The declining bee population is a global crisis and is something we at Hutchies feel very passionately about. Honey bees and native bees around the world have been dying in catastrophic numbers due to colony collapse disorder, triggered by multiple factors including pesticides and the loss of habitat, brought forth by urban sprawl. Hutchies has been creating the structures in which people live, work and play for over 105 years, now we’re stepping up and becoming committed to creating homes to help save our most vital insect.

At Hutchies we know a bee’s work extends past simply pollinating the beautiful flowers that line the gardens of our developments. Bees play an integral part in the agricultural industry, responsible for pollinating about one-third of the food we eat. We recognise and encourage our hard workers at Hutchies and the bees are just that: the world’s hardest working volunteers. Their task of foraging and pollinating doesn’t come easy, bees work hard to travel great distances to collect pollen and nectar and return it to the hive. The work they do in the agricultural sector is believed to be valued at $US168 billion, since we can’t pay them we feel the least we could do for these little creatures is ensure their survival.

Hutchies is the only company in Australia promoting the establishment of urban bee hives on a national scale. It’s a bold step to take action of this scale on an environmental and social responsibility issue — especially in the construction industry which is often regarded as a poor corporate citizen in this regard. To us, sustainability is key and we’re stepping up to take responsibility for the social, economic and environmental implications of our work.

We love our urban hive program because we believe in looking after the environment, giving back and doing the right thing. It is for these reasons that we will never sell our honey. We offer the fruits of our bees labour as gifts to employees and clients, or as donations to causes. We annually donate 500 jars of our honey to the NAWIC convention and are exchanging jars for donations at The Langston event in Sydney, with all funds going to Save the Bees. 

Through our honey and the presence of Hutchinson Honey Bees we have created awareness to the importance of bees, pollination and the threat that declining bee populations poses on society.