Built by Melbourne’s Grollo Family in partnership with St Martin’s Properties in 1982-6 and still in the top 5 tallest buildings in the southern hemisphere (and still well known for spectacular views), Melbourne’s Rialto Towers (43 & 63 storeys high – 253 metres) are located right in the heart of the Melbourne CBD, at 495 Collins Street (corner of King Street).
More than twelve months ago the Melbourne Rialto Intercontinental Hotel installed thousands of Italian bees housed in several beehives, plus potted lavender bushes, onto the roof. The sky-high honey-producing project has been so successful that they’ve recently added 5 more hives to the 5 hives already housing 80,000 bees. Thus the honey production which could already reach 100 kilogrammes per year, is expected to double.
Bees apparently fly up to five kilometres away in search of pollen, so the Rialto Intercontinental bees would presumably travel along the Yarra River between Batman and Olympic Parks, as well as south to the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, and up Collins Street (way above the trams) to the Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens.
It’s quite surreal to imagine the thousands of hardworking bees flying high above the Melbourne high rises, busily ferrying pollen back to the hive, completely oblivious to the many thousands of people rushing around below. And vice versa. The CBD of any city is about as far removed from nature and food production as you can get.
The Rialto honey bees aren’t going to feed the world but it is a fabulous example of a perfect way to produce food in an otherwise unproductive space in what is some of the most expensive urban real estate in Australia. With side benefits that must not be underestimated for the Rialto chefs and other staff who are apparently very much enjoying tending to the bees, and the hotel guests, who will be prompted to think about where their food comes from when they learn about the bees on the Rialto rooftop. The Intercontinental has a policy of aiming to operate in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. So ‘low food miles’ are the order of the day in the main Rialto restaurant, Alluvial, which sources all ingredients from within a 200km radius.
The first Intercontinental Hotel to introduce rooftop beehives (and only other one to do so) is in Boston, USA. The Intercontinental Boston hives were installed around Easter 2010 and the initial 10,000 bee population quadrupled by autumn. Honey production was so successful, despite the severity of the first winter, that more hives added last year with an expectation that the bee population will reach 120,000. The Boston Intercontinental has live video footage in one of the hotel restaurants for guests to observe what the bees are up to any time of the day or night, without having to brave the elements or risk being stung. The honey produced is used in the Boston Intercontinental’s restaurant dishes and drinks as well as in the spa beauty treatments. The on-site apiary is surely an ideal way to foster an appreciation of food production.
When production is sufficient, the Rialto Intercontinental Melbourne & Boston Intercontinental both intend selling the on-site produced honey to guests, in addition to including it in their restaurant meals and gifting jars to VIP guests.