friendly campaign beat stiff competition to take the top spot, recognising the company’s efforts to create additional habitats across the open spaces in its management for bees and other vital pollinators.
The judge’s commented: “An inspirational project from a management company of open spaces. They have included a very community and nature focused management strategy and are to be commended. The long term impact of this project and scale is really interesting. The potential that has been identified through the land holdings is noteworthy and the judges were impressed to see that the knowledge had been embedded within the business which is very admirable.”
The Big Biodiversity Challenge invites organisations to “do one thing” which adds a “biodiversity enhancement” to construction sites, developments or existing buildings (with the caveat that it goes beyond normal business practice or pre-existing planning and construction conditions).
Bee Friendly, launched by Meadfleet in 2019, is a perfect example of how wildlife and humans can peacefully and harmoniously co-exist. Designed to create new habitats for bees and other pollinating insects, Meadfleet have committed to planting:
- 23,000m2 of meadow to try and replace some of what has been lost in the UK (97% of all wildflower meadows since the 1930s)
- 1500m of new hedgerow including native shrub and tree species to provide nectar in spring, berries in autumn and natural habitats for birds and mammals
- 50,000 new bulbs in a mix of species which also provide nectar throughout spring
Not only are Meadfleet making open spaces more supportive of pollinating insects, they are also engaging residents with giveaways of insect hotels and bee friendly seeds, along with educational literature to inspire customers to do their bit to help pollinators.
Paul Cassidy, Ecology and Conservation Manager at Meadfleet said: “We are delighted that our efforts to benefit wildlife in the management of open spaces continue to be recognised. It’s fantastic that the judges acknowledged our efforts to make long-term, far-reaching improvements to open space areas that will benefit pollinators. Whilst it might be seen as going above and beyond our remit as an open space management company, we believe Meadfleet have an important role to play in ensuring open spaces offer enriched environments for our customers that allow wildlife to thrive. We look forward to continuing to go above and beyond to improve biodiversity on the open spaces we care for and involving our customers in this journey.”