Nesting pigeons at ISG Retail Hotel site

ISG Retail were appointed by the Intercontinental Hotel Group to take over the completion of the hotel project after the previous construction company suspended all works in February 2019. Their project was a £10 million pound hotel renovation and conversion project to transform and replace two hotels into one large Intercontinental Hotel Group, 166 bedroom hotel which will have a gym, bars, restaurants, terraces, and rooms that will be luxurious and fashionable.

ISG Retail contacted and appointed NBC Environment as the preferred and approved specialist business to support them with their project as we could;

Support at the various stages required by the clients and architects:

• To prevent feral pigeons from accessing the numerous plant room areas to roost and nest. This has previously delayed the programme of works for the regular testing of the plant and air conditioning ventilation system and ensure the areas were protected from contamination as a result of feral pigeon activity i.e. loafing, fouling, roosting and nest building.
• To prevent feral pigeons from alighting and roosting on the numerous leading edges and window sills of the hotel complex.

This has previously delayed the renovation project as the areas needed regular cleansing removal of feral pigeon faeces.

Project overview

NBC were required to support the architect team design of the bird proofing for the external areas, balancing the needs to have an effective bird deterrent barrier, whilst supporting the accessibility for any potential maintenance of the external ledges and to be unobtrusive and in keeping with the building aesthetics.

Due to the working height of the roof and ledge areas, NBC were to deploy the use of our “G-Stop” fall arrest systems in order to ensure health and safety and the protection of our install team is upheld at all times.

Due to the hotel complex being sited above underground vaults and tunnels which run beneath the pedestrian walkways, regular consultations and approvals with the structural engineering team were carried out. Specialist access equipment had to be considered and deployed with the considerations and allowances of the stress loading points of the access equipment outriggers and tracking travel of the equipment in order to spread the load and stay beneath the SWL capacity of 7.5kN/m2 throughout the works area. This ensured the NBC operatives were able to carry out the installations safely and any risks of damage were eliminated.

Our solution

Supplying various bird protection solutions:

• NBC were able to demonstrate our capability with robust RAMS and method statements, which included the listing of all materials to be used on the installation and how and where it would be positioned. This was also to ensure our installation did not negate the building warranty.
• NBC were able to draw resources to increase cover at the site at any point. We supported them with fluctuating deadlines at short notice i.e. if temporarily delayed by weather or to progress other works which may have stopped due on site works activity etc.
• NBC were on call to support the project day and night as well as weekends and bank holidays.
• Once the bird proofing installations had commence, we provided on site advice and ad-hoc pigeon/nesting debris removals for the construction site and also for the building structure as it progressed.
• NBC provided feral pigeon deterrent measures as the building became more advanced i.e. installation of bird deterrent spike systems, bird deterrent pin and wire systems and bird deterrent netting repairs as required, in order to control the feral pigeons which would reduce the risk of contamination in work areas and on equipment or potentially causing a fire.
• NBC were also there to support with the safe cleaning and sanitising if any areas became contaminated with feral pigeon faeces.

NBC Environment look forward to supporting the clients, ISG Group for any future projects and Intercontinental Hotel Group with the ongoing maintenance for the bird deterrent system installed.

More information on our pigeon pest control services

Read our useful article 'How To Deter Pigeons' for advice on how to avoid pigeon problems.