Preserving biodiversity, protecting habitats and promoting biodiversity – this is the mission of the Loki Schmidt Foundation, with which Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is cooperating on this year’s Community Day. Hamburg is also home to numerous animal and plant species that deserve special protection. For the Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier team, this year’s Community Day offered the opportunity to learn more about local nature and species conservation and then to lend a hand themselves.
The topic of biodiversity not only played a significant role in the planning of Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, but will also be omnipresent in its later operation. After the cooperation with Hanseatic Help e. V. at Community Day 2022, the Loki Schmidt Foundation is therefore a partner of URW this year.
The Loki Schmidt Foundation has made it its mission to work for the protection of native animals and plants with its projects and promotes education around the topic of the environment. Every year, the Loki Schmidt Foundation plans and carries out more than a thousand events to raise awareness for the protection of nature and its spaces and to discover it with all senses.
Experiencing and preserving nature
Teamwork in demand: Together with a biologist in the field of botany, who is responsible for area and project management at the Loki Schmidt Foundation, the Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier team was in action on the so-called Wilden Wiesen in Rahlstedt to mow the areas there with scythes. Beforehand, there was a practical introduction to the tools and then a lecture about the wet meadows and the plants and animals that live there, for example hedgehogs and frogs. These were first carefully moved by hand. Then the grass had to be cut. To preserve the diverse habitat and relieve the pressure on the soil, it is imperative to cut the grass carefully with scythes twice per year and not simply to drive over it with a lawnmower or tractor. In order to protect the animals, plants and numerous insect species that call the wild grasslands their home, extreme care must be taken here. The grass is cut piece by piece to preserve the biodiversity of the vegetation. Afterwards, the mown grass was raked up and collected. The employees not only had a lot of fun, but above all helped to preserve habitats and nature.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s company-wide Community Days, which are part of the sustainability strategy “Better Places 2030”, support specific projects and institutions in the areas of social welfare, education, culture or environmental protection every year. This year, all 450 employees of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in Germany took part in a Community Day. Either organised by the headquarters in Düsseldorf, the respective centre teams or by the project team in Hamburg. The company management supports the Community Days and thus also actively promotes the commitment to social and charitable projects of the employees at all locations in Europe.
Here you can find more information about the Loki Schmidt Foundation:
https://loki-schmidt-stiftung.de/die-stiftung/leitbild.html
Click here to read the blog post from Community Day 2022:
https://www.ueberseequartier.de/2022/09/community-day-2022-helfende-haende-fuer-hanseatic-help-e-v/
