Protecting and promoting biodiversity – on a major construction site

Implenia is building a ten-kilometre stretch of motorway, including several tunnels and bridges, in the Lyngdal region of southern Norway. But it’s not just diggers buzzing around on this construction site - there are also bees diligently going about their business among all the machinery. They collect pollen in the area and carry it back home on their little legs. And despite all the construction work, the insects can find plenty of food sources: bell flowers, daisies, clover and many other flowering plants.  

The managers of this road construction project are taking a number of measures to encourage biodiversity. As well as carefully relocating the bee colonies, they are creating wildlife corridors, sowing native wild flowers on the roadside, and removing non-native invasive plants.  

“Biodiversity lies at the heart of clean drinking water and food production,” says Benoît Klein, Senior Sustainability Manager at Implenia. “It also ensures clean air and reduces the risk of natural disasters.” By taking the kind of measures seen at Lyngdal, the company is showing that it acknowledges the importance of biodiversity and its own responsibilities in this area. 

By its very nature, the construction industry intervenes massively in natural habitats and, therefore, influences biodiversity. On large-scale projects where such intervention is unavoidable, Implenia tries to minimise its environmental impact. First of all it carefully assesses the ecosystems at its project sites and surrounding areas. Depending on what it finds, the company will then do different things to protect local habitats.  

One of Implenia’s large-scale real estate projects in the French-speaking part of Switzerland demonstrates that such strategies can also offer added value for urban areas and their residents. The company is developing and building a sustainable neighbourhood in the heart of Geneva’s Quartier des Nations, and is doing so to the standards set by SEED Next Generation Living environmental certification. The Green Village project comprises extensive parkland, office buildings, a hotel and housing. 

Around 30 percent of the area is reserved for plants and animals. The parkland includes wetlands, wooded areas, fallow land, meadows and shrubs. Blossom and fruit trees have also been planted to improve the food base for pollinating insects such as bees and other species. Even the outdoor lighting is designed so that certain areas are kept without artificial light, thus maintaining natural day-night rhythms.