A new law passed by the city of Brighton & Hove means that all new buildings over five meters in height must include bee bricks, as well as birdhouses suitable for swifts.
Bricks for bees?
These are bricks that are the same size as normal ones. The only difference: they integrate a series of narrow openings (generally circular in shape) made specifically to allow solitary bees to nest.
The target? Clear. It's about increasing opportunities for biodiversity. Solitary bees constitute nearly 250 of the approximately 270 bee species in Britain, and play a crucial role in the natural ecosystem.
The use of bee bricks has been feared in several UK planning regulations, but their practical introduction is a new development. Brighton will soon be followed closely by Cornwall and Dorset.
Replicate known habitat
“Bee bricks are one of several measures that should be implemented to address biodiversity problems that have emerged as a result of years of neglect of the natural environment,” he says Robert Nemeth, city councilor who promoted the initiative.
"The api solitary nests in crumbling mortar and old brick,” said Nemeth, “but modern buildings are so perfect that all the cavities are plugged.”
This solution restores a natural "synergy" that had been lost for some time.
Someone points out potential health risks
Not everyone applauds the initiative, however. Some researchers are skeptical about the effectiveness of this solution in improving biodiversity. Indeed, not sparing in some isolated cases veiled accusations of greenwashing they also arrive warn of possible risks for health.
Lars Chittka, professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University, has a different opinion. He argued that bees would be able to mitigate potential problems on their own, “which should to some extent offset the risks that arise from such long-term nesting opportunities.”
Brighton's policy may open up a serious study into the impact of bee bricks. After an initial two-year search already developed from the English University of Exeter, a 5-10 year monitoring could lead to calls for its massive adoption in English construction, and perhaps elsewhere.
An interesting test case, don't you think? Consider that one third of world food production depends on bees and other pollinators, but around one in 10 bee species in Europe (consider this an even optimistic estimate) risks extinction.
