Beekeeper Tomáš Blaškkovič is taking care of bees on the roof of Einpark Offices in Bratislava's Petržalka borough. (source: Courtesy of Corwin)
The green roof of the Einpark administrative building on the edge of Bratislava’s Petržalka borough serves not only as a space for employees to clear their heads during working hours: it is also as a home for thousands of bees. The honey they produce is not only very tasty; it also has demonstrable health benefits. Laboratory tests have repeatedly confirmed its high quality.
The results are no surprise to beekeeper Tomáš Blaškovič, who takes care of the bee colony.
“Even before this, we had analyses done, including for polluting substances in the honey, and we knew that urban honeys are of high quality,” Blaškovič told The Slovak Spectator.
In Bratislava alone, Blaškovič takes care of bee colonies in almost twenty locations. In addition to Einpark Offices, they can be found on the roofs of other office buildings, in the gardens of the Presidential Palace and on the roof of the Vivo shopping centre, either as part of the Urban Bees project run by the Živica non-profit organisation or based on individual contracts.
Corwin, the developer behind the Einpark project, approached the beekeeper with the idea of establishing an apiary on its roof, which is planted with vegetation, three years ago.
“Einpark Offices is among the top 1 percent most sustainable buildings in the world, so it is actually natural that there are also beehives on its roof,” Michal Hájek, spokesperson for Corwin, told The Slovak Spectator.
They started with two hives to see if the roof was suitable for beekeeping. When it turned out that it was, they gradually expanded the bee colony to its current, final state – 10 hives.
“This vegetation roof is ideal,” said Blaškovič, adding that the roof space is segmented, so the hives are protected from the wind and also benefit from shade during certain parts of the day. There are 40 types of plants growing on the roof, and bees can fly to the Pečniansky Les forest, Sad Janka Kráľa city park or to the castle hill and the city centre on the opposite bank of the Danube. “They have enough pasture to thrive here.”
The developer did not encounter any problems when establishing the apiary.
