New community buzzing to be in Exeter’s newest hotel

Published: 21 July 2023

A new community of bugs and bees has settled into new surrounding in the heart of Exeter city centre.

A couple of weeks after building off-cuts were repurposed to create a stunning insect hotel, bugs and bees have taken up residence in the colourful new apartments.

The Guildhall Shopping Centre commissioned community group Co Create Exeter to make the luxury insect hotel to encourage insects who enjoy the centre’s stunning flower beds to take up residence and encourage biodiversity.

Materials used were off-cuts saved from landfill by Co Create, including those left over from the centre’s recent Little Exeter Guildhall development, build by Lancer Scott Ltd.

An insect hotel, also known as a bug hotel or insect house, is a manmade structure created to provide shelter for insects.

They can come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the specific purpose or specific insect it is catered to.

Most consist of several different sections that provide insects with nesting facilities – particularly during winter, offering shelter or refuge for many types of insects. They are particularly popular as places to host pollinators.