Students make an important contribution to the creation of habitats

Since 1998, the Lehrhotel Krems has been the first school in Austria to be certified according to the "Austrian Ecolabel for Tourism Enterprises" and since 2006, the first school in Europe to also be certified according to the "EU Ecolabel". Now two important project realisations followed through the outstanding commitment of the HLF sustainability team!

120 cm high and 300 cm long - these are the remarkable dimensions of the new wild bee and insect hotel, which was built from the letters "H-L-F" by students of the "Sustainability Team" on the occasion of "45 years of the Tourism School HLF Krems" in the garden area. "With this, another exciting and challenging project could be implemented, which shows the importance of sustainability as a basis for the hotel industry and tourism," emphasises Ernst Sommer, project manager and subject coordinator tourism.

Start of planning and implementation

Native wild bees and other useful insects are finding it increasingly difficult to find suitable breeding sites and also food in the open countryside. In order to provide these endangered animals with a protected breeding and living place, the idea of building a wild bee and insect hotel in the form of the HLF letters arose as early as the 2020/21 school year in the 4th year's Business Internship & Project Management "Sustainability" subject. However, the question arose during the planning: Who could technically realise such a "hotel" in the desired size out of spruce wood?

Extracurricular commitment

Spontaneous and great support came from Mr Franz Klammer, retired carpenter and grandfather of Sarah Klammer, pupil of class 4BHLT. He invested about four working days in carpentry of the letters and then, together with Ernst Sommer, set up the wild bee and insect hotel on the meadow in front of the teaching hotel during the summer holidays.

The "guests" can move into "their hotel"

The completion of the wild bee and insect hotel began at the start of school in 2021/22, and the committed and motivated pupils of this year's 4th year demonstrated true craftsman's talents: They sawed, hammered, cut, drilled and filled the individual "rooms" of the wild bee and insect hotel with natural materials such as drilled hardwood, vines, bamboo tubes, pine cones, reeds and straw. Additional protection is provided by a wire mesh on the front and a tin cover on the top of the structure.

Participation in the "Blühsterreich" campaign by "Natur im Garten"

On 27 March 2021, the HLF family participated in the virtual run "BEE Running" as part of the "Blühsterreich" campaign by "Natur im Garten" and collected 500 m² of flowering meadows (https://www.bluehsterreich.at/). This flowering meadow seed has now been sown by the HLF sustainability team under the expert guidance of Christian Kittenberger/facility manager and Helmut Schieder/department of garden and green space design from the Langenlois horticultural school. Thus, the beneficial insects also find an indispensable food source and valuable habitat around "their hotel".

Thanks to sponsors and partners

Without the support of sponsors and many helping hands, it would not have been possible to implement this project as a contribution to local nature conservation. The HLF sustainability team would especially like to thank Mr Franz Klammer and the Langenlois Horticultural School, but also the companies Sägewerk Koppensteiner, Spenglerei Fuchs, Tischlerei Himmetzberger and Hornbach.

The Austrian Ecolabel thanks you for the great project and looks forward to further actions!