Un-BEE-lievable! Housing firm smash World record for building largest insect house on the planet
Eco-friendly home builders have broken the Guinness World Record for assembling the largest insect house on the planet.
Starting at 6am Saturday morning, the EcoAvengers team from the Warsaw-based Polish Association of Developers (PZFD) put together the 150 box houses to come up with their whopping 89.37 m3 construction, smashing the record previously set in the UK last year of 81.26 m3.
Made of wood and wire mesh, the insect houses which each measure 1.5 metres high, one metre wide and are 80 cm deep, have layers of natural materials to help a variety of insects nest there.
Made of wood and wire mesh, the insect houses which each measure 1.5 metres high, one metre wide and are 80 cm deep, have layers of natural materials to help a variety of insects nest there.
Konrad Płochocki, director general of PZFD, told TFN: “Our goal was always to break the record but we didn’t want to smash it by a lot.
The insect houses are topped with a layer of straw, while a compartment below has chopped wood with holes drilled into it allowing solitary bees and wasps a safe place to lay their eggs.
“Our intention is to set a challenge for other teams around the globe to beat our record and then we will build a bigger one again, going back and forth.
“All the while creating more and more eco-friendly places for insects to exist in the cities.”
Konrad Płochocki, director general of PZFD, told TFN: “Our intention is to set a challenge for other teams around the globe to beat our record and then we will build a bigger one again, going back and forth.”
The insect houses are topped with a layer of straw, while a compartment below has chopped wood with holes drilled into it allowing solitary bees and wasps a safe place to lay their eggs.
Below that is a layer of reed tubes packed in bundles, another layer of drilled wood below the reed tubes, followed by tree bark and fallen foliage such as leaves.
The insect houses are raised slightly off the ground to allow for composting.
The insect houses are raised slightly off the ground to allow for composting.
Płochocki said: “The space for the compost is there to remind people not only to keep part of nature untouched, we don’t always have to mow the grass or throw away the raked leaves, but also that when we separate our garbage for recycling part of this natural waste can be used to help feed the bugs and insects. Then more and more birds will come and other small creature can live here.”
Konrad Płochocki said: “We need to introduce greenery into the city centres, right now there is a lot of concrete and we all like escaping the city to spend time in nature.”
Solitary bees are important pollinators and in urban environments can struggle to find appropriate and safe places to nest.
Płochocki told said: “The Polish Association of Developers created the EcoAvengers team two years ago and now eighty five percent of our members said that they are taking on the advice of this group and looking to add more eco-friendly elements to their buildings.”
Each layer of the house benefits the insects that will live there.
He continued: “We need to introduce greenery into the city centres, right now there is a lot of concrete and we all like escaping the city to spend time in nature.
“We need to introduce more greenery, more flowers, more trees, more birds, more insects into the city so we have better biodiversity and we can all live a healthier life.”
