60,000 Bees on Green Roof of New Vancouver Convention Centre

Photo by Michael Levenston

The six-acre green roof is the largest in Canada, with 400,000 indigenous plants and grasses and several beehives installed to house a colony of bees.

Green Bee

Just like the green roof, bees are essential to a sustainable environment.

During the day, bees are a busy lot – weaving their way through our cities and countryside, gathering pollen and pollinating flowers and agricultural plants. Insect pollinated plants make up 1/3 of our diet with industrious bees pollinating 80% of those crops.

Here, each of our hives installed on the main roof of the Convention Centre West is home to up to 60,000 bees, cared for by our Apiarist or bee keeper.

Photo by Michael Levenston

See article “Vancouver Convention Centre opens to public” here.

See Vancouver Convention Centre web site here.

Updated: August 22, 2009

Video by the Province Newspaper

Dana Gee speaks to Allen Garr, who keeps the bees buzzing on top of the new Vancouver Convention Centre. Video by By Dana Gee and Jon Murray, The Province Newspaper.