Bespoke Bug Hotel for Victoria Leeds Shopping Centre

Victoria Leeds, Yorkshire’s premier shopping destination, comprises of Victoria Quarter and Victoria Gate and is home to 120 stylish retailers and major department stores. Working in partnership with the centre, ABM presented proposals to save long-term costs and reduce their environmental impacts by enhancing ABM’s contribution to ecosystem services. A rounded approach to sustainability in the centre started with elevated efforts to recycle and re-use as well as thinking of ways to implement biodiversity at the centre in a visibly engaging way.

Challenge

- To lower the centre’s carbon footprint and improve its contribution to biodiversity.
- Visibly demonstrate the importance of protecting and supporting biodiversity for pollination.
- To be environmentally responsible while creating and sharing best practices.

“Victoria Leeds’ Bug Hotel aimed to reduce environmental impacts while saving long-term costs by enhancing the contribution to the ecosystem. This helps to support the process of pollination in the surrounding area and serves as a food source for the local bird population. The project supports biodiversity education in the community and improves team morale.”

Solution

ABM had a bespoke Bug Hotel constructed to support the local ecosystem. It was made using sustainable materials to encourage beneficial habitat and provide a place for insects to generate a healthy landscape. To locate the Bug Hotel, we had to find a suitable area that could support the planting of flora that provides food sources for insect life.

It was decided that the best place for the Bug Hotel was at the Gate Guardian Sign for the centre, to openly associate it with sustainability and environmental conservation.

The flora planted around the Bug Hotel were heather, lavender, and lilac, all of which are great sources of food and protection for bees, bugs, and soil invertebrates. All flowers and surrounding plants for the hotel were provided by the Arium (Leeds City Council Nursery Division).

The Bug Hotel was installed with recommendations issued by its manufacturers, Handspring Design, to ensure it would have the maximum visual impact and encourage visitors to take appropriate similar steps at home. These included using different types of materials inside our Bug Hotel and different types of plants in the surrounding area.

In 2021, ABM undertook some seasonal planting with wildflowers and found that the Bug Hotel became increasingly popular and so the planting regime will be adapted again this year to encourage greater quantities of insect life.

Centre visitors were impressed by the 8ft-tall sculpture in the shape of the Victoria Leeds logo and the staff are often asked questions about its success. The Bug Hotel was also used for educational purposes in conjunction with ABM’s J.E.E.P programme.

Future plans are to work in partnership with insect-promoting charities in the UK and provide access to the public for smaller ready-made Bug Hotels for use at home in people’s gardens.

Benefits

Environmental

- Provides accommodation for many types of insects.
- The beneficial impacts of these insects included:
- Natural pest control eliminating the need for chemical solutions.
- Attraction of other pollinators including bees, butterflies, and beetles.
- Aiding in the pollination of local plant life, from ornamental flowers to food crops.
- The hotel was made from recovered, biodegradable and recycled materials, including the use of cardboard, bamboo, pallet wood, and tree stumps.

Economic

- Because the Bug Hotel formed a site eco project, the site team were responsible for maintaining it. This enabled the site to save 40% on landscaping maintenance costs.

Social

- The site received national recognition:
- Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice and the Corporate Social Responsibility Award from UK’s Green Organisation.
- Finalists in the Golden Service Awards – Best Clean Shopping Centre (33% of the submission included ABM’s environmental work).
- The Bug Hotel also improved team morale, as it became a topic of conversation and provided a positive feeling of giving back.
- The site supports biodiversity education for local schools and organisations.

Find out how we can make it possible for you by visiting ABM.co.uk.