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TMCNet: HL:Buzz around Vancouver's new trade centre is the sound of honey bees@

[April 09, 2009]

HL:Buzz around Vancouver's new trade centre is the sound of honey bees@

(Canadian Press DataFile Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) VANCOUVER _ The big buzz around Vancouver's newly expanded convention centre used to be its huge cost overruns. Now, it's all about the bees humming atop the 2.4-hectare green roof.

After the lead set by landmarks around the world, including the White House, Toronto's Royal York Hotel and the Paris Opera House, the new convention centre is bringing tens of thousands of honeybees to the $882-million, glass-walled, waterfront structure.

The goal is twofold: Bees are the new "it" endangered species and urban planners and architects across North America and Europe are anxious to bolster their numbers in urban settings.

Also, convention centre planners, competing for business in a severe recession, say bees bring business.

It used to be that convention centre clients were chiefly concerned about security, said Warren Buckley, CEO of B.C. Pavilion Corporation, which runs B.C. Place and the convention centre.

"Now, it's how green you are." Among other things, Buckley said, convention planners want to know: "What is it that you give back to the community? How sustainable (are you)? What's your corporate responsibility philosophy? What's your sustainability philosophy?" In other words, they're as concerned about how many plants exist on the roof (there are 400,000) as how many delegates the centre can accommodate (29,000).

As a result, builders are increasingly inclined to design public buildings with the environment in mind. In addition to the honeybees and the grassy roof, the other environmental draw at the Vancouver convention centre is its recycled bathroom water. A sign in the men's washroom informs users that the urinal water has been used already.

The new convention centre will be the media centre for the 2010 Winter Games. Initially budgeted to cost $495-million, the final price tag was nearly double that.

Last week, when Buckley played host to 100 convention organizers from around the world, they made a beeline for the roof.

"Everybody likes the bees," Buckley said. "And it's not just, `Oh isn't that cute. You have your own colony.' It is, `Yeah you're right'.

"People now get the whole value to the development chain of our plants, our trees, our fruit and so forth and the role the bees play." Honeybee populations are in decline across North America and Europe. The use of pesticides, disease and the destruction of habitat have been cited for their dwindling numbers. Bees, as key pollinators, play a crucial role in the environment. If their populations dwindle, plants are threatened too.

The convention centre green roof, like other living roofs across the continent, was designed to return some of the plants and insects that have been driven out of urban environments.

In addition to bees, the Vancouver convention centre roof will be home to thousands of plants and grasses. It's hoped that insects, worms, and birds will follow, Bruce Hemstock, the roof's landscape architect, said.

(c) 2009 The Canadian Press

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